New Life eBulletin 02.26.09

The Centrality of Prayer and Intercession

By Gary Strong

Our Professor of Theology, Dr Harold Roberts, made this remarkable statement to me. "We are saved to pray." I asked him to elaborate. "Sin separated us from a life of fellowship with God. No longer do we have the right of a child to go to his Father and receive His love, guidance and eternal happiness." As I pondered this I realized what a great privilege it is to have unfettered access to God the Father. In my marriage I have a daily commitment to meet with and fellowship with my wife. In some ways I am always conscious of our relationship. The Lord Jesus Christ gave His life on the Cross-to restore my love relationship with the Father. Should I not have the same desire to live my life with Him? Prayer is the line of daily communication with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. What and amazing and awe-inspiring fellowship of love is given to us who believe! There is no doubt that we should be as committed to prayer as we are to marriage. After all, marriage, according to the Lord Jesus, is only for this life but our Divine Bridegroom is committed to us for Eternity.

Have you committed yourself to a life of realistic daily of fellowship with God? If you believe you are too busy, then you are too busy. How can the Father guide and strengthen you for each part of your day. The personal friendship with the Father cannot impact our lives if we do not meet with Him in a regular time of prayer.

Our doctor, a compassionate busy professional man, went on holiday to Europe with his son. As far as he was concerned, he and his boy were good friends and had a good relationship. When he arrived back home his wife showed him a letter she had received from her son while they were on holiday. Among the things he said was this, "You know Mum, Dad is really a very nice person when you get to know him." I believe that there are going to be many Christians who will very sadly make that discovery about their Heavenly Father only in eternity. They may also see how much time they wasted in frustrated Christian activity on earth when God the Father could have guided them so much more through and committed prayer life. God does not want us to have a vague acquaintance with Him. It was Spurgeon who said, "You may as well stand on the roof and shout at the moon as to kneel down and hurriedly and mumble the Lord's Prayer and believe that you have prayed!"

How can a Christian make a meaningful and satisfying commitment to a life of prayer.

1. Accept the fact that without a regular daily prayer life there can be no significant spiritual growth in our relationship with God.

2. Develop a pattern for your time of prayer. Bible reading, adoration and thanksgiving, meditation and intercession are all important. If there has been a break in your prayer commitment due to tiredness, bereavement, illness get back to your prayer pattern as soon as possible.

When we fail to develop and maintain a meaning, regular prayer life, we simply open the doorway to the dangers of failure in every other area of our lives!