Guest Blog from SimpleChurch Journal

Prayer as the Main Thing

Some things don’t change. We may seek new wine skins. We may adopt new methods and tools for seeing God’s Kingdom come. We may give up worn out programs, systems, and paradigms. We may adopt the newest and most ‘in’ way of making disciples, living incarnationally, or gathering together.

But the most significant thing does not change regardless of where we are in our journey with church, life, and ministry: we love God and we spend time with Him. This is the heart, fire, fuel, and foundation that is the indisputable center of a meaningful, purposeful, God-infused life.

Our own prayer life may need to go through some retrofits of its own.  

Perhaps we have become stale or neglectful.

Perhaps we need to seek new ways to connect in deeper intimacy and to intercede with more faith.

Perhaps solitude is calling or a new encounter with Scripture is needed to stir up our faith-muscle in intercession.

Perhaps the New Year will spark in us a new desire to get back to the main thing as the main thing and find ways to be near to the Father.

Let’s not replace intimacy with knowledge, or the pursuit of ministry, or good activity. In fact the former will lead to the best activity as we seek His presence to live out of and His voice as our guide.  As David and Paul Watson say (Contagious Disciple Making), “A culture of prayer creates an environment and spiritual posture God can use to mobilize His people to do His will and catalyze complete social and spiritual transformation in a community.”

Perhaps this will be a year for an organic prayer movement that starts with each one of us and spreads to others until transformation, real transformation, is taking place in and around us.

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