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If There Was a Time We Needed to Pray
It Must be Now
If you have been a part of Northpark Christian Church, you know that prayer is a vital part of Life at Northpark. If you are new to us or checking us out it is important that you know we are a praying church that takes the role of prayer seriously. We believe that prayer is essential to our growth as Christ followers and as a church.
Currently, Pastor Lonnie is leading us in a study of the Power of Prayer in which we are exploring how to tap into the power that is inherent in prayer. Often, when we hear the concept of the power of prayer talked about, we wonder about our ability to access this power that people talk about. You may be like many and wonder if tapping into the power of prayer is a complicated thing. We live in a performance-oriented culture. We speak of best practices, getting it right, and if it’s worth doing then it must be done the right way. This leaves many thinking that before they can begin to pray effectively or powerfully that they must master the discipline of prayer. We tend to think of prayer as something that we master in the same way that we might master algebra or a foreign language. But this is incorrect thinking because prayer is not a matter of our competence. The desire to pray correctly or to know all we can about prayer may sound noble, even correct but it misses the point. Prayer is not about being in control but in surrendering control. Prayer involves not trying to demonstrate our mastery in prayer, rather prayer is acknowledging our weaknesses, our inabilities, our being unable to always be in control or in charge.
Richard Foster, in his book, Prayer: Finding the Hearts True Home writes:
In the same way that a child cannot draw a bad picture so a child of God cannot offer a bad prayer. . . In simple prayer we bring ourselves God just as we are, warts and all. Like children before a loving father, we open our hearts and make our requests. We do not try to sort things out, the good from the bad. We simply and unpretentiously share our concerns and make our petitions.
That is the real power of prayer. It is coming to God as a child comes to their parent. Powerful prayer is not worried about impressing God or anyone else. Powerful prayer comes by submitting control to our competent and caring God.
Do you desire to have prayer as a vital part of your life? I offer this final thought from Richard Foster’s book: