As many of you know, today, May 5, is the National Day of Prayer in the United States, which was officially established by Congress as an annual event in 1952. You all have heard me say that prayer is firing the winning shot, and I believe that more and more each day.
Whenever I think of prayer on the National Day of Prayer, I think about the question, “What is prayer?” The reason this has become so important to me is that many people today in Christian circles fall for the notion that prayer is a method by which we can get things from God. In other words, prayer becomes a means to an end. Prayer is not a formula for getting things from God; rather, prayer is a means of developing a relationship with the Lover of our souls, out of which everything else flows.
So many Christians today are looking for the next revival, and in the process they’re looking for God in all the wrong places. The way to have revival is to get back to basics, and that includes focusing on the genuine reality and meaning of prayer. It’s a way of developing intimacy with God. If we can have that kind of reformation in our lives individually, then collectively as Christians we’ll find ourselves in much the same condition as when Josiah found the Book of the Law in the Temple. When we get back to basics and meditate on the Word of God, we’ll find the missing link between the intake of Scripture and an effective prayer life. Revival happens when reformation first takes place in our lives because then we become the instruments through which revival can take place in the culture.
All of that is to say that the National Day of Prayer is a call to you as a believer to develop essential disciplines, such as prayer, so that you can be an effective change agent in culture.
For further information, please see the following free resources. A video on 3 Secrets to A Rewarding Prayer Life and the article What are some secrets to effective prayer?
…because Life and Truth matter,
Hank Hanegraaff, President