There are so many good things we don’t do enough of. Many would list exercise, catching up with close friends, travel, eating healthily, reading books, having fun as some of these activities. Would you list prayer?
The Scriptures encourage us to pray always, with perseverance (Eph 6:18), for all things (Phil 4:6), with great expectation (Eph 3:20) and a growing love of Christ (Eph 3:17-18). Whether it is our frequency, attitude, application, or content, I suspect we all have opportunity to grow in prayer.
What do you do when you want to action your aspirations? I start by booking them into my diary. It is impossible to action anything, when you don’t have the time. We all know, saying “we should catch up” with friends only eventuates when a date and time is settled on.
If we want to grow in our faith life, locking in time for key habits such as word & prayer is a strong first step.Since I began at Unley Park, I have wanted to lock in an annual habit of a church-wide focused week of prayer. I know people pray personally, in growth groups, in leadership meetings, in our weekly services – and yet I sense we desire more from our church in prayer. Focussing a week of our time on prayer is one way of shifting aspiration to action. This year our Prayer Week will be when Lent begins, from Sunday March 3 to Sunday March 10. Please take up the opportunity to deepen your own prayer life and ask of God expectant requests for the good of the church and the world he loves.
Enjoy,
Jason