Valuing Prayer

Years ago I did a research paper on D.L. Moody. One of the things that stood out to me was his emphasis on prayer. Ne believed that prayer is the key to a vibrant spiritual life. He also understood that prayer has the power to move both God and people. When I read that he often spent up to eight hours a day in prayer, I was challenged. Prayer wasn’t just an optional thing he did every now and again. It was critical, to his relationship with God and his ministry. His prayer life created a constant connection and conversation with God. It also was the power behind his ministry. He had found that behind every great move of God was a person, or group of people, who persevered in prayer.

In Daniel 6, we read the famous story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den that most of us learned as a kid. He had an excellent spirit about him, and as verse 4 puts it, he was faithful, responsible and trustworthy. When the other officials tricked the king into creating a law that no one could pray to anyone but the king, Daniel still went home to pray to God three times a day. He valued his prayer time with God more than his own life. When he was thrown into the lion’s den, God met him there and shut the mouths of the lions because of his faithfulness to God and prayer. The king then made a decree for the people of his nation to fear and honor God.

Colossians 4:2 says, “Be persistent and devoted to prayer, being alert and focused in your prayer life with an attitude of thanksgiving” (AMP). Imagine how much would change if we each had a persistent and devoted prayer life. Daniel and D.L. Moody were able to change their nation because of their attention to prayer. I’ve always taught that we have time for what we value, and I believe it’s time we as Christians returned to valuing prayer in our lives. If God is truly the most important relationship in our life, we will make time to converse with Him. The depth of our relationship with Him is in proportion to our prayer life. We must have focused, purposeful prayers if we want to grow spiritually, be effective in our work for Him and see another great move of God in our world.

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