The Importance Of Prayer

Luke 18:1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.

In Luke 18:1, Jesus spoke a parable to his disciples that, "men ought always to pray and not to faint." Jesus underscored the importance of prayer. The word translated faint means to lack courage, lose heart or give up. So instead of losing heart, lacking courage or giving up, we are encouraged to pray. What is prayer? Prayer is communicating with God. It does not always have to be a petition but can simply be a time of thanksgiving to and fellowship with our Heavenly Father.

In his letter to the Thessalonian church, Paul encouraged them to "pray without ceasing" 1. Thes. 5:17. Henry Thiessen said' "No one can read the Bible without being impressed with the large place given to prayer in its pages." Tennyson said, "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." Calvin wrote, "Words fail to explain how necessary prayer is."

Jesus was a man of prayer. The Scriptures inform us that "having risen a long time before daylight, Jesus went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. Luke records that Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." (Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12). Not only is our individual prayer live important, but we also observe that the Early Church when faced with severe persecution, came together and prayed and experienced great victory. (Acts 4: 23-31).

Noted Bible teacher, E.W. Kenyon said, "If you don't take time to pray, you are losing out.... No matter how you feel, drive yourself to pray."

Heavenly Father, help us to see the importance of prayer and may we take our place of prayer for the benefit of ourselves, our families, your church and your world. Amen!