It’s Time to Pray Like Never Before (And Keep Doing It)

“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:24)

Prayer is the most powerful thing we can do.

Prayer brings the power of God into the lives of the people of God.  It moves heaven and earth.  It changes the course of lives and the course of history.  It can soften hearts and move the Kingdom of Heaven forward.  It can thwart any plan of the enemy.  It is a power that cannot be stopped.

Unless we stop.

Have you forgotten?

It would seem, wouldn’t it, that if we really believed in the power of prayer, we would never cease to pray?  But how much of our day is spent in prayer…compared to what we spend in countless activities that will not impact eternity? Sadly, for me, prayer often gets postponed, rushed, or forgotten for most of the day. I’m guessing you might struggle with that, too.

When we fail to pray, it means that we have forgotten the power of coming before the throne of God.  When our prayers lack passion and consistency, it shows that the Kingdom and glory of God no longer has the biggest hold on our hearts.

Not just then, but now

It’s easy to get excited about prayer at big events like Challenge. And I hope you are excited to pray with thousands of your brothers and sisters in New Orleans.

But don’t wait until July.

Our Father is waiting for us now. We can begin now to impact the lives of those around us—and those we’ve never met—if we begin to make it a habit to lift up that time together and those we will share it with.

So simple it’s crazy

It begins pretty simply. It begins with stopping the noise in our lives right now, if even for a few minutes, to ask God to reveal Himself again to us and give us a heart to turn to Him. Prayer has to start with God revealing Himself to us and drawing our hearts closer. Then there’s no limit to the prayers we can pray—for ourselves, for our friends, for Challenge, for our generation, for the world. And there is no limit to the power at work in us when we do so—it’s the same power that raised Christ from the dead (Eph 1:19-20)! Crazy, isn’t it?

With so much at stake and so much God is waiting to do if we will only ask… Will you join me in praying?

This is a guest post from Jennifer Kvamme, who has served with Challenge for many years and is the youth ministries coordinator at Centennial Evangelical Free Church.