Pray

Some time ago, I realized that God had selected me as a knee in the body of Christ. He’s called me to intercede on others’ behalf as I seek His will and His ways. I love to pray, to write about prayer, and to teach others what He’s taught me.

Did you know that. . .

Prayer is a relationship, not an activity? It’s not a formula, plan, or request matched with an answer. Instead, prayer expresses an intimate connection with a loving God. God designed us for relationship—one that flows through the language of prayer.

“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

God hears and answers our prayers? That’s a truth I couldn’t understand until I came to Christ during my college years. His responses find their source in His loving character, not our ability or inability. He loves us. He listens to us. And He responds.

“’Call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know’” (Jeremiah 33:3).

Prayer operates on kairos (eternal) time, not chronos (clock) time? Sometimes, I’m tempted to restrict God to the confines of my understanding or reduce our communication to a checklist. Biblical wisdom reveals prayer as a constant cycle, not a cause-and-effect correlation.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

Marti’s Favorite Quotes on Prayer

“Prayer is not for the purpose of getting God to help us. . . but for getting us in line with what God is about to do. Prayer is God’s invitation to enter His throne room so He can lay His agenda over our hearts.—Henry and Norman Blackaby

“Through prayer you can give your love, your very self to any person, group of people, or nation. Prayer is the only expression of love which cannot be stopped or rejected.”—Wesley L. Duewel

“I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel that it would be truer to give prayer the first, second and third place, and teaching the fourth.”— J. O. Fraser

“The one concern of the Devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, BUT TREMBLES WHEN WE PRAY.”—Samuel Chadwick

“What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and noble methods, but men whom the Holy Spirit can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men—men of prayer.”—E. M. Bounds