Not that long ago, I completed at 14-day devotional based on Timothy Keller’s book on prayer. I loved it so much, I decided to repeat it. The impact remains. I am just as stirred up about the priority and necessity of prayer as when I did it the first time. Instead of sharing bits and pieces with you, I thought it is best that I share some excerpts from the devotional. I pray that God will encourage you through Keller’s words…

The Bible is all about God, and that is why the practice of prayer is so pervasive throughout its pages. The greatness of prayer is nothing but an extension of the greatness and glory of God in our lives. The Scripture is one long testimony to this truth.

In Genesis, we see every one of the patriarchs…praying with familiarity and directness. Abraham’s doggedly insistent prayer for God’s mercy on the pagan cities of Sodom and Gomorrah is remarkable. In Exodus, prayer was the way Moses secured the liberation of Israel from Egypt. The gift of prayer makes Israel great: “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to Him?” (Deut 4:7)…

Jesus taught his disciples to pray, healed people with prayers, denounced the corruption of the temple worship (which, He said, should be a ‘house of prayer’), and insisted that some demons could be cast out only through prayer. He prayed often and regularly with fervent cries and tears (Heb 5:7), and sometimes all night. The Holy Spirit came upon Him and anointed Him as He was praying (Luke 3:21-22), and He was transfigured with the divine glory as He prayed (Luke 9:29). When He faced his greatest crisis, He did so with prayer. We hear Him praying for His disciples and the church on the night before He died (John 17:1-26) and then petitioning God in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Finally, He died praying…

To fail to pray, then, is not to merely break some religious rule – it is a failure to treat God as God. It is a sin against his glory. “Far be it from me”, said the prophet Samuel to his people, “that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you” (1 Sam 12:23). King David composed much of the Psalter, God’s inspired prayer book, filled with appeals to “you who answer prayer” (Ps 65:2). His son Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem and then dedicated it with a magnificent prayer. Solomon’s main petition for the temple was that from it God would hear his people’s prayers – indeed, Solomon’s highest prayer was for the gift of prayer itself. Beyond that, he hoped those from other nations would “hear of your great name…and pray toward this temple” (1 Kings 8:42). Again we see prayer is simply a recognition of the greatness of God.

May we devote ourselves afresh to prayer!

Coram Deo,

Mark Ng