Diocesan 20/20 Vision: A People of Prayer

Prayer is critical to the Christian life lived out as individuals and collectively as church communities. In the diocesan 20/20 Vision we have committed ourselves to be people of prayer, who depend on God for everything. This year
2016 is one in which prayer is being emphasized. In this we draw our inspiration and instruction from the Bible. In his letters to the emerging churches of the 1st Century AD, the Apostle Paul, is a church leader who models the vitality of prayer.In his Letter to the Colossians, for example, he makes two prayer requests in verses 9 to 11 of the opening chapter.

Paul pays first of all that these Christians in Colossae may be filled with an ever-growing knowledge of the will of God. It is a great thing to know the will of God. In prayer we do not seek to persuade God to act on our will, but that his will be done. In prayer we speak to God, but we also must listen to him.

Knowing God’s will, Paul maintains will be translated into action. So when Paul prays that these Colossians may have spiritual wisdom and understanding, he asks that his friends may live in such a way as to please God. In this way prayer is a very practical thing. Prayer and action go hand in hand. We pray not in order to escape life but in order to be able to meet the daily demands of living. In this we need God’s power to enable us to live out the life God intends for each one of us.

For Christians, prayer is the air we breathe. Without breath we will not live and without prayer we will not live as God intends. So let us pray.