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There are several ways the people of God can confidently know and faithfully do the will of God. These ways include, but are not limited to, regularly reading the Bible, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, circumstances ordained by God, affirmation by other believers, the natural world created by the Lord, and sincere prayer. In this 40-day devotional, the focus is prayer.
In fact, The Gift of Prayer was written with three goals. First, to teach believers how to live a life of sincere gratitude toward the Lord through a life of fervent, humble, and sincere prayer. Second, to demonstrate the power of prayer through examples of God’s response to the petitions of His people. Third, to unleash the power of prayer in the increasingly angry, anxious, hurried, and hurting world in which we live.
With regard to teaching believers to have a heart of gratitude through fervent prayer, it is important for every child of God to see the daily working of the Lord in the midst of the peaks and valleys of life. When we consider the protection and provision of the Lord in view of our past prayers, we can gratefully go to Him with our present requests, and look forward to going to Him for our needs tomorrow. Just as our physical needs are met by our “daily bread,” so too does God hear our daily prayers and meet our daily needs. In many ways, God’s answer to a heartfelt prayer is our daily spiritual bread.
The second purpose of The Gift of Prayer is to record specific instances when God has answered the prayers of His people. By conveying these examples, the hope is that the effectiveness of prayer will be put to the test and found to be incredibly powerful. What that means to you, the reader, is that your most pressing prayer request right now can be lifted to the Lord right now. Don’t delay. God answers prayer.
The third goal is to be part of a great movement of the Holy Spirit by unleashing the power of prayer. In so doing, the hope is that we would experience a great spiritual revival in our day. A true global revival would require the powerful working of the Holy Spirit, faithful preaching of God’s Word, a commitment to discipleship, a renewed emphasis on missions and evangelism, and, of course, fervent prayer. There is no doubt that prayer will, by necessity, be an arrow in the quiver of a global revival. It is my prayer that this book would be part of such a remarkable movement of God Almighty.
The great hope of this book, therefore, is to help turn our hearts back to our first love, which is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is our greatest treasure. Such an effort would require us to draw closer to Him in faithful, fervent, humble, and sincere prayer. Indeed, our prayer life will need a serious “faith lift” if we are to become the people of God that He calls us to be. Amen.
