Prayer is the greatest evidence of believing faith. It proves we are trusting in a God who we know is real, active, powerful, wise, benevolent, just, sovereign, willing, and able. A strong prayer life is of vital importance to the daily life of every Christian.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, on the night He was arrested, Jesus found his disciples sleeping when they should have been praying. He warned them that prayerlessness would make them weak and unable to resist temptation. "The Spirit is indeed willing," He said, "but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41.) We also need to heed Jesus' warning to stay vigilant in prayer. It has been rightly said, "Satan laughs at our toiling, mocks our wisdom, but trembles when he sees the weakest saint on his knees." Prayer gives us an advantage over the devil, the flesh, and the world. When we neglect time alone with the Lord, we leave ourselves, and those around us, unprotected and vulnerable to the enemy and his schemes.

• Prayerlessness Produces Poverty – our resources run out when we don't depend on God, and we wind up on dry, dusty paths that are unable to sustain us.
  
  
• Prayerlessness Slows Progress – we stop going forward and begin loosing ground, traveling the back roads of our own will instead of yielding fully to His holy highway.
  
  
• Prayerlessness Limits Possibilities – we lose precious opportunities for the gospel and miss out on His best for us when we seek to live for our own kingdom instead of His.

The truth is we have a formidable enemy who exploits all our weaknesses. If he can't get us to fall openly in rebellion and sin, then he'll distract us in more subtle ways and keep us too busy to pray. He knows how easily we are enticed by worldly comforts and successes, so he will see to it that our schedules are crammed with lots of good but "temporal" activities, in order to ensure that the better "eternal" work of God goes undone. Satan knows the thunderous echoes heard in the heavenly throne room when sinners repent can most effectively be silenced when Christians become captivated by the sound of their own earthly applause.

What is your prayer life like today? Are you depending fully on the Lord and seeking Him daily? Or are you experiencing the drought that comes from neglecting time alone with God? Here's a short list of some practical suggestions that will help you to develop a more consistent prayer time.

PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES FOR PERSONAL PRAYER Find a quiet, undisturbed spot; block out a specific time each day for focused prayer (Mark 1:35.) Open your whole heart to the Lord's scrutiny (Psalm 139:23-24.) Pray with your Bible open, beginning your time with a brief Scripture reading. Have a pen and a journal ready for notes, inspirations, and other things that you need to remember to do later. (Hint: These things always come to mind when you decide to pray, but if you jot them down, instead of letting them interrupt your time, you'll have a "to do" list when you're done.) Get comfortable, but not too comfortable (lest you dose off.) Don't leave. When your time is over, determine to remain in an attitude of prayer throughout your day (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Psalm 16:11.)

The great people of the earth are the people who pray... not those who talk about prayer; not those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but those people who take time and pray. They have not time. It must be taken from something else. This something else is important – very important and pressing, but still less important and pressing than prayer.

Throughout history, godly men and women who have made prayer a priority are the ones who have done the most to impact our world for Christ. Some of them we know by name, but most of them have slipped through time unnoticed and unappreciated. I think of my own grandmother who spent years on her knees faithfully doing battle in prayer. Her influence in the heavenly places opened many effective doors for the gospel to go forth here on earth.

As Christians, we will never reach higher than when we bow humbly before the Lord in prayer. No matter how busy or distracted our lives may become, we need to resolve to spend time each day on our knees – not just "saying" our prayers, but truly quieting our souls before our Father in heaven and entering into His holy Presence. As we do He will restore our souls and enable us to meet every challenge.

Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. – Isaiah 40:31