How will we ever get to the point where we realize that our lives are more about relationships with God and with others, and not so much about work and money and news and politics? Through “Significant Time in Prayer and Bible Study.” What do I mean by significant prayer life?
One definition of the word significant is: substantial; relatively large in amount.
Is that how you would characterize your Prayer and Bible Study time?
In his book How to Develop a Powerful Prayer Life, Dr. Gregory Frizzell’s rightly states:
“No one’s relationship with Christ will ever rise above the level of his or her praying. Put simply, if your prayer life is inconsistent and weak, so will be your relationship with God…. Brief, inconsistent prayer times never produce powerful Spirit-filled believers. Furthermore, brief inconsistent prayer never has and never will bring a Great Spiritual Awakening. In America, we have made a “god” out of the ideas of convenience and ease. We want to give God a brief minute or two and try to fit Him into our busy schedules if it is convenient. The God of the Universe deserves and requires far more than this to release His full power on our lives. If Jesus and the early church spent much time in prayer, what makes us think we can do less? If every generation which saw a sweeping Great Awakening spent much time in prayer, why would we think God has changed His requirement for today? God’s requirements have not changed and they never will. Unfortunately, what has changed is our definition of what constitutes a powerful prayer life. A three or four minute daily devotion is not what is meant by a powerful prayer life.”
I would think that “significant prayer time” means at least 30 minutes in uninterrupted time with God – reading His Word to hear from Him and offering back our prayers in response. Now if our immediate reaction is: “I can’t commit to 30 minutes of time with God,” then that means we still have a long way to go in understanding the meaning of life and the heart of God. We make significant time for other things. When will we set aside a significant amount of time for God?
Pray that God would transform you into a person that desires to spend significant time with Him.