Dear Children of the Kingdom;

May the grace, mercy and peace of Jesus be with you. As we enter the popular week-end of Easter, with all its festivities and often elaborate church performances, allow me to focus your attention on a more humble, but far more substantial act: Prayer. Prayer is your lifeline to Jesus. Today, I would like to exhort you to make full use of prayer, moving beyond the elementary needs we so often express to God through it. Among those are the need for good health for us and our families, prosperity in all things, and safety.

If your prayers are limited to those elementary things, then you are missing a great deal about what prayer can, and was always meant to provide.

Look at what the Apostle Paul said about Himself and Timothy to the Colossians:

Colossians 1:9,10 – And so, from the day we heard [of your love in the Spirit], we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

What a powerful confession. Paul and Timothy prayed constantly for the Colossians, not for their families, jobs, health, etc. but so that they might filled with the knowledge of God’s will so that they would be able to walk worthy of Him by bearing all the fruits that Jesus and His Father so long for.

You see, this is making full use of what prayer is supposed to be about…Father, cause me to grow in You, that I may fully understand Your Will, so that I will be bearing all of those fruits You so desire!

The secret of a deep relationship with Christ, the secret for abounding in all those fruits Jesus look for, is prayer. It is not your many acts of charity, it is not your bible study, it is not your observance of the Sabbath, it is not your tithing, and it might not even be what role you will play at your church’s Easter performance. Any of those things could be fine. But they amount to nothing unless you have a real relationship with the One who is our very lifeline…Jesus. And not just prayer, but what you pray for, is the greatest instrument yet given to us to grow in that intimate relationship. For that kind of prayer can only be made by a heart that really loves.

Does not the word say…

1 Corinthians 13:1 – If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Do not be satisfied with where you are in your spiritual journey. Instead, continue to strive to know Your Lord more, to know the Father more. Pray for bigger things. I say, Pray! Seek bigger things, spiritual and eternal things. Can you imagine for a minute the joy of God our Father when He hears such prayers? Can you imagine the joy of our Lord Jesus when He hears that what you really want is to be just like Him and spent time with Him?  As you first seek the Kingdom of God, did not Jesus promise that all your needs will be met (Matthew 6:33)?

As we celebrate the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus this Easter, let us strive to honor Him, not just with our words and performances, but with our heart.

May you therefore be encouraged to start praying for bigger things…

May Jesus be glorified in our lives, today and forever.

Amen.