Prayer is the Work
Yesterday I quoted from PT Forsyth. In his book The Soul of Prayer he has several quotes that I want to share and urge you to consider.
I’m tempted to just leave today’s blog with the quotes, but he speaks of prayer as labor and all who have tried to pray know that this is true. The flesh hates prayer because the enemy hates it.
At the end of Paul’s letter to Colossae he speaks of Epaphras and said, he is always “struggling on your behalf in his prayers.” The word “struggling” is used in 1 Corinthians 9 of an athlete who runs to win and in Colossians 1:29 Paul uses the same word when he speaks of toiling and struggling with all his energy that God powerfully works within him. It is the Greek word from which we get our English word agonize.
In Romans 15 Paul uses the word again when he pleads, “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf…”
The reason so many do not pray is because prayer is work…it is the work and as Forsyth said, it isn’t so much that we pray to live the Christian life…prayer is the Christian life.
“The worst sin is prayerlessness.”
“Not to want to pray, then, is the sin behind sin. And it ends in not being able to pray.”
“Prayer is the assimilation of a holy God’s moral strength. We must work for this living. To feed the soul we must toil at prayer. And what a labor it is!”
“For it is the Christ at prayer who lives in us, and we are conduits of the Eternal Intercession.”
“But at last, it is truer to say that we live the Christian life in order to pray than we pray in order to live the Christian life.”
I’m tempted to just leave today’s blog with the quotes, but he speaks of prayer as labor and all who have tried to pray know that this is true. The flesh hates prayer because the enemy hates it.
At the end of Paul’s letter to Colossae he speaks of Epaphras and said, he is always “struggling on your behalf in his prayers.” The word “struggling” is used in 1 Corinthians 9 of an athlete who runs to win and in Colossians 1:29 Paul uses the same word when he speaks of toiling and struggling with all his energy that God powerfully works within him. It is the Greek word from which we get our English word agonize.
In Romans 15 Paul uses the word again when he pleads, “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf…”
The reason so many do not pray is because prayer is work…it is the work and as Forsyth said, it isn’t so much that we pray to live the Christian life…prayer is the Christian life.
Recent
Archive
2025
April
Rungs in the ladder of prayerThe Rung of ResidenceThe Prayer Rung of ComprehensionThe Rung of FullnessCommitment to PrayerChristlike in PrayerPrayer is the WorkHow to PrayPraying the ArmorHow to pray without ceasingPraying the PsalmsThree Kinds of PrayerWrite it DownGood Friday PrayerPraying with TozerPraying with Tozer part 2Praying with Tozer part 3Praying with John StottThree Keys to PrayerPraying with PaulPraying with PaulA Reason to Praise
May
Praying to Continue in the FaithPraying as I ReadKeeping in Step with the Holy SpiritA Page from my Prayer JournalLiving a Spirit Filled LifeSaturated in the Word as we Pray the WordAbounding in LovePraying for the LostFilled with the FullnessWalk by the SpiritLed by the SpiritLive by the SpiritKeep in Step with the SpiritSpiritual RhythmsLife is War so PrayChasing HolinessPrayer as a Wartime Walkie TalkieGod has given us everything we needChanged as we get to know GodDivine NatureAbba FatherAbba in HeavenHallowed be Your nameKingdom ComeYour will be doneGive us this day
June
Forgive UsAs we forgive othersDeliver us from evilAmenIntimacy and PrayerThe Manifest PresenceBoarder or ChildKnowledgeStrengthen me with PowerFullnessThat He May GrantA Work of the TrinityValley of VisionDoing what we're Created to DoThe Ultimate ArtistIntimacy with GodFour Circles of IntimacyFour Pictures of IntimacyI need to repent of my repentanceWe were made to worshipCome into His presence singingPray BoldlyWhy PrayDo You Pray?Equipment for PrayerPray and Expect God to Move
July
The Value of PrayerPress OnPray without CeasingRefuel DailyThe Trinity in our PrayersThe Difference Prayer MakesNo gaps in our time with GodEverything will ChangePrayer-Reading the BiblePrayer-ReadingTime in the PresenceEternal ThingsLearning to WaitPraying for the SickHow Important is PrayerPraying with HopeKeep it UpThe Church's Prayer BookChristlikeness requires Time with ChristDaily Walk with JesusGod-IntoxicatedHoly Spirit PossessionEvery Moment HolyThree Assumptions of JesusYour Father who is in secret.
No Comments