Too Busy Not to Pray

by Bill Hybels

What I have discovered along the path of prayer-life cultivation is that the greatest thrill to a life of prayer is the qualitative difference made in one’s relationship with God.

People are drawn to prayer because they know that God’s power flows primarily to people who pray.

But God convinced me that I was not being honest with myself. The real reason my prayers were weak was that my faith was weak.

Or pastors may pray, “O Lord, help our church grow.” Surely God would want to honor that request! But if a pastor’s real meaning is “I want to be a star with a big church, fancy programs and lots of media coverage,” the request is wrong.

As I’ve studied prayer over the years, I’ve sensed God saying, “If we are supposedly enjoying a relationship, then why are you doing all the talking? Let me get a word in somewhere!”

The moment you surrender to Christ and become his, God cleanses you of your sin and simultaneously fills you with his Holy Spirit.

When rational human beings consider committing themselves to the One whose main mission has always been to exercise compassion instead of power, to serve the poor instead of his own desires for wealth or possessions and to lift up the downtrodden instead of his own ego, even the best of us feel a little queasy at our own inadequacy.

“You don’t have to stay on your futile, self-help plan, build your own little kingdom and then someday, when you’re old and gray and washed-up, just die and go to heaven. Far from it! When you choose to follow me, you can enter into a God-designed era in your life where together we find your role in fixing this broken world. Sure, you can look forward to eternal life in heaven. But between now and then, your earthly life can actually matter.”