Prayer (this side of heaven) will always be hard and will always take discipline, but when I see it as a means to communion with God, it feels more like a “get to” than a “have to.”
Abide and Obey by Kevin DeYoung taken from The Hole in Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung, copyright 2012, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org, p. 131.
And infallible test of godly joy is the degree to which a believer prays more earnestly for the benefit and blessing of others than for his own.
Taken from Philippians, Moody Publishers, Copyright 2001, p. 21. Used by Permission.
Lack of joy reveals itself in three ways: in negative thoughts and talk about others, in a lack of concern for their welfare, and in the failure to intercede on their behalf. Joyless believers are self-centered, selfish, proud, and often vengeful, and their self-centeredness inevitably manifests itself in prayerlessness.
Taken from Philippians, Moody Publishers, Copyright 2001, p. 22. Used by Permission.
Prayer is God’s appointed way to fullness of joy because it is the vent of the inward burnings of our heart for Christ. If we had no vent, if we could not commune with Him in response to His Word, we would be miserable indeed.
Desiring God, 1996, p. 150, Used by Permission, www.desiringGod.org. Get this book!
