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The Fruits of Prayer

What happens when you open your heart to God and pray?

You care. As you pray for God's kingdom, his people, and the needs of the lost, you begin to care. God starts to work on your priorities and your compassion. You start seeing that there are people to serve with the gospel. And you start to love serving their needs.

You find you have nothing to complain about. Prayerlessness contracts your life and ministry to the size of your abilities. You'll quickly discover that those abilities, aside from grace, are tiny and feeble. And how you'll complain then! But open your heart to God, reflect on the greatness of his power and grace, and you can live with yourself and your life. More than that, you can live with contentment and peace. Only then can you bear lasting fruit.

God gets to work on your worries. When you don't pray, you get worried. Prayerlessness is abandoning ourselves either to fate or, worse, to ourselves. No wonder we find life stressful when prayer dries up. Prayer is recapturing a Christ-centered worldview, in which we celebrate again his loving rule. Problems might not go away, but they regain their God-ordained perspective.

You get refreshed. God guides you through the tasks you need to get done, and gives you strength for them. He gives you wisdom so that you don't get committed to things you shouldn't be doing or don't have the skills for. Working in his strength is joyful, fruitful, and satisfying. Yes, our Father is unseen; but prayed-for grace is visible and glorious.

LEWIS ALLEN
(Source: The Preachers’ Catechism)

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