Today our post in the Gospel Jump-Start Series focuses on how the gospel fuels our prayer life. Theologian Michael Reeves explains that the gospel is about us receiving from God the gift of eternal life in Christ. This posture of receiving fuels our prayer life as God’s children. In his booklet, Enjoy Your Prayer Life, he writes:
Being a Christian is first and foremost all about receiving, asking and depending. It’s when you don’t feel needy (and so when you don’t pray much) that you lose your grip on reality and think or act in an unchristian manner. In fact, as you grow as a Christian, you should feel not more self-sufficient but ever more needy. If you don’t, I’m not sure you’re growing spiritually. If you really feel your need to depend on God, though, prayer will simply flow from this. (pgs. 33-34, emphasis mine)
He concludes:
Prayer is the antithesis of self-dependence. It is our ‘no’ to independence and our ‘no’ to personal ambition. It is the exercise of faith—that you need God and are a needy receiver. With this in mind, instead of chasing the idol of our own productivity, let’s be dependent children—and let the busyness that could keep us from prayer drive us to prayer. (pg. 34, emphasis original)
Let’s live this week keenly aware of our neediness and may that realization drive us to prayer often.
Written by Matt Baker