"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2
People talk about prayer, and sometimes we tell people they are going to pray. We pray silently, we pray out loud, we pray routinely and sometimes we forget to pray. The depth of prayer and the engine of prayer are vital. Here is a wonderful quote.
“A ministry may be a thoughtful ministry without prayer, and the preacher may secure fame and popularity without prayer. The whole machinery of the preacher’s life and work may be run without the oil of prayer or with scarcely enough to grease one cog, but no ministry can be a spiritual one that secures holiness in the preacher and in his people without prayer being made an evident and controlling force. “
E. M. Bounds, Pastor and Prayer: Why and How Pastors Ought to Pray(p. 34). Aneko Press.
I love that phrase - "the controlling force." It creates an avenue of realizing what the source of power is in all we do, and what our source of trust is in everything that exists. Prayer is at the feet of the Father, placing all results in His hands.
It is refreshing, not always easy, and yet the contrary is not very strong at all - in fact it is empty.
