Fast 40: Practicing the Ancient Spiritual Discipline of LentSample

Leonard Ravenhill once thundered, “No man is greater than his prayer life.” That kind of aphorism (which he would utter so frequently and effortlessly) causes me to question whether I’m even a Christian. If no man is greater than his prayer life, then I am a very small man indeed.

But Scripture confirms Ravenhill’s point when it says, “pray at all times.” In church tradition, it is customary to pray three times a day. Here’s a question: Do you pray even once a day? Do you pray even once a week? Can you remember the last time you prayed?

Scripture says we are to “pray unceasingly” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Notice how it doesn’t say, “read your Bible unceasingly” or “listen to worship music unceasingly.” No, we are to pray continuously—dare I say, religiously.

We are supposed to be religious about our prayer. What does that mean? It means we are to deliberately and constantly fellowship with God! It is now culturally customary to say, “Christianity isn’t a religion; it’s a relationship”—which is a half-truth. The whole truth is that Christianity is a religion of relationship. The greater our religion, the deeper our relationship with God will be. And the greater our relationship with God, the deeper our prayer life will be.