The Importance of Prayer - IHOPKC Blog
The best thing all of us can do to improve ourselves, our lives, and our relationships is to grow in prayer.

The Importance of Prayer

by Mike Bickle
4/28/16 Prayer

We begin our journey of growing in prayer by acknowledging that prayer is not only for beginners but also for mature believers. Otherwise there would be no point in trying to grow in it!

The Lord calls every believer to a life of prayer—no matter how long he has been saved or how experienced he is in this discipline. The best thing all of us can do to improve ourselves, our lives, and our relationships is to grow in prayer.

Prayer is a means of connecting with the Holy Spirit, who energizes us to love God. Our love for God then causes us to overflow in love for others. Jesus made an absolute statement about our inability to walk in the fullness of our destinies in God without growing in prayer. He said that unless we abide in Him, we can do nothing related to bearing fruit or maturing in our spiritual lives: “He who remains in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For without Me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5).

Because we are not the source of spiritual life ourselves, we cannot generate it, nor can we receive it unless we abide in Christ. Just as it is impossible for us to jump a hundred feet even if we push ourselves, it is impossible for us to generate spiritual life. It is not an issue of practice; we were not created to be able to jump a hundred feet! And neither were we created to have Spirit-life while living independently of the Spirit. We must abide in Christ and grow in prayer to make our lives work.

The Holy Spirit will move in a new and powerful way in your heart and life as you take time to grow in prayer. The change may not happen…

Read the rest of the article »

Mike Bickle is the director of the International House of Prayer of Kansas City. This article is excerpted from his book, Growing in Prayer.

Reprinted with permission from Charisma. Copyright Charisma Media, USA. All rights reserved. www.charismamag.com

Mike Bickle

position

  • Founder, IHOPKC

Mike Bickle is the founder of the International House of Prayer, an evangelical missions organization based on 24/7 prayer with worship. He is also the founder of International House of Prayer University, which includes full-time ministry, music, and media schools.

Mike’s teaching emphasizes growing in passion for Jesus through intimacy with God, doing evangelism and missions work from the place of night-and-day prayer, and the end times. He is the author of several books, including Growing in Prayer, Passion for Jesus, God’s Answer to the Growing CrisisGrowing in the Prophetic, and Prayers to Strengthen Your Inner Man.  Mike and his wife, Diane, have two married sons and six grandchildren.

Tell us what you think