Prayer is central to the life of Christ-follower.

A life of intimacy with God is the foundation of living out the calling and the fruitful life God has purposed us for; it is key to living out in the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Having an intimate relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, begins with daily conversations and a vibrant prayer life. 

This will help us build sensitivity to His voice and motivation for living in the Supernatural as He has destined us to.
Here are opportunities you can be involved in to build a life of intimacy with God through prayer.

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. – Colossians 4:2

Prayer may not have been in your syllabus at school, but prayer is key curriculum in every believer’s life. If you feel lacking in prayer, don’t be discouraged! In Luke 11, one of the disciples asked Jesus how they should pray – and Jesus taught them: When you pray, say:
‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’
Similarly to Jesus’ disciples, we all start somewhere in our prayer journey and God meets us there. As we begin to appreciate the necessity and joy of meeting with God in prayer, He will then guide and lead us into deeper things. To have a strong personal prayer life, we must cultivate it; it is not something we can inherit or receive. And our priorities will show in the way we choose to use our time and in our habits; prayer should be our first line of defence and not a last resort.

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. – Luke 6:12

Jesus showed us the importance of choosing to pray.
As we spend time alone with God in prayer, we enter into communion with the Father. And it is there in our secret place of prayer that our inner man is strengthened, our spirits are lifted, and our perspectives are renewed and changed to see what God sees. In order to know God, we must know how to be alone with Him. And in our place of meeting with Him, we are gradually transformed into His likeness as we learn to lay aside, with joyful obedience, the things that hinder us from pleasing God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. – Ephesians 6:18

Praying together as a church and for the church is not only a mark of unity, but also a cultivator of unity. More than fellow church members, we are also partners in Christ and co-labourers in the Great Commission.

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. – Ephesians 4:16

In praying for the church, we build one another up as each part does its work. When Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed earnestly to God for him (Acts 12:5) and Paul asked often for the church to join him in his struggle by praying for him (Romans 15:30). Prayer is one of the most powerful ways we can support one another in our ministries and ways we live out our shared mission to bring God’s light into the darkness. Praying for the church body reminds us that we are neither alone nor self-sufficient.

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. – 1 Corinthians 12:12

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. – Acts 1:8

In other words, our great shared Commission isn’t fulfilled until all nations have heard of the Good News of Jesus Christ. As we develop compassion and commit ourselves to praying for the nations, we must open our spiritual eyes to see what God is doing and how He is moving.
40 years ago in 1978, Evangelist Billy Graham prophesied that Singapore would be the Antioch of Asia. Antioch (in modern day Turkey) was one of the most influential cities of its time. The church of Antioch was a sending base from which missionaries were sent into other cities and countries. As we pray for the nations and God’s Antioch call upon Singapore, may we also consider how we can take hold of our calling to be the Antioch of Asia.

“There are parts of our calling, works of the Holy Spirit, and defeats of the darkness that will come no other way than through furious, fervent, faith-filled, unceasing prayer.” – Beth Moore