Scripture: Luke 11:1
Key Verse: 20He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Spiritual B3
I remember a few years ago, I flew to Chicago to celebrate with my father, Rev. Dr. Reginald E. Bachus, for his pastoral anniversary. On this occasion pastor and recording artists Marvin Sapp was the guest preacher. Before the service began, we were all sitting around and talking about preaching and singing, when suddenly Pastor Sapp broke out in this musical vocal run and he did it a few times in demonstration of what he was working on adding to his repertoire. I stood there amazed and actually felt robbed of a key insight into mastery.
For a long time, I thought people like Pastor Sapp who were phenomenal singers, or whatever their craft, possessed a natural talent and (in a spiritual context) anointing that allowed them to do whatever they wanted vocally whenever they wanted without real practice or effort. That lesson taught me that greatness is partially natural and anointing but mostly persistent practice in the pursuit of mastery.
Now let’s look at Jesus, God the Son, in whom the full Godhead dwelled yet we discover a disciplined and devoted prayer life. Be honest, if we were Jesus, we’d take days off and act as if we got this, because we were God. But that’s not what Jesus did, and if he didn’t do it. how can we even flirt with the possibility of having any spiritual and supernatural prayer power without doing what Jesus did?
After the necessary prayer and meditation that led to this revelation, I remember sitting there with a knot of shame sitting in the pit of my stomach. I felt foolish because I always operated, not just in prayer but many areas of my life, like I had the ability to just turn it on and off like a remote switch at my leisure. If Martin Luther felt compelled to pray at least 3 hours a day to start the Protestant Reformation, how was I going to start a Spiritual Revival without locking in at least 3 hours or more of prayer daily, in addition to the time I spent talking to God throughout my regular day?
I know that sounds like a lot, that’s what I said too at first. But if I was serious about seeing a Move of God and getting 100,000 people to take a pledge to pray, I had to be serious enough about prayer to rearrange my life.
This is what I discovered about the prayer life of Jesus and felt compelled to implement into my own life. Jesus would rise and pray “a long while before daylight” and in a “solitary place”, “on the mountain” and in “the wilderness”. Jesus not only prayed early in the morning before daybreak, but He also prayed “when evening came”. (See Mark 1:35; Matthew 14:23; and Luke 5:16)
If I wanted to be great at prayer, meaning that my prayers began being answered more; I felt the peace, presence, and power of God in my prayers; I had more spiritual insight and discernment about what specifically to pray for; and if I wanted to get back into the prophetic and healing anointing on my life I could not rely on my natural gifting or even my anointing—but I had to go all in and truly follow the model of Jesus’ prayer life!
CPR Kit for the Soul:
- Centering Theme: Sit still and begin to meditate on what you want your prayer life to look like.
- Prayer Topic: Pray for God to show you how to rearrange your schedule and life around prayer.
- Reflection Thought: Do I desire my prayer life to go to the next level enough to put in the work?
T3 Prayer Booster:
- Dear Lord, please show me the deficiencies in my prayer life that keep my prayer life plateaued.
- Lord, grant me the wisdom and space to rearrange my schedule around You, rather than trying to fit You in my schedule.
- Father God You know my heart’s desire and I ask that although I feel like I sometimes fail at aligning my actions with my true spiritual desires, I pray that you help me to do what Jesus did, so I can see what Jesus saw.
