The Pastor’s Prayer Life

Okay, true confession time. Do you pray as much as you ought? Do you pray as much as you would like? Are you disciplined about when you pray and what you pray for? Do you have a person or group of people who keep you accountable in the area of prayer? Do you pray more in private than you do in public?

How you answer the above questions can tell you a few things about your spiritual appetite for a growing and thriving prayer life. My guess is that even if you pray for an hour or more every day, you still don’t pray as much as you would like. As a matter of fact, I would contend that the more a pastor, or any follower of Christ, prays, the more that person realizes his or her need for prayer.

As we begin our discussion over the next few days, consider the following questions:

• What is my appetite for prayer?
• Is prayer a joy or a duty?
• Am Iworking hard to establish the habitual discipline of prayer?
• Do I pray even when I don’t feel like it as an act of worship to God?
• Am Ilistening when I pray or just talking?
• Does my prayer life look more like a conversation or a laundry list?