Introduction to the Prayer Pathway
“He that will not pray cannot have communion with God. Yet more, there is no real, spiritual communion of the church with its own members when prayer is suspended. Prayer must be in action, or else those blessings which are vitally essential to the success of the church can never come to it. Prayer is the great door of spiritual blessing, and if you close it, you shut out the favour.” - Charles Spurgeon
What would you ask of Jesus?
Imagine being one of Jesus’s closest disciples and friends, having the chance to see all he did and hear all he taught. Imagine the opportunity came: What would you ask Jesus to teach you? Maybe how to do miracles? Maybe how to tell great stories (like his parables)? Maybe something else?
But what the disciples actually asked Jesus might surprise us.
Luke 11:1 (CSB) He [Jesus] was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
Prayer
That’s what the disciples wanted to glean from their Rabbi?! Maybe you are thinking: Isn’t prayer boring? Does it really matter how we pray, let alone, if we pray? The disciples' experience with Jesus made the answer obvious. They saw firsthand that prayer wasn’t boring or optional—it was powerful, essential, and the most life-changing lesson Christ could offer them. For the disciples, learning to pray like Jesus was the key to everything they hoped to become.
Now, did the disciples mean to teach them “how” to pray? Or simply for the motivation “to” pray as rhythmically and consistently as Christ’s own life? Perhaps we don’t have to choose between the two! The disciples wanted to receive an impartation on prayer from Christ: the motivation of prayer, the content of prayer, the intimacy that Jesus shared with the Father, and so on!
What if prayer is the epicenter of all spirituality? What if everything in the spiritual life either leads to prayer or flows out of prayer?
- Prayer is to turn our heart and attention toward God–whose heart and attention are ever-present toward us!
- Prayer is the art of learning to live attentively to the presence and power of God.
- Prayer is how we commune and communicate with God on this side of life until we are face-to-face with Him.
Let me promise you something from the start:
Prayer is not a waste of your time; prayer is a primary means by which God wields His power in and through our lives! If you want more of God’s presence and power in your life, learn to make prayer a daily rhythm of life!
Through this pathway, you’ll explore a wide variety of types or kinds of prayer. The content will be engaging and worth your time! However, this is not a study with information to learn and tuck away. Imagine every lesson as kinetic learning—where knowledge truly comes alive as you learn by doing! This journey will be hands-on. It is not just great information; it requires implementation. You must catch this: No theory of transformation does what time in the presence of God through prayer does for our transformation! Prayer is literally irreplaceable.
We must pray if we want to experience God (not just theorize about God). We must pray if we want to see life change in ourselves. We must pray if we are to see life change around us. Friends, we must pray! This is what the disciples noticed was the hallmark distinction about how Christ lived–in communion with the Father, which influenced everything he said and did.
“Real prayer comes not from gritting our teeth but from falling in love.” - Richard Foster
“Falling in love.”
That’s what you are invited into–love. You won’t pray more by falling in love with prayer, per se. You will pray more as you fall in love with God. Prayer is the spiritual practice that leads us to receive and embody the love of God. And we pray from the heart–the heart that loves the God who loved us first. John Chrysostom, an important leader in the church of the fourth century, once said this about prayer: “Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness.”
As we dig into the Prayer Pathway of the Discipleship Pathway, we will discuss a variety of tools that will help you engage in prayer–concluding with a practical challenge to help you to create your own rhythm of prayer.
This will be an investment of your time and energy, but it’ll produce rhythms and fruit that are worth it all. As we embark, please know that you will learn more from practicing prayer and implementing the tools imparted to you than you will simply by reading the material or even discussing it. Commit yourself to becoming a practitioner of prayer! No matter how developed (or underdeveloped) your prayer life is at the moment, we invite you to lean in–eager and expectant.
This will be an exciting adventure! But before we move forward, let’s take a moment to process where you are.
Discuss
- In your own words, describe how you feel about embarking on this prayer pathway. Perhaps you are inspired? Or maybe this feels daunting? Maybe you feel eager and ready? Or something else?
- Which best describes your prayer life (feel free to explain your answer)?
- “Praying to God is new to me, and I look forward to being equipped to connect with God in this way.”
- “Prayer is something I struggle to do, and I hope to find tools that will help me be more consistent and excited to pray.”
- “Prayer is an essential part of my life, and I hope to be encouraged to go even further in my prayer life with God.”