Allow me to tell you how God broke through to me about prayer. According to Paul Miller, author and founder of A Praying Life, 90% of evangelicals are living prayerless Christian lives. That means they have no regular prayer life outside of praying at meals, because of difficulties, or during weekly church services. A Praying Life Ministries showed me how to become like a child. Bob Allums, the Director of A Praying Life Ministries, explains that,

The Church is frustrated because it has lost its first love. It is running out of fuel—the fuel of faith that only comes from doing all of life in vibrant communion with the Father. For most Christians, our relationship with our Heavenly Father is like one with a cousin we haven't seen in years. We're related, but we don't enjoy a close intimate relationship.

Why? We tried to become good at prayer, but it went badly. We got distracted, felt we didn't do prayer right, then felt guilty and quit. Christians have a way of falling into a place of quiet defeat called prayerlessness.

In addition, the pervasive unbelief of our secular culture has sadly made its way into the culture of God's people. While the Church may be visible for Sunday worship, it is virtually invisible when it comes to truly living in the rich life of communion that God promised. Too many Christians live out their days in a quiet, defeated, and unfruitful non-relationship with their Father.

God has promised something more, something deeper. He has promised life, real life, even abundant life. (John 10:10).

A Praying Life Ministries is inspiring and training Christians to pray vibrantly, joyfully, and meaningfully in daily connection with God. We help followers of Jesus learn what it means to be a child of the Father. That's it, that's the key: learning how to be a child.

Building up people to pray is building up the Church, and that's why we do what we do. A dynamic praying church reads Scripture more carefully, worships more sincerely, gives more liberally and loves more sacrificially.

By focusing on prayer, we bless the Church by showing how to 'do life' the way Jesus did his earthly life. Jesus prayed before making all major decisions and thought nothing of stopping his day to do so. For more than a decade, God has allowed us at A Praying Life Ministries to teach those who once struggled quietly with defeat in prayer to enjoy the sense of hope and adventure that a praying life can bring. We do this by showing and training people how to ask and then watch for the story that the Spirit develops before their eyes. When Christians start looking at the story their Father is weaving in front of them, they begin to see new ways to love people, repent of sin, grow in obedience, worship in spirit, and more."

God is at work weaving His story, and it is my hope and desire that CEFKnox and those we serve, serve with, partner with and minister to will learn how to be a child. To this end, we need people that pray or want to become a child, to help CEFKnox to bless the Church by inviting them to pray with and for CEFKnox and the children of the greater Knoxville Area.

Click here to learn more about the book and Ministry. A Praying Life.

Grace and peace,

Craig Meredith
CEFKnox Local Director

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