There is a pressing, urgent need in the Church today for more men and women of prayer, for people who will pray and cry out and persevere until the answer comes. Our God is a prayer answering God.

Consider for a moment that Jesus needed to pray. The Gospels record that, “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God” (Luke 6:12). And: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed” (Mark 1:35).

Jesus, Peter and Paul Needed to Pray

Many times, “…crowds of people came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:15-16). The Son of God gave Himself to prayer, not in spite of the crowds, but because of the crowds. Without prayer, even He could do nothing. Prayer was His lifeline to the Father.

Peter needed to pray. This was his pattern before the Spirit fell: “When they arrived [in Jerusalem], they went upstairs to the upper room where they were staying.…They all joined together constantly in prayer…” (Acts 1:13-14). After he was Spirit-immersed, his habit didn’t change. When the grieving disciples brought Peter into the room where Tabitha (Dorcas) was laid, “Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up” (Acts 9:40). He knew where his true strength was found.

Paul needed to pray. When he was struck down on the road to Damascus, he was blind for three days, eating and drinking nothing. What was he doing? “The Lord told [Ananias], ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying” (Acts 9:11). Throughout his many years of ministry, he never graduated from the school of prayer: “[Publius’] father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him” (Acts 28:8).

We are no better than Jesus, Peter, or Paul. We need to pray. When we concentrate in prayer, things happen. Yet we are so often lax and distracted. (I wrote these words back in 1991, before the distractions of social media and texting and endless entertainment options. We are much more distracted now than ever.)

How to Pray

Moody Stuart had three rules for prayer. Most of us have not yet mastered the first one: “Pray till you pray.” (The other rules were: “Pray till you are conscious of being heard; pray till you receive the answer.”) Have you ever spent an hour in prayer without even praying ten minutes?

We find it hard to focus our attention on God and keep our thoughts from wandering. That’s why Peter exhorted his flock to “be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray” (1 Pet. 4:7).

But we do not take prayer seriously enough. We often pray out of a sense of obligation, to complete the re­quirements on our daily spiritual “checklist.” We try to fit prayer in, or we pray so as to not fall away. For many of us, just finding time to pray is the great struggle. But Jesus took for granted that we would pray. (See Matthew 6:6, “When you pray…”) That is not so much where the battle should be. Fervent prayer is the battle.

Become People of Prayer

James tells us that “Elijah was a man just like us” (James 5:17). He had the same weaknesses we have; he went through the same battles we do. He had to fight the flesh and overcome weakness and fear. But he took hold of God and would not let go. “He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years” (James 5:17).

Forty-two months of drought! The prayers of one righteous servant literally impacted the whole nation. Every man, woman, and child — from the palace of the king to the lowest dungeon — was affected. Just think of the power of prayer!

A solitary prophet cried out to the Maker and Keeper of Heaven and earth, and the Lord Almighty listened to his voice! God lis­tens to our voice too. Isn’t it amazing that we can know so much about prayer, yet pray so little and with so little fervor and faith?

God is calling us to pray, inviting us to pray, beckoning us to pray. Let us become a people of prayer!

(Excerpted and adapted from Michael L. Brown, Whatever Happened to the Power of God: Is the Charismatic Church Slain in the Spirit or Down for the Count?)

Dr. Michael Brown (www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is Why So Many Christians Have Left the Faith. Connect with him on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.