Whole Life Prayer
The key to powerful prayer is a whole life that is lived in purity and love, with Christ's enabling power.
A.W. Tozer emphasizes that true prayer is an expression of our entire life, asserting that the effectiveness of our prayers is directly linked to how we live. He reflects on the regret many feel when they realize their prayer life is not as natural as it should be, especially in times of stress. Tozer encourages believers to cultivate a lifestyle of purity and love through Christ, which transforms individual prayers into powerful expressions of faith. He highlights that the moral power available through redemption enables us to live in a way that makes our whole life a prayer. Ultimately, Tozer calls for reliance on God's enabling power to live a life that naturally flows into prayer.
Text
"I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing.... If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." --John 15:5,7
Prayer at its best is the expression of the total life....
All things else being equal, our prayers are only as powerful as our lives. In the long pull we pray only as well as we live....
Most of us in moments of stress have wished that we had lived so that prayer would not be so unnatural to us and have regretted that we had not cultivated prayer to the point where it would be as easy and as natural as breathing....
Undoubtedly the redemption in Christ Jesus has sufficient moral power to enable us to live in a state of purity and love where our whole life will be a prayer. Individual acts of prayer that spring out of that kind of total living will have about them a wondrous power not known to the careless or the worldly Christian. The Root of the Righteous, pp. 91-93
"Lord, the real key here is that there is 'sufficient moral power' available. In my own strength I fail, but thank You for Your enabling power. Amen."
Sermon Outline
- Prayer at its Best
- The Power of a Whole Life
- The Result of Whole Life Prayer
- Powerful Individual Acts of Prayer
- Natural and Easy Prayer
Key Quotes
“Prayer at its best is the expression of the total life.” — A.W. Tozer
“All things else being equal, our prayers are only as powerful as our lives.” — A.W. Tozer
“In the long pull we pray only as well as we live.” — A.W. Tozer
Application Points
- We must live a life that is dependent on Christ's enabling power in order to have effective prayer.
- Prayer should be a natural and easy part of our lives, not something we struggle with.
- Our lives should be a reflection of our prayers, and our prayers should be a reflection of our lives.