There is always much work to be done in prayer. Especially in critical end-time hours like these, there are nations and leaders who need our fervent intercession. There are saints who need our supplications. There are vital kingdom projects that must be prayed through.

But the Lord is quickening me to remind you that there’s something even more vital that we, as pray-ers, must be sure to attend to. In spite of the weighty prayer assignments before us—or perhaps because of them—we must pay special attention to our own, devotional prayer lives. We must protect and preserve the time we spend each day just loving God and giving ourselves to Him.

It’s easy in times like these to let that part of our prayer lives begin to slip. It’s easy to get so caught up in doing the business of the kingdom that we begin to neglect our fellowship with the King. With all the urgent, worldwide problems crying out for prayer around us, we can begin to wonder:

Do we really have time to just sit around loving on God, adoring and blessing Him? When crises cloud the horizon and nations hang in the balance, do we have time to sing in the Spirit and bask in Jesus’ presence? Do we have time for a devotional prayer life when there is so much need for supplication and intercession?

Yes, we do—and here’s why: it’s the richness and depth of our own devotional times with God that determines how much of the heart of God we have. It’s our daily, personal intimacy with Him that determines how well we live. And try as we may, my precious friend, we will never pray any better than we live.

Our prayers will move mountains and change nations only if our own hearts have first been moved and changed by fellowship with God.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 100:1 – 5