The Apostle Paul was given a unique ministry. It was his job to bring the news of the Gospel to the Gentiles.

Because of his unique testimony, he considered himself to be the chief of sinners, was saved, and then became probably the greatest of the Apostles. He understood the great mercy of God because he knew he was unworthy – perhaps more than most because he was forgiven for his persecution of many believers.

As believers, we are given access to the “unsearchable riches of Christ.” This term in the Greek means that it is beyond our ability to fully understand all that Christ has given us. It has no limit. You can keep on learning, but it is not possible to learn of them all.

It is exciting to learn and make use of these riches. They are all wonderful and a blessing to add to our lives. God did many things for us at the moment of salvation – at least 33 different things. But those things are just the beginning. Many more things belong to every believer from God, but not very many go beyond the spiritual childhood stage and never learn of or use these things.

Growing in grace is truly an adventure. Yes, there will be difficult times with it, but God can give grace to get through anything as long as we trust Him. We also have the promise that “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Ph. 4:13). It is amazing to see how God can move on our behalf.

Christian, are you growing in grace and learning of some of those “unsearchable riches”?

Most everyone that is a believer has heard much about the topic of prayer. Certainly we would all have to admit that it is easier to talk about it than to engage regularly in fervent praying.

It seems that one of the reasons why we do not see God move in response to specific prayers is because there is so little of it. Or, there may be little faith – or no faith – behind it. In the text verse, Jesus said that faith is absolutely essential to getting answers to prayer. Jesus testified that in the last days: “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold“ (Matthew 24:12). I hope that it is not the case with you.

Prayer is one of the most valuable assets that a Christian possesses. Trying to live without it is useless, depressing, and joyless – yet oftentimes, most praying is just token-praying – done just to say you do it. How would our lives be different if we became real men and women of prayer?

Jesus said that there is no limit to the power of prayer because there is no limit to God’s power. In order to pray aright, we need to ask God to open our eyes and enlarge our vision. Then, we need to stop asking only for our own needs and look on the harvest and pray for the spread of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

The needs are many. Billions of people have never heard the Gospel even one time. It is believed that only about half of the world has ever heard the Gospel. It is probably much higher than that because many people have heard about Jesus but do not yet know that salvation comes only by grace through faith in Christ’s finished work on the Cross. I often meet people who have religion but no salvation.

All too often, our lives would be drastically and wonderfully different if we prayed more. We would…

• Experience more inner peace and joy
• Better victory over sin
• See more specific answers to prayer
• See God at work all around you
• See God’s hand of leadership in your life
• Have more praise to Him on your lips
• Have more fruit for your labor
• Be more zealous in your service to God.

My Christian friend, could a lack of prayer in your life be the reason why there is so little of the above things in your life? If so, why not talk to God about it now and confess it – then start praying as He wants you to.