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Prayer is both resting in God and wrestling with God. Explore the topic of prayer with this excerpt from Kurt and Warwick’s new book, Power of Prayer.

I called it my prayer trail. It was less than a kilometre from home but I (Kurt) still drove to the trailhead because I wanted to skip past the neighbourhoods and noise so my time was spent fully in prayer. I walked that undulating gravel path at least once a week, two or three times if I was especially in need. It was a section of the Heysen Trail that wound through a rocky part of the gum-studded Adelaide Hills. The further I walked, the quieter the hum of freeway traffic and the fewer people I would pass. Then everything fell still, my thoughts were clear, and I was surrounded only by God and His creation.

This was my routine, and it never failed me. I would arrive with a list of problems to tell God all about. The trail wasn’t a loop, so I simply walked as far as my list of prayers required, and as long as my calendar allowed, before turning back. I didn’t always set out with a heavy heart or a personal crisis; often gratitude and thanksgiving were my motives for being there. But by the time I arrived back at my car, my heart was full, my inner world was at peace, and I knew I had been with God. Many prayers that I prayed on that trail have since been answered by God, the fruits of which I am still enjoying to this day. Slowly but surely, those prayers moved mountains. I agree with the French mystic Francois Fenelon who said that “time spent in prayer is never wasted”.

Prayer looks different for everyone. I am the kind of person who can’t sit still for long periods. More precisely, I need to be physically active for my mind to be still enough to pray. Of all the prayer habits I have forged through the years, finding a prayer trail where I can meet with God has been my most treasured and effective—even if my current prayer trail is a little more suburban and noisy these days.

Order your copy of Power of Prayer here. If you can’t afford it, we’ll send you one for free.

At its heart, prayer is fellowship with God. It is a conversation in which we express our awe and worship of Him, our repentance and surrender, our thanks for all He has done, and our petitions and requests for what He is yet to do.

Prayer is practised in almost every world religion, and even by people who don’t consider themselves religious. Three in ten Australians say they pray at least once a week. Close to half of Australians pray daily, weekly or occasionally. For many people who come to faith in Christ, the journey began with a simple prayer, “God, if you’re real …” You will read many such stories in the pages ahead. Perhaps this is part of your testimony, too.

New York pastor Timothy Keller explains that there are two broad emphases on prayer in the Christian tradition: prayer as a means to experience God’s love and presence, and prayer as a way of asking God to bring His kingdom and set things right. He calls these ‘communion-centred’ and ‘kingdom-centred’ prayer, respectively. The first is about peace, rest and intimacy with God; the second sees prayer as a fervent, discontented wrestle with God to see His will done in our lives and the world. Of course, prayer is both wrestling and resting. That has certainly been my experience. It is also what we find in Scripture.

The Psalms are perhaps the Bible’s definitive resource on prayer. The Psalms are unique in that almost the entire book is addressed to God rather than to people. In its pages, we read complaints, pleadings and cries of desperation, but just as frequent are its declarations of God’s goodness and the joy of knowing Him. A common pattern we see is that the first eventually gives way to the second: what begins as a holy (or even unholy) discontent ends with serenity and surrender in the presence of God.

Order your copy of Power of Prayer here. If you can’t afford it, we’ll send you one for free.