Pray boldly for what God has already promised and for what he is already doing. Pray for sanctification. Pray for spiritual growth. Pray for gospel witness. Pray for mission. Pray for these things because it honors God when we pray about what he has told us he will do. Why? Because this is the prayer of true faith. Faith in what God has said to us.

Our church family has been reading through the book, A Call to Prayer, by J. C. Ryle. It’s a small, but powerful and convicting book. Ryle makes the case why we ought to be a praying people. One of the reasons he offers is that “prayer is one of the best means of happiness and contentment.”

Can we really believe that people are praying against sin night and day, when we see them plunging into it? Can we suppose they pray against the world, when they are entirely absorbed and taken up with its pursuits?