Prayer is a Sign of Weakness

In Acts 1, after Jesus had told the original disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they had received power for ministry from the Holy Spirit, we read that "they all joined together constantly in prayer..." It was not long before the now famous outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. They were convinced of their weakness and need, so they constantly prayed to the one who is strong and able.

An obvious lesson that I gather from this is that prayer is for the weak and needy, not for the strong and able. And so when I find that my experience in prayer is either formalistic or nonexistent, the red flag that needs to up in my heart is that I am living as if I am strong and do not need the power of Jesus. But as a friend of mine, Becky Long, says, "My ability is the great enemy of grace."

"So Jesus, show me my weakness and need so that I will learn to pray. For as I am beginning to learn, it is only when I am weak that I have any potential of being able, because your strength is made perfect through my weakness, and serves to show me even another dimension of your grace. So Jesus, I suppose what I need to see even more than my weakness, is the power and grace displayed in the cross. Then I will begin to pray."