Know God more intimately and invigorate your prayer life by understanding and applying the Lord's Prayer.

Inspiration from the Apostle Paul on how to pray bold, exciting prayers. Inspiration from the Apostle Paul on how to pray bold, exciting prayers. So many of us struggle with prayer. Many books have been written on the subject and there’s a reason for that. Prayer comes hard to most of us, in most seasons. And when we do pray, we often don't know what to say. What is it that my Father loves to hear about? What are the best things I could pray for my family, my church, and myself? This short book by renowned Bible teacher Alistair Begg combines warmth, clarity, humour, and practicality as he examines Paul’s prayers for his friends in the church in Ephesus. Paul clearly enjoyed prayer, and was excited about it. He expected his Father in heaven to hear what he said, and to act in other people’s lives accordingly. The truths that underpin and shape his prayers will motivate us to pray and set us an example. So be inspired by the Apostle Paul to pray bigger and better prayers as we look to our heavenly Father to do more than all we ask or imagine!

The NIV is the world's best-selling modern translation, with over 150 million copies in print since its first full publication in 1978. This highly accurate and smooth-reading version of the Bible in modern English has the largest library of printed and electronic support material of any modern translation.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he gave them what is now known as "the Lord's Prayer." What is the Lord's Prayer to you? Is it a formal prayer that you repeat only during Sunday morning worship? Has it become so familiar that you hardly think about its meaning? In this eight-session LifeGuide® Bible Study Douglas Connelly unpacks the Lord's Prayer section by section with additional texts that help you dig deeper into Jesus' teaching about how to pray.

When I read the book of Acts, I am embarrassed. Why does our brand of Christianity look so insipid compared to the believers of the first century? Where has the power gone? Has God changed, or have we? We've all heard the cop-out that says, "The book of Acts represents a different dispensation." What a sad, self-serving attempt to excuse our current state of spiritual impotence! When we read Acts, we should yearn to experience a return to their brand of Christianity. Yet, instead of copying them, we seem content with copying other modern churches that are "growing." But why copy a copy when you can copy the original (the book of Acts)? In Acts, God was saving people every day. Communities were transformed. People were healed. Demons were cast out. Miracles were commonplace. Churches sprouted up across the Roman Empire. Persecution was faced and overcome. What made them so different? Some say they preached a purer Gospel. I disagree. Modern Evangelicals preach the same Gospel that was proclaimed in the first century. We preach that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died an atoning death, and rose bodily from the grave. We preach that man is a sinner and stands guilty before God in need of salvation. We preach that God offers salvation by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ alone, and the moment anyone repents of his sin, puts his faith in Jesus, and calls upon His name, that person is born again. That's the Gospel they preached, and the Gospel we preach. Our lack of spiritual power in Christianity today is not due to the sermons we preach or the songs we sing. Rather, it is due to our lack of prayer. We do not pray like it matters. Jesus and His earliest followers prayed like it was important. We pray like it is inconvenient or inconsequential. Prayer was their priority. It is our postscript. We plan more than we pray. They prayed more than they planned. We gather to minister to one another. They gathered to minister to the Lord in prayer and fasting. Our focus is earthly, horizontal. Theirs was heavenly, vertical. They were wise enough to "pray the price." All of this is why I have written this 12-week Bible study entitled Pray Like It Matters. I want to demonstrate from Scripture that every prayer we pray is significant. Through our prayers, God changes things. One life dedicated to prayer can do more good than any life dedicated to other so-called "noble," worldly causes. An individual follower of Jesus who is committed to prayer is a fountain of life in a world of death. Likewise, the local church that becomes a house of prayer will be a spiritual powerhouse from which God's mighty miracles will flow exponentially. Prayer is what modern Christians and churches are missing--frequent, fervent, faithful prayer! Most Christians want to pray but don't know how. They are unable to carry on a simple, sustained, satisfying conversation with God. Thus, after a few minutes in prayer, they run out of things to say, get frustrated, and give up. Sound familiar? Just as infants must be taught to talk, Christians must be taught to pray. Once you know how, prayer will be fulfilling, refreshing, and even fun. A growing number of Christians today are aware that something must be wrong. They know there has to be "more" to the Christian life than what they have experienced. That "more" is found through the discipline of prayer. These lessons are a wakeup call for each individual, family, and church to become a "house of prayer." When we begin to pray like Jesus and His early followers, then we will witness the power they experienced. Today, we embark on what could be the greatest adventure of your life. Before we start, let's pray the prayer of the early disciples: "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1).

When asked by his barber and good friend, Peter Beskendorf, for some practical guidance on how to prepare oneself for prayer, Luther responded by writing this brief treatise, first published in the spring of 1535. After 500 years, his instruction continues to offer words of spiritual nurture for us today.