Prayer is, at its core, fellowship with God—and it is also one of the most powerful ways we fellowship with one another as believers. In Luke 18 is a parable in which Jesus presses us to examine our false views of God and our false assumptions about the moment we’re living in. As those misconceptions are exposed, we begin to see the true God and the true nature of our circumstances—and prayer comes into clearer focus.
Prayer is hard, but it is not complicated. The real obstacles are matters of the heart. When those are addressed—often through a gracious but firm spiritual jolt, like a well-aimed parable—prayer begins to flow more naturally, more frequently, and more joyfully.