Your prayer life is a measurement of your spiritual life. Not whether you pray, for all believers pray, but how well you pray. One commentator puts it this way, ‘The measure of a person’s spiritual maturity is not how well he or she conforms externally to the command to pray. The issue is how internally constrained that person is to pray by a strong love for God and others. The truest longings of the heart will come out in prayer. A selfish and superficial heart, focused primarily on personal problems, struggles, and interests, will produce selfish and superficial prayers. A heart focused on the glory of the Lord and His people will produce prayers focused on God’s glory and others’ needs. A strong sense of duty cannot compensate for a cold heart or produce fervent prayer.’ 1 Whenever I come to any of the prayers of Paul I am tremendously challenged. Here is a man who has Christ’s own affections for the church, and pours out intercessions and thanksgiving for the church. His is a heart gripped with a fervent concern for the church and this shows in his prayers. As Christians we need regular instruction in the school of prayer.