When I first heard that Phil was writing a devotional I thought, "Yes! It's going to be great because it's Phil Wickham. Everything he does is gold!" Then when I heard it was inspired by his hit song, Battle Belongs, I was even more excited being that is in my top favorite Phil 5. I never realized though that this book would change my prayer life in such big ways.
Before reading this devotional, I would describe my prayer life as good. The first thing I did every morning was pray, I would pray throughout the day when faced with anything that I had concerned with and I always ended my day with prayer. I even hosted prayer times in a couple of groups I started on facebook: Daily Blessings and The Chosen Prayer Warriors. I thought my prayer times were full, productive and "enough". I thought this until reading On Our Knees. This devotional, written by Phil, has opened my eyes to how much deeper, meaningful, purposeful, rich, powerful, intimate, honest, transparent, blessed and so much more my prayer life can be. There is so much that I was lacking. I hadn't even scratched the surface as Phil mentions at the end of the devotional.
I feel Phil gave three specific keys in this devotional about prayer: what prayer is, how to pray and how God responds to our prayers. Each day we were given a story from the bible that gave the lesson in action. I feel this opened my eyes to better understanding not only the scripture but how to apply it to my prayer life. It taught me how to be more intimate in my prayers, align them with God's desire, how I can pray with expectation that God will and can answer my prayers. Three of the areas that touched me the most were praying in the name of Jesus, pray with Scripture and with the Holy Spirit. I think we all have said, "In Jesus name I pray . . . " but I feel that this section on praying in Jesus name really opened my eyes to what it truly means when we say these words. I am now more keenly aware of what it means when I say this. I had never thought much about praying with scripture but after reading that section it opened my eyes to the beauty of doing so and how it can guide you in your prayer walk and draw you closer to God. The section on praying with the Holy Spirit helped me to see how he is our guide and mentor. We often forget he is part of the God head I think. All three of these sections and this whole book was so beautifully written.
Phil did a wonderful job of showing the reader that your prayers don't have to be perfect. Those who came before us were sinners just like us. Their prayers weren't perfect. They cried out to God in their pain. But God heard them. He heard their imperfect prayers and cries for help. He heard their whispers and their roars. He will, can and wants to hear us. This devotional can change and will change your prayer life!! It will give you peace, strengthen you, give you hope and bring you closer to God.
"Prayer is a lifelong journey. The deeper we go and the more honest we are with God, the more we realize we're only beginning to see and learn of His great love for us" - - Phil Wickham (On Our Knees)