Spiritually Fit to Pray
Simone Biles is a highly decorated gymnast, holding a record 11 Olympic medals—including seven gold—and 30 World Championship medals. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, she earned four medals, including gold in the individual all-around. Simone has achieved the greatest accomplishments in the sport of gymnastics. She typically trains twice a day, six days a week, with Sundays off for rest and recovery. Her training includes gymnastics practice, cross-training, and strength training. She usually begins her first training session around 9:00 a.m. until noon, followed by a second session from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Being physically fit is essential for Simone to be an effective athlete—"successful in producing a desired or intended result."
For Christ followers, the greatest accomplishment is to fulfill Matthew 28:19–20—the Great Commission—in every home, local church, neighborhood, school, business, government office, and social circle.
What Is the Great Commission and Why Is It the Greatest Accomplishment?
The Great Commission is Jesus’ main mission for the Church. Every believer is expected to use all their resources to help accomplish it. It is the greatest accomplishment because its fulfillment benefits people for all eternity.
While Simone Biles has used all her resources to gain many titles, material benefits, and fame—rewards that are temporal and will pass away—making disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded carries eternal significance and rewards (1 Corinthians 3:10–15).
Prayer: The Key to Fulfilling the Great Commission
Prayer is a key component in establishing the Great Commission. Jesus began, continued, and ended His public ministry of making disciples with prayer (Mark 1:35; John 5:19; Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46; Luke 5:16; John 17:1–26; Matthew 26:38–42). His disciples saw Him praying at all times and knew they needed to learn to pray (Luke 11:1). The Apostle Paul also requested prayer to support his disciple-making mission (Colossians 4:2–4; 2 Thessalonians 3:1). Jesus taught His followers to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1).
Looking back on historical revivals, movements of people coming to know and follow Jesus were preceded by movements of prayer. Today, we are being called to form a movement of prayer to fulfill the Great Commission across the nation. To do this effectively, we must be spiritually fit to pray—that is, capable of producing a disciple-making movement through prayer.
Fitness Test #1: Abiding in Christ
Christ followers are fit to pray when they abide in Christ and His words abide in them.
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7)
The Apostle John explains how to abide in Christ:
“Whoever obeys his commands abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.” (1 John 3:24)
The first test of spiritual fitness for prayer is obedience. The person who obeys Christ’s words passes the first test of an effective pray-er.
How can someone know they are obeying Christ's commands? Their life must align with Scripture. For example:
Colossians 3:9 says not to lie. If a person lies, they are not spiritually fit to pray.
1 Corinthians 16:14 says to do everything in love. If someone is impatient, they are not obeying Christ’s command to do everything in love because love is patient (1 Corinthians 13:4) and therefore not spiritually fit to pray.
Fitness Test #2: God’s Word Abiding in Us
The second test of spiritual fitness is having God's word abide in us. This means the believer is regularly learning and applying the Scriptures. The spiritually fit pray-er trains by reading or listening to the Word of God and practicing what is learned in daily life.
As 1 Timothy 4:7–8 instructs, we must train ourselves in godliness. This involves:
Systematically reading or listening to the Bible
Holding ourselves accountable to practice what we learn
Everyday Practice of John 15:7
What does practicing John 15:7 look like in everyday life? Let me share a personal example as an ordinary believer:
When I wake up, the first thing I do before praying is ask the Lord if there is any sin in my life that would hinder my service to Him (2 Thessalonians 1:11), my ability to serve His people acceptably (Romans 15:31), my effectiveness in prayer (James 5:16b), and my endurance in the race set before me (Hebrews 12:1).
If there is sin, the Lord reveals it. I immediately repent, confess it, and am cleansed from all unrighteousness (Revelation 2:5; 1 John 1:9). This is how I begin to abide in Christ.
Then, I:
Read the Bible systematically and write down lessons in a notebook.
Review the lessons at the end of each reading session.
Revisit the previous day’s lesson the next morning.
On the seventh day, review the lessons from the past six days.
If a lesson is not yet being practiced, I carry it forward to future weeks until it becomes a part of my daily life.
This is how I seek to practice John 15:7—so God will answer my prayer to establish the Great Commission in the USA and meet other prayer needs.
Summary
We are spiritually fit to pray when we:
Abide in Christ—by obeying all He has commanded.
Have His Word abiding in us—by reading or listening to Scripture and holding ourselves accountable to practice it in our daily lives.
Let us train in godliness and be effective pray-ers to help fulfill the Great Commission.