Why so much talk about prayer?

How did I get so sold on emphasizing prayer in kingdom work?

For one thing, I couldn't understand the gap - you know, the contrast between the spiritual deadness I saw in some of today's churches and the spiritual power of believers in the New Testament.

And another thing bothered me - how quick we are to divide and split churches over almost any issue. In a book called Free In Christ, Cecil Hook lists 100 issues, big and small, that have divided Christians in the Restoration Movement (others have listed even more).

Whether you agree with the book or not, you have to acknowledge that we are a divided people. And our divisions are growing each day.

So, what's the answer? Prayer. (Actually, God is the answer, but prayer is the access to His throne of grace.)

Here's why I think prayer is that important. When the great apostle Paul uncovered deep divisions in the Corinthian church, he pointed out the root cause:

"You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?" (1 Corinthians 3:3 NIV).

The word his uses in the Greek isn't "worldly" but "fleshly" or of the flesh. In other words, he's contrasting the spiritual man and the man who lives a world-oriented life in the flesh. Yes, even born-anew Christians can do that. (If you read the whole section from 1 Corinthians 2:6 through 3:17, you'll see his complete argument.)

He also said they couldn't understand spiritual things, spiritual wisdom or spiritual power. "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV).

His phrase "the man without the Spirit" is actually psuchikos de anthropos in the Greek language - or "man of the soul". This means the man who operates from what he thinks in his mind or feels in his emotions, rather than being led by the Spirit of God.

So, our unspiritual nature stands convicted as the root cause of our deadness and petty divisions. We must grow spiritually if we want to overcome these. It isn't a matter of being a better debater or propping up dying churches with the latest religious fad. It means falling on our faces before a holy God and repenting of our careless and misguided attempts at humanly-constructed "spirituality".

It also means being "led by the Spirit" (Romans 8:14) and letting that Spirit of sonship cry out to our Abba, Father through us.

Question. Is there any way to be spiritual (of the Spirit) without prayer? Is there any way to truly know God the Father without prayer?