The Christian life is an ever-expanding life moving from life into deeper life. One translation for this expanding power is "dunamis," which means power reproducing itself within itself. The power of God causes the Christian life to be a journey of growth that continues to broaden outward and become a blessing to all it touches. It is like light that goes out of one spot and moves in every direction.

Just as light expands, we as Christians are continually expanding. We go from life to doubled life and then from doubled life to quadrupled life. As the power of God touches life, it keeps expanding within the heart until it reaches abundant life, and from there it still continues to grow and expand until eventually it becomes life eternal.

The same principle applies to joy. As you keep God's commandments and abide in His love, His joy will be in you so that your joy will be full. However, joy does not stop there. According to 1 Peter 1:8, you will have "joy unspeakable and full of glory." God wants to see you filled to capacity and brimming over with blessings in your life.

The Bible also declares that glory expands within you: "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

CBN.com -- And I say to you ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you (Luke 11:9).

Prayer is an essential part of our relationship with God. Yet, too often we neglect this vital bridge of communication with heaven. In many cases, we don't pray because we don't know exactly how to pray -- or how often.

Jesus' disciples clearly saw the effect that prayer had in His life. He spent large amounts of time in prayer, often by Himself. The disciples soon realized that the demonstration of God's power and wisdom flowing from Jesus' life directly resulted from the intimate fellowship He enjoyed with His Father.

When they asked Him to explain more to them about prayer, Jesus told them this story:

No power on earth can stand against the man or woman who knows how to pray, yet the Word of God tells us that from the time mankind began to walk upon the earth, the enemy of our souls has used every weapon in his arsenal to destroy our ability to commune with God. Sadly, most have submitted to satan's plan and have become prayerless and powerless against the enemy. This has brought about great ruin and destruction in the lives of so many.

Prayerlessness began in the Garden of Eden. It is a direct result of the fall of man. In Genesis 3:1-10 we read:

And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where are thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. (Genesis 3:8-10)

CBN.com - As Christians, we can get really off track in our walk with God when we start thinking in terms of me instead of in turns of Him, the sovereign Lord.

We fallaciously conclude that it's my life, it's my ministry, those are my talents, and that's my money to spend the way that I want to. Instead of sharing in the sufferings of Christ Jesus or humbling ourselves in obedience, the bottom line often becomes this: What's in it for me?

But since when is this life on earth only about me and fulfilling my needs and desires? Instead of asking, "What can I do for You, Lord?" we prefer, "What is God going to do for me? How is God going to bless me?" Instead of humbling ourselves and saying, "Lord, What must I do to be saved? What must I change to stand in Your holy presence?" we want God to endorse our private lives and sign that blank check while we go off and spend heavenly funds the way we see fit.