I read these words this week in Eckhard Schnabel’s commentary on Acts, and I found myself doing some deep examination of my heart. His words are his thoughts about prayer in the Western church compared to prayer in the early Church (particularly, in Acts 4):
“Many churches in the affluent West live in spiritual poverty, as demonstrated by the decline in prayer. Christians who do not pray regularly and consistently are a contradiction in terms—they deny what they profess, that they have been reconciled with God (with whom they do not want to spend time), that they follow in the steps of Jesus (who prayed), and that they have received the Holy Spirit (who is God’s presence, which is experienced in prayer).”
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Eckhard J. Schnabel, Acts (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Book 5) (pp. 451-452). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.