The 2017 End of Year Retreat of Greater Evangelism World Crusade, a five day program started on December 28th, 2017.
The theme of the retreat happens to be the theme for 2018, "Giving Ourselves to Prayer and to the Ministry of the Word".
The first talk for this retreat was an introductory message of the theme given by the International Director Pastor Isaac V. Olori.
He spoke on the text, Acts 6:4. He told the church that giving themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word means to devote themselves to prayer and the word. Also that one cannot be fruitful in his or her devotion to prayer and the word without being devoted to God.

He went further to give four key motivations for living a life of devotion to Christ.

1. The mercies of God: His mercies should make us to be devoted to Him in prayers (Rom 12:-1-2, 8:42, 8:26, Heb 4:14-16).
2. Finding delight in God through His Word: Knowledge and understanding of God’s word is key (Proverbs 2:3-5). Prayers and study of God’s word are inseparable twins. Someone rightly said, “To study without Prayer is Pride; and to Pray without studying is Presumption”.

3. Think about your absolute need for God to work in your Situation: It is only with God that you can do all things. “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37).
4. Consider what God can do through your faithful Prayers: Pray in righteousness (James 5:16), don’t pray amiss but in accordance to the will of God (James 4:3). What choices will you make in 2018? Joshua said “…choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

A devoted life is more and more of God and less and less of the world and self. Hence we are to know that devotion to prayer is beyond our needs, it is praying for the will of God.