I'm not very good at prayer.
I'm decent at some things about the Christian life. I love to read the Bible. I love to preach. I love to counsel, blog, teach, do prison ministry, go on mission trips, encourage orphans, visit hospitals, etc. I really like doing those things.
I just don't pray much.
I wish I did. As a pastor, prayer is of utmost importance. Communication with God is essential not just for my life as a Christian but especially as a pastor. You might even be thinking, "How in the world does the guy lead a church without praying much?"
That's a good question. One I don't really have a good answer to.
However, I'm finding that I'm not the only one with this issue.
Christians are good at all sorts of things. They are good at loving people. Yes, they really are. I've never met a more non-judgmental, caring, kind, giving, loving group of people as Christians. I don't care what the media says about Christians- they are the best people I know. Christians are also great at giving. American Christians, last year alone, spent $5 billion of their own money rescuing orphans from poverty through organizations like Compassion and World Vision, not to mention smaller organizations like our Catalyst Orphanage in India.
Christians are good at going to church. Millions of Christians attend church every week. Many millions more attend conferences to hear good preachers, listen on podcasts, watch preachers on YouTube, etc. Christians are good at sharing their faith and making converts. If they weren't, Christianity wouldn't be the largest religion in the world.
Christians are good at forgiving. Egypt's Coptic Christians, recently the victims of church bombings and murder by ISIS, publicly forgave the murderers and said that they loved them, much to the amazement of the Muslim world. Their culture is one of honor where revenge is almost mandatory, yet the Christians refused to take revenge and instead forgave. Christians are good at that.
However, many Christians just aren't very good at prayer.
I don't think it's because we don't want to talk with God. Far from it. It's just that prayer doesn't fit very well into American culture. In order to truly be consistent at prayer, it takes time. Time and silence. Time and intentional removal of oneself from media, smartphones, video games, computers, iPads, etc. It takes a quiet room with no distractions. It takes time of listening, time of pondering, time of reflection and seeking. That, my friends, doesn't happen much in America.
Our overstimulated brains have been wired for constant input. Silence, reflecting, removal of all stimulation is enough to drive most of us crazy, almost like an addict experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
For me, I can't start to pray without movie lines, songs, etc flooding my brain. I try to focus on God and having a conversation with Him, and all of a sudden a scene from Blazing Saddles or Dumb and Dumber goes through my mind, and then I start singing, "Pour Some Sugar On Me," (can you tell which generation I'm from?) and then I'm taken back to high school and the times I would blast that song from my Jeep, then my mind cuts to everything that I have to do that day, urgent lists of things that MUST be done right now, and then . . . . . .
And then my prayer life ceases.
It's very frustrating, because I love God. I love His word. I love His fellowship and His presence in my life, and I want to be good at prayer. I want to be able to shut it all off and get alone with Him every day. I want all those things.
It's just that developing a real prayer life takes such discipline, such sacrifice, such . . . . . UNPLUGGING from normal life that many of us simply can't, or won't, do it. It's just too hard. It's like asking an addict to lay down his dope. Our stimulation-addicted brains just can't handle an hour of quiet silence where the God of the Universe speaks to us and we speak to Him.
I've become convinced of one thing- prayerlessness in the life of the Christian is sin.
What?
Yes. I'll say it again. Prayerlessness in the life of a Christian is sin.
In his masterpiece work, A Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster writes: "Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ. . . . Prayer- secret, fervent, believing prayer- lies at the root of all personal godliness." -Foster, p 33
If you don't connect with God personally through prayer, you will have a tough time living out the Christian faith. It's just too hard. Without experiencing the power of God through prayer, you will burn out. Quickly. Take it from me, a guy who continues to struggle with the absence of prayer in my life.
I've also found that sin and prayer are mutually exclusive. The person who prays stops sinning, and the people who sin stop praying. Sin and prayer can't occupy the same space in your life. Either one or the other will win out. To pray is to root sin out of your life. To sin is to root prayer out of your life. You have to decide which one you value and which one you want.
Most of all, prayer is what pleases our Heavenly Father the most. As a father myself, I love it when my children come to me and simply want to talk with me. No agenda, not needing anything- just simply wanting some of my time because they love me and they know that I love them. It is the same with our Heavenly Father. Time is our Heavenly Father's love language.
Maybe one of the reasons there is such spiritual opposition to prayer is that our adversary, the devil, fears a Christian with a close connection with God. Satan is unable to tempt and destroy a person who is in close communion with the Father. Maybe that's why prayerlessness is so prevalent in the church. Maybe that's why we are frustrated and burned out trying to do what Jesus says. Maybe that's why people drop out of church, feel "unsatisfied" with their church experience, or have never really experienced the true power of God.
Today, Christians, is the day to connect with God in prayer. Not to get things, not because you need things, but simply because you love God and He loves you.
I'm decent at some things about the Christian life. I love to read the Bible. I love to preach. I love to counsel, blog, teach, do prison ministry, go on mission trips, encourage orphans, visit hospitals, etc. I really like doing those things.
I just don't pray much.
I wish I did. As a pastor, prayer is of utmost importance. Communication with God is essential not just for my life as a Christian but especially as a pastor. You might even be thinking, "How in the world does the guy lead a church without praying much?"
That's a good question. One I don't really have a good answer to.
However, I'm finding that I'm not the only one with this issue.
Christians are good at all sorts of things. They are good at loving people. Yes, they really are. I've never met a more non-judgmental, caring, kind, giving, loving group of people as Christians. I don't care what the media says about Christians- they are the best people I know. Christians are also great at giving. American Christians, last year alone, spent $5 billion of their own money rescuing orphans from poverty through organizations like Compassion and World Vision, not to mention smaller organizations like our Catalyst Orphanage in India.
Christians are good at going to church. Millions of Christians attend church every week. Many millions more attend conferences to hear good preachers, listen on podcasts, watch preachers on YouTube, etc. Christians are good at sharing their faith and making converts. If they weren't, Christianity wouldn't be the largest religion in the world.
Christians are good at forgiving. Egypt's Coptic Christians, recently the victims of church bombings and murder by ISIS, publicly forgave the murderers and said that they loved them, much to the amazement of the Muslim world. Their culture is one of honor where revenge is almost mandatory, yet the Christians refused to take revenge and instead forgave. Christians are good at that.
However, many Christians just aren't very good at prayer.
I don't think it's because we don't want to talk with God. Far from it. It's just that prayer doesn't fit very well into American culture. In order to truly be consistent at prayer, it takes time. Time and silence. Time and intentional removal of oneself from media, smartphones, video games, computers, iPads, etc. It takes a quiet room with no distractions. It takes time of listening, time of pondering, time of reflection and seeking. That, my friends, doesn't happen much in America.
Our overstimulated brains have been wired for constant input. Silence, reflecting, removal of all stimulation is enough to drive most of us crazy, almost like an addict experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
For me, I can't start to pray without movie lines, songs, etc flooding my brain. I try to focus on God and having a conversation with Him, and all of a sudden a scene from Blazing Saddles or Dumb and Dumber goes through my mind, and then I start singing, "Pour Some Sugar On Me," (can you tell which generation I'm from?) and then I'm taken back to high school and the times I would blast that song from my Jeep, then my mind cuts to everything that I have to do that day, urgent lists of things that MUST be done right now, and then . . . . . .
And then my prayer life ceases.
It's very frustrating, because I love God. I love His word. I love His fellowship and His presence in my life, and I want to be good at prayer. I want to be able to shut it all off and get alone with Him every day. I want all those things.
It's just that developing a real prayer life takes such discipline, such sacrifice, such . . . . . UNPLUGGING from normal life that many of us simply can't, or won't, do it. It's just too hard. It's like asking an addict to lay down his dope. Our stimulation-addicted brains just can't handle an hour of quiet silence where the God of the Universe speaks to us and we speak to Him.
I've become convinced of one thing- prayerlessness in the life of the Christian is sin.
What?
Yes. I'll say it again. Prayerlessness in the life of a Christian is sin.
In his masterpiece work, A Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster writes: "Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ. . . . Prayer- secret, fervent, believing prayer- lies at the root of all personal godliness." -Foster, p 33
If you don't connect with God personally through prayer, you will have a tough time living out the Christian faith. It's just too hard. Without experiencing the power of God through prayer, you will burn out. Quickly. Take it from me, a guy who continues to struggle with the absence of prayer in my life.
I've also found that sin and prayer are mutually exclusive. The person who prays stops sinning, and the people who sin stop praying. Sin and prayer can't occupy the same space in your life. Either one or the other will win out. To pray is to root sin out of your life. To sin is to root prayer out of your life. You have to decide which one you value and which one you want.
Most of all, prayer is what pleases our Heavenly Father the most. As a father myself, I love it when my children come to me and simply want to talk with me. No agenda, not needing anything- just simply wanting some of my time because they love me and they know that I love them. It is the same with our Heavenly Father. Time is our Heavenly Father's love language.
Maybe one of the reasons there is such spiritual opposition to prayer is that our adversary, the devil, fears a Christian with a close connection with God. Satan is unable to tempt and destroy a person who is in close communion with the Father. Maybe that's why prayerlessness is so prevalent in the church. Maybe that's why we are frustrated and burned out trying to do what Jesus says. Maybe that's why people drop out of church, feel "unsatisfied" with their church experience, or have never really experienced the true power of God.
Today, Christians, is the day to connect with God in prayer. Not to get things, not because you need things, but simply because you love God and He loves you.
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