Prayer!?!

Prayer… a large, complicated, and, at times, an elusive, mysterious topic. Prayer is one of those things that everyone says is VERY important. But in reality most people prefer to “do” something than pray. Why is that? Maybe because we are not good at it? Maybe we do not really know how to pray that well…

I know for me prayer is hard b/c I get distracted easily. There is always something else to do. TV, radio, housework, phone call, computer (blog!!), and even ministry all consume time when I could and should be praying. There is so much to pray about. So many needs I know of. So many concerns for my life and the life of the people around me. Not to mention the myriads of prayer needs around the state, around the nation, and around the world that are true matters of prayer. But when I pray I find myself losing focus. Instead of praying I begin thinking about something I should be “doing” or about nothing at all. All of this adds up to a prayer life that is not what I want it to be.

On the bright side I’m better about prayer than I used to be. When I first started out in my Christian walk I couldn’t pray in front of people and even found it hard praying by myself. That began to change when I asked someone to help me. This man had, and still has, a great prayer life and I had little to none. He agreed to help me learn to pray. He confessed that it had not always been so. Someone had to teach him. So I felt like I was in good company. Come to find out I’m in great company not knowing how to pray.

The disciples, who had been around Jesus for quite some time, had to ask for help praying. In Luke chapter 11 the disciples come to Jesus and ask him to help them learn how to pray. They recognized the great prayer life of Christ and wanted that same thing for themselves. The text also says that John the Baptist had to teach his disciples how to pray.

I look at my own life and this text and can safely assume a couple of things.

*One, my prayer life is not where I would like it to be.

*Two, I need help from another person when it comes to my prayer life. And I should not feel bad or inadequate because many who have come before me and many who will come after me have needed the same help.

*Three, obviously prayer is not something that most people are good at naturally.

*Four, not only do I need help, I must ask someone else for help. My prayer life is as as private as I want to keep it. I can tell everyone my prayer life is great, I pray all the time, I have no problems with my prayer life and no one will ever know if I am lying or not. Therefore, if want help, I must admit it to someone else that I think can help me.

That is what I encourage you to do. If your prayer life is not what you think it should be ask someone whose prayer life is better (you’ll know who those people are, you can tell by the way they live, walk, talk, think…) to help you. You might be surprised what will happen…

“…You do not have because you do not ask.” (James 4:2, NET)

I’m prayin for you,

Gies