Prayer…it is one of those things that everybody does, though usually out of desperation. Even mature christians find the spiritual discipline of prayer difficult to master. Funny because at it’s core it is simply talking and listening to God. We do that with our loved ones, we do that with our co-workers…heck we do that with people that we can’t stand. Yet, for some reason developing a consistent prayer life is one of the top struggles for the christian, according to a Barna research study only 69% of people claiming to be christians say that they pray regularly.
Why is it that we find it so difficult to pray? I have a few ideas…
DON’T KNOW HOW – Too often we don’t know how to pray. It was well into the ministry of Jesus before his disciples asked him “Lord, teach us to pray…”. It reminds me of the first time I went into a gym to work out…I wandered aimlessly looking at the machines and intimidated by them…I’d try one a few times and move on. Too often we just stumble through our prayer life…intimidated by the idea of talking with God. Over the next 5 weeks Ill be teaching through Luke 11:1-4 and unpacking what we know of as the Lords Prayer. One way that will keep you focused and in the right spirit is the P.R.A.Y. method.
PRAISE – begin your prayer with about 5 minutes in praise of who God is…his majesty, his glory, his love and presence.
REPENT – take some time to think about ways you have fallen short of God’s glory, drifted from his ways…this is called sin. Take some time to repent, this is simply a church word that means turn away from. With true sorrow turn away from your sin.
ASK – it is in this moment that you ask from God…by now in the prayer your spirit should be closely aligned with his and your asks will be the kind of ask that he would honor…instead of asking for God to smite your boss, you ask that God might soften his spirit.
YIELD – When Jesus was in the garden praying he concluded with “yet not my will but yours be done.” That is important in your prayer life…to end it how you begin…knowing that the prayer isn’t about God aligning with your demands but you aligning with HIS will.
DISTRACTION – Many of us are making the decision on the beginning of a new year to be more consistent with your prayer life…it is January 2nd. Have you messed up yet? Too often you sit down to pray and suddenly you are flooded with a hundred things that you need to be doing, or your cell phone blows up with messages, or your kids need something, or you remember that your favorite show is on, or you forgot to…eat. The best way to deal with that is to find a spot, a chair, a room and remove as many distractions as you can. I keep a pad with me to write down distracting thoughts that I allow myself to get to later. I also keep my phone away from me! If you have kids and laugh at the idea of being alone in the house…take a walk around the block and prayer walk.
DOUBT – When the Roman centurion came to Jesus and asked him to heal his son, his response to Jesus question of his belief was so strong…”help my unbelief” he said. It is amazing when we pray how the enemy will plant seeds of doubt. The reasons of the doubt may be because of your lack of faith in who God is or it could be that you can’t believe that God would care about you enough to listen. Both of those are lies from hell. Jesus loves you, he intercedes for you…so when you pray in Jesus’ name there is power there. Own it. Believe it. Pray it.
DEMANDING – I could probably find a better way to say this but I had to stick with the D words…too often we don’t pray on the regular because we are too demanding of God. We are impatient and we are rigid. We want God to answer our prayers now and we want him to answer our prayers in the way we want them answered. God is not a genie in the bottle. That is not how it works. When we pray in Jesus’ name, we are praying to align ourselves with him…not asking God to align with us.
As heirs of God we have access to the most high God and with that comes incredible peace and power…however too often we see prayer as a cathartic exercise instead of a time to connect with a loving God. I encourage you to truly develop a prayer life worthy of a christian and dwell in his presence this year.
Do you have other struggles or tips on developing a prayer life? Let me know in the comments.
Sean Rheaume 
Great post! We need to pray at all times. Prayer is a two way process. We present our needs to God and we also have to listen deep into our hearts, what He is going to tell us. We just need to possess a peaceful a and willing heart. God bless!š