Prayerlessness

The Lord recognized the need to pray often. That night long ago in the garden, He cautioned His followers in Luke 22 to pray to keep from entering into temptation. It is obvious that temptations will come, but effective prayer keeps us from succumbing to those temptations. Look at the passage there: 45When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. 46Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”

Why do we neglect such an important part of our lives?

Perhaps we don’t really believe it is beneficial. After all, we often don’t see the immediate results. We’re accustomed to working for a week and receiving a pay check. There is an immediate response to our efforts. During the time of Christ, men prepared ground, planted, and often did not see the results of their efforts for several months. But today’s “instant society” has little patience with delayed gratification.

Perhaps we feel sufficient on our own. Prayer is an admission of insufficiency, of weakness. Prayer indicates that we need help. Genuine prayer is a person realizing his need coming to Holy God and crying out for undeserved mercy. It might be that we just don’t feel a need to pray. We can do for ourselves every thing we need.

I believe the major cause of the lack of power demonstrated by the church in today’s world is our personal prayerlessness. We settle for the “mercy drops” of God’s provision, and never experience the “showers of blessings” He desires to pour out on us.

Scripture indicates that our prayers are a sweet fragrance to the LORD. Some would argue that there is no need to ask since God knows already what we need. They suggest that praying is a lack of faith. I think they err at that point. God seems to want us to demonstrate our dependence upon Him by our continual praying. Whether it be prayer for personal needs, or for Him to intercede in the life of another to draw them to Himself, God seems to be moved to action by those genuine prayers.

If you are having trouble praying, take some time to read “With Christ in the School of Prayer” by Andrew Murray. It will change your prayer life, if you really want it changed.