Failing at Prayer
May 29th, 2007 by Amanda
Who’d a thunk* that I’d realize a sin in my life by reading a history book? But that’s what happened when I did my reading in 1 Samuel today.
Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.
I’m probably the world’s worst pray-er. Whenever we get the prayer newsletter from church, I almost always read the prayer requests, but I rarely actually pray over them. Is that really a sin against the Lord?
It is.
We are commanded to pray. So from here on out, I’m going to make an effort to change my way of thinking so that I actually do pray for those around me, rather than just “thinking” about the prayer requests.
*I am from the South, after all.
I’m working on this change, too. It feels almost cheesy to me to sit down and say, “Dear Lord,” unless I’m with a group of people who are doing the same thing or I’m about to eat.
I have just learned about “agonizing in prayer.” When you really, really need prayer, you want some one to pray who will actually go the distance and pray until there is a resolve. After 47+ years of watching prayer circles and prayer chains and prayer newsletters become merely informational (and being just as guilty to “barely pray” for most people who ask), I was recently asked to pray for some one in crisis whom I deeply love and I knew that unless God intervened it was a hopeless thing (and aren’t all things this way?).
Enter: Romans 15. 30, Paul practically pleading for assistance by prayer: “I urge you brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.”
The Greek word for “struggle” is “sunagonizomai,” and can also be translated: agonize.
We are all afraid to ask people to go this far because we are barely willing, but the intensity of the battle sometimes requires it. When I prayed this way over my daughter for over 2 years, it was a matter of life and death.
We should quit pretending to be intercessors or else BE intercessors and stand in the gap and pray - even if it requires struggle and agony and time and sacrifice. And - I am preaching to myself…
I’ve taken this long to respond to you, Jeanie, because I didn’t like what I read! Because I know how true your words are–and how I fall woefully short.
For me, I think I feel unworthy of praying. Why should God want to hear from me? I KNOW how silly that is and how untrue it is, but that doesn’t stop the thought from surfacing.
This is a discipline that, like a muscle, needs to be built up through repetition. I need to train myself to pray. Never ceasing and always from the heart.
Just remember I was pointing the finger at ME!
I am appalled at the piety of “intercessors” who want to know every little tidbit. We cannot possibly “go deep” for everyone and every little thing at every moment. So I am all for less lists of prayer needs I am barely scanning and all for more discernment about who needs me to stand in the gap or do war on the floor - whether they know it or not.
One guy said, “I don’t pray long, I just don’t go long without praying.” That works for me!
God loves to hear your voice, I am certain of it.