By Nate Powell
In yesterday’s sermon we ended with a note regarding reasons that we don’t pray. These reasons were highlighted from Donald Whitney’s book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. I relate to several of them, and I’m sure you will too. It is good for us to reflect on this list and how many of these currently apply to us.
- We have a lack of discipline. We are not disciplined people and struggle to do anything out of habit.
- We doubt anything will happen. We’ve felt let down by prayer before, and become cynical.
- We don’t sense God’s nearness. We have not read our Bible, been to church, with other Christians. He doesn’t seem present daily with us.
- We lack awareness of real need. We don’t see a real pressing need to pray.
- We have a small awareness of God’s greatness and greatness of the Gospel. We’ve lost sight of the holiness of God and how large he is in power, presence and majesty.
We could feel down about reading this list. We struggle in so many ways. Yet I think that we should take hope in this list. Prayer is not easy. Many of us struggle with prayer. And prayer is a skill that is learned through a lifetime of discipleship … being with other Christians … seeking to grow in the art of prayer.
When Luke records the Lord’s prayer, it begins with the disciples asking Jesus: “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1) When we hear Jesus’ prayers, we get to sit at the feet of the master. May we reflect upon the good prayers of Jesus, and may we has our savior to teach us to pray.
**If you are looking for an excellent book on prayer, Whitney’s book is great. I’d encourage you to read it.