How Do We Fix Our Prayer Life?

This is part three of a a mini-series on prayer based on our Sunday School discussion last week. If you missed them, here is Part 1 and Part 2.

Is the answer more rigor? More discipline? Better schedules?

No doubt, a little bit of discipline can do us all good. Consider 1 Tim 4:8, for instance.

But if we merely approach this problem with more discipline, more resolve, doesn't this smack a bit of battling a problem with the flesh (e.g., worldliness) using the weapons of mere flesh? Is this really going to work?

Here, another quote from Andrew Murray's A Prayer Life is instructive: "As soon as the Christian becomes convinced of his sin in this matter, his first thought is that he must begin to strive, with God's help, to gain the victory over it. But alas, he soon experiences that his striving is worth little, and the discouraging thought comes over him, like a wave, that such a life is not for him - he cannot continue faithful!"

Most Christians can, I think, sympathize with the following vicious cycle. 1. Become convicted that you don't pray enough. 2. Resolve to pray more. 3. Make lists and schedules. 4. Follow the schedule for a few days. 5. After a few days or weeks, realize you've been totally ignoring the schedule. 6. Give up and become discouraged.

The problem with this approach is that prayer is being approached as a to-do list. When all along, prayer is a relationship. A relationship requires two way communication, and most healthy relationships in this world experience regular communication several times a day. Any less than that, as any married person can tell you, the relationship will start to deteriorate and grow distant.

So also our relationship with God. God speaks to us through his Word, the Bible, when the meaning is rightly interpreted and in proper context. We speak to God through prayer. Like in any relationship, both these elements must happen regularly for the relationship to remain healthy. (Here, I am speaking of our day-to-day relationship with God, not our salvific standing before God, which can never change once saved by the blood of Christ)

So, the only real cure to prayerlessness is to understand that prayer is a necessary element of a right relationship with God.

So, what does this mean in our struggle with prayerlessness? Surprisingly, it means this: Stop focusing on prayer! Start focusing on God, who is revealed to us most clearly in Jesus Christ.

We need to stop thinking of prayer as a religious ritual or magic mantra. There is no power in prayer in and of itself. All the power is in God. We need to start focusing on God, meditating on his wonders and glories, think about what he's done for us in Christ, rest and rejoice in that, and let our joy flow into a burning desire to pour out our hearts, our praises, our yearnings, our thanksgivings, our struggles, and our petitions.

One more thing: Looked upon this way, prayer is intimately connected to worship. Our deepest prayers burst out of a fountain of worship for God. Our worship, of course, stands upon our knoweldge of who God is. Our knoweldge of God depends upon our knowledge of His Word.

So, here's the practical takeaway. If you struggle with prayerlessness, read the Bible!

Next time: What prayer is and isn't.