So then, how do we engage in pray? First, it is important to recognize that prayer is good, necessary, and hard. Second, undertake the call in Romans 12:12 and numerous other places, getting on your face before God. Confess the lack of desire for the unseen, do the hard work of heart work, and seek the Lord through prayer constantly.

 

Again and again I confess, heartfelt-constancy in prayer is a great challenge in my personal life. The problem isn’t the actual performance of the act of prayer, but the challenge is the heart’s desire for the tangible, as it is somehow unsatisfied with what cannot be seen, which is what we are called to place our gaze upon the substance of the unseen.

 

Another struggle is leading people in this. The need for prayer is not something that is felt. Praying in front of other people is fearful. Feeling the need to pray corporately is almost totally lacking. Why Pray with one another, when I can simply pray at home? I once had a man tell me that if he knew that the churches prayer meeting was also a bible study he would have started coming long ago. When pressed why he stated this, it simply boiled down to the fact that he didn’t feel like prayer was supposed to be public like that, and that he was very uncomfortable praying with others. His concern was being judged for his words, how spiritual or unspiritual, it also seemed clear that his judgment of others was a fear that he held for himself—he didn’t want others to think the same thing as he thought about them. Unfortunately prayer meeting can often become a tremendous place for judgment, rather than a place of freely coming before the throne of grace with our brothers and sisters in Christ. As I've written, standing with others is no easy task.

 

Write a Comment

Comments for this post have been disabled.