The funny thing about prayer is that you actually have to do it in order to gain any results.
So many Christians talk about prayer and read about prayer and say they want to be better at praying...but fail to actually pray.
If we do not do the thing we need to do, how on earth will we ever improve in the doing of it? In other words, if you want to have more success when you pray then you absolutely must pray more.
Take a look at this quote from E.M. Bounds, and see if it sums up the attitude of most Christians in this day and age ~
"Yet men, in general, have quit praying. They are too busy to pray. Time and strength and every faculty are given over to money, to business, to the affairs of the world. Few men expend themselves in great praying. The great business of praying is a hurried, petty, starved, beggarly business with most men." (from the book E.M. Bounds on Prayer, the eighth chapter)
I would argue that this statement is drastically more true for the church of 2015 than it was when Bounds first wrote it (which was probably sometime in the late 1800's or early 1900's). Men and women, in general, have quit praying. And we are shameless about it! Too busy, we say. But that begs the question, "Busy doing what?" Earning a living? It is God who gives you the ability to get wealth and every good and perfect gift comes from above and He is our Jehovah-Jireh ~ so no Christian can truly be so busy earning a living that they have no time to pray. Doing the Lord's work in the area of ministry where He has called you? What a ridiculous excuse, since any work done for the Lord in our own strength is sure to be powerless simply because we have not bothered to ask the Holy Spirit to do His will, His way in that ministry! Raising a family? Well, now, that is interesting, because I see no purpose in raising children according to the world's bent when the end result is worldly children! Raising children who love and fear the Lord and serve Him alone all the days of their lives requires vast amounts of prayer. And God's Word is strikingly clear on the point that He desires us to raise "godly seed".
Any other excuses can easily be debunked in this same manner. We have no viable reason not to pray, and to pray long and with great importunity. Truly, we have turned the awesome and nearly unbelievable gift of prayer into something so rushed, so starved, so beggarly that it cannot rightly be called prayer at all.
If you know that your prayer life is lacking, then there is one remedy and that is simply to pray more. Much more. Beyond what we would consider much more.
Let us become a praying church, and then we will be astounded at all that God would do.
If this blog post encouraged or blessed you, I invite you to take a look at my new site Titus 2 Discipleship with Jan L. Burt (a member-only site dedicated to discipleship & spiritual growth & it's all-access for just $10/month)
Day 399 done :)
Jan L. Burt
author of The Homeschooling Mothers Bible Study
and The Once-A-Year Homeschool Planner (use coupon code HAPPY2019 for $10 off)
So many Christians talk about prayer and read about prayer and say they want to be better at praying...but fail to actually pray.
If we do not do the thing we need to do, how on earth will we ever improve in the doing of it? In other words, if you want to have more success when you pray then you absolutely must pray more.
Take a look at this quote from E.M. Bounds, and see if it sums up the attitude of most Christians in this day and age ~
"Yet men, in general, have quit praying. They are too busy to pray. Time and strength and every faculty are given over to money, to business, to the affairs of the world. Few men expend themselves in great praying. The great business of praying is a hurried, petty, starved, beggarly business with most men." (from the book E.M. Bounds on Prayer, the eighth chapter)
I would argue that this statement is drastically more true for the church of 2015 than it was when Bounds first wrote it (which was probably sometime in the late 1800's or early 1900's). Men and women, in general, have quit praying. And we are shameless about it! Too busy, we say. But that begs the question, "Busy doing what?" Earning a living? It is God who gives you the ability to get wealth and every good and perfect gift comes from above and He is our Jehovah-Jireh ~ so no Christian can truly be so busy earning a living that they have no time to pray. Doing the Lord's work in the area of ministry where He has called you? What a ridiculous excuse, since any work done for the Lord in our own strength is sure to be powerless simply because we have not bothered to ask the Holy Spirit to do His will, His way in that ministry! Raising a family? Well, now, that is interesting, because I see no purpose in raising children according to the world's bent when the end result is worldly children! Raising children who love and fear the Lord and serve Him alone all the days of their lives requires vast amounts of prayer. And God's Word is strikingly clear on the point that He desires us to raise "godly seed".
Any other excuses can easily be debunked in this same manner. We have no viable reason not to pray, and to pray long and with great importunity. Truly, we have turned the awesome and nearly unbelievable gift of prayer into something so rushed, so starved, so beggarly that it cannot rightly be called prayer at all.
If you know that your prayer life is lacking, then there is one remedy and that is simply to pray more. Much more. Beyond what we would consider much more.
Let us become a praying church, and then we will be astounded at all that God would do.
If this blog post encouraged or blessed you, I invite you to take a look at my new site Titus 2 Discipleship with Jan L. Burt (a member-only site dedicated to discipleship & spiritual growth & it's all-access for just $10/month)
Day 399 done :)
Jan L. Burt
author of The Homeschooling Mothers Bible Study
and The Once-A-Year Homeschool Planner (use coupon code HAPPY2019 for $10 off)
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