Have you ever been in church and heard somebody talk about their prayer life? And they would talk about how awesome it was and after they finished talking you thought to yourself, “I must be a horrible christian because my prayer life isn’t like that at all.” Or, have you ever spoken with someone and when they talked about prayer, you left the conversation feeling less-than-spiritual because your prayer life isn’t really much of anything?
I can remember when I first started following Jesus, I would hear someone speak about praying and about how awesome it was and that they would spend hours in their prayer closet each day. First of all, “what is a prayer closet?” Is it an actual closet? Did they remove a bunch of clothes and shoes so that only prayers would be stored there now? Why not a prayer room? Or a prayer lounge? Or a prayer nook? I don’t know... just a thought. Anyway, I would hear people talk about how much time they were praying each day and it made me feel horrible because I’ve got ADD (that’s my excuse anyway). It’s hard for me to sit still for that long (that’s one of the reasons I don’t like going to the movie theater... I don’t like sitting still that long). And to pray for hours on end? Man, that seemed torturous. Sorry, it just did. And it had nothing to do with me loving or not loving God. I just wasn’t wired that way. But I always felt guilty. That is until I heard a quote from Smith Wigglesworth. He was a great man of God and of Faith. He really knew how to walk in the power of the Spirit, for sure. He said, “he never prayed for more than 15 minutes at a time... but he never went more than 15 minutes without praying.” When I heard that it just made sense. We should “always” be in an attitude of prayer. And that’s not just time on our knees in our “prayer closet” either. That’s always praying (fellowshipping, worshipping, singing, pressing into, talking to, enjoying) God. And it’s definitely not just the petitioning (asking for stuff) of God. I think that’s what Paul meant when he said, “praying always...” in Ephesians 6:18. We can’t “always” be in a “prayer closet. But we can always be in a conscientious attitude of needing God and wanting to be with Him no matter where we are.
And that’s the secret to being a great pray-er. Having a sense of needing God. But we usually have the attitude of “oh I got this, God” and we try doing stuff on our own most of the time. But when the illusion of control is removed we become great pray-ers. When something happens in our life that rocks us, we automatically become more dependent on God through prayer. That may be one of the reasons why God allows tough things to happen in our life... so that we depend on Him and not ourselves.
So, if you want to be a better pray-er... act like everything in your life depends on God (because it actually does) and constantly go to Him throughout the day, trusting and relying on Him and not yourself. But if you think “you got this” (whatever situation you’re facing) you’re wrong... because that’s just an illusion. We all need God.
The ADD Christian,
Jim
PS- I wasn’t mocking the “prayer closet” I actually use my bedroom (on the floor, at the side of my bed) as my place of alone time with God. When I need to shut everybody else out, that’s where I go... it’s still the place I like to meet God: ) Where do you go to get alone with Him?
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