By Hannah S.How’s your prayer life?
That’s a question that usually gets the same answer.
“It could be better.”
Until we are face to face with the Lord, our communication with Him will always be lacking. But if you are like me, there are times when prayer comes easily and then there are other times where it is bordering on sheer duty.
Why?
When I find myself struggling to pray, I will often call out to the Lord and ask Him to increase my desire for fellowship with Him. I am beginning to see a pattern of how He has answered these prayers in my life. He answers by bringing circumstances in my life where I feel helpless. I pray fervently when I have exhausted all my efforts and don’t know what else to do to remedy a situation. We even see this in the world as news reporters and political leaders will often refer to prayer during times of crisis. It is very natural for us to cry out to God when we feel helpless.
Helplessness leads to prayer.
So what does this say about areas of my life in which I don’t pray? Somehow, I have fooled myself into believing that I can handle these things and, thus, prayer is not crucial. I believe that I have a plan, a program, or a schedule that will get me to my end goal. The reality is I am much more helpless than I really want to think. Prayerlessness is a warning sign in my life. My lack of prayer is pride that says, “ I’ve got this one covered.”
So if you are like me, and desire to grow in your prayer life, ask the Lord to remind you of your helplessness. It is good to rehearse these truths to ourselves. We are helpless to live this Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit. We are helpless to respond kindly to our husbands and children. We are helpless to serve without selfish gain, to learn from His word, to love others… The list goes on and on. All of these items should drive us before the throne of God with passion and urgency. Everyday life is more of a crisis than you might realize. We must pray!
