There are some times when I come to my blog and I have a simple shoot from the hip approach. It means that I’m not going into a long and thought out argument. These are just things that I am pondering at the time. Now I could have pondered them for a long time, like tonight’s, but I have no “This is all I want to say” tonight. I just want it to flow. My topic will be prayer.
I told a friend of mine tonight that I would really like to improve my prayer life. Why do I say this? I’d like to say that I am a man of prayer, but I know in many ways I am not. I do not leave prayer usually in a happy, happy, joy, joy mood. A lot of this is because I and probably many others don’t have much knowledge on how to do it.
I also think a lot of it comes from pop Christianity. I don’t care for the system on hearing the voice of God and listening for it. I don’t see that taught as normative Christian practice. It is a more modern idea that has been put in our doctrine. I find that those who teach it the most inevitably show that they don’t believe in it either.
So where does my problem lie? My problem is that we find it so difficult. It seems that when I wake up and have to do my duties and fix my breakfast and do some reading and go work 9 hours and come home and relax, that finding prayer in there doesn’t seem to happen until I get to bed.
Once it starts, how long does it go? Is it more spiritual for instance to pray for an hour? We really have no criteria. The command to pray without ceasing would seem to indicate that prayer is more of a lifestyle than an activity. We say the same with worship after all. Worship is not something done at one time in the day but an event throughout the day.
I think about this with people who have what they call quiet time. If you have it and it helps you get closer to God and know him better, great. I just don’t see this in Scripture. I am more interested in a life of devotion than I am interested in doing what is called “devotions.”
Yes. The Bible says early in the morning will I seek you. I don’t think that means though that it’s more Christian to wake up early in the morning. It’s more likely that simply since the ancients did not have indoor lighting like we do today (And sometimes I wish we could get back to those days) that they woke up in the morning and so they began seeking God in the morning.
I do think I would love to get back to such times though because life did seem simpler back then. It seems that the more labor saving devices we have today, the less time we have. We have more books printed than ever before, but we seem to have less time to read them.
When you get to prayer, what do you say? I simply try to say what’s on the heart. That’s it. There are many times I’m honestly not caring too much about requests friends give me. That saddens me, but it’s true. I pray for them anyway. I want to be the kind of person that I pray about. I find it important to know who I am and who I want to be.
Do I see myself as a great lover of God? No. Not really. That is saddening. Do I see myself as a prayer warrior as they are called? Not at all. I recognize room for improvement. My friends would say I’m being too hard on myself. They’re probably right. I suppose I should ask them to pray for me.
What are my thoughts then? I have a ways to go. Why am I saying this? Because I don’t think I’m alone. Chances are, you could be the same way. If so, let me know. Let’s try to help each other out and really develop a doctrine of prayer.
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