Prayer: Voicemail Or Live Call?

I have a confession to make. I am not good at prayer. I am not someone who is consistent with long, meaningful prayer time on a daily basis. Sure there are times when I pray more than others, but more often I struggle with doing it at all. While this may surprise you, I am betting many of you struggle the same way.

What Is The Problem?

So what is the problem? Why is it so hard for us to pray? Why does it feel so dry at times, like it is one-sided rather than a conversation between friends or a father-child talk?

Since I am one that struggles with this, I will go ahead and tell you that I do not have all of the answers. I do not have a simple 3 step plan that will turn you into a prayer warrior. If that is what you were hoping for, then I am sorry to disappoint you.

What I will do is walk through my thoughts on the roots of the problem. Hopefully, something I say will help you move closer to a more meaningful prayer life. If so, I would love to hear your thoughts on this in the comment section.

Prayer Is A Privilege!

First and foremost, we have to realize that prayer is an incredible privilege. It is not meant to be a burden to us, but a remover of burdens. It is not to be an item on our daily “To Do” list that we simply check off. Instead, it is the unimaginable opportunity to speak directly with our Creator!

Prior to Jesus, only a select few (priests) were allowed to pray on behalf of the people. Now, after the curtain has been torn during the crucifixion, we are given the freedom to approach God as individuals. We are no longer forced to make our requests or give our praises through someone else as our mouthpiece.

We are His children with the right to approach Him directly! Until we see God as a Father that loves us more than we can imagine, we will struggle to pray. Until we recognize that He wants a personal relationship with us, we will see prayer as a burden.

Prayer Is Live!

Along that same line of thinking, we have to recognize that prayer is not like leaving a voicemail for God. We do not have to call and leave a message for Him. We are given the freedom and opportunity to call Him anytime…and we get Him live! He is listening to our every word, observing the feelings in our hearts, and speaking back to us.

Sure, I agree that it would often be a lot easier if He would simply speak audibly and give us the instructions on what we are to do. It would make life simpler if we heard His voice in a back-and-forth dialogue!

At the same time, we must remember that God’s goal is not our ease or comfort. His goal is to conform us to the likeness of Jesus. He is not interested in making everything easier for us. He is more interested in our growth.

Through His Word

Instead of speaking to us audibly, God has already given us His Word. If we would treat the Bible as His Word, spoken directly to us, to be learned, internalized, and followed as we live our lives, I am convinced we would find prayer to be less of a struggle.

I do not think it is a coincidence that I see my times of least effective prayer to be happening at the same time I am also struggling to spend focused time studying the Bible. I think there is a direct relationship between our confidence in prayer and the amount of time we spend reading God’s Word.

Practice Required!

Finally, I think we cannot ignore that sometimes we simply have to keep doing something for a while before we become “good” at it. Whether it is giving presentations, analyzing reports, or interviewing candidates, nothing is normally easy and comfortable the first few times we do it.

It takes commitment and dedication to the practice of prayer before we feel natural when doing it. We must realize there are going to be dry spells. There are going to be times when we feel our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. We are going to experience days when it feels like we are leaving a message after the beep.

Despite this, we must continue to try. We need to spend more time in God’s Word and begin building our relationship with Him, one brick at a time. Over time, I think we will see our prayer muscles begin to develop and we will see more fruit from our efforts!

Do you approach prayer like voicemail?

Do you see the connection between effective prayer and being in His Word?

How much effort are you actually giving to extended time in prayer?