16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 4:16)
I prayed today. I know, shocker. Lately however, I have really struggled. Unfocused, undisciplined, and ultimately doubt ridden, I have felt detached from my faith. Yes, even pastors are human. Many times we believe that prayer is for God or others when really, it is for us, not in the sense that it is a vehicle for getting what we want, but a way of setting our soul back to face the holy. Prayer tunes the heart to God. There is a reason why the great saints we read about awoke early to engage in this spiritual practice.
Perhaps we see prayer as a competition in which we cannot win. We hear rumors of people in the church who pray fervently and we think we can never stack up. It is like many things in our faith that we “religionize”. Yet I believe every personality has to find their own prayer practice unique to their makeup. Our prayers are not to look like everyone else’s. However, we must make strides toward our God. As we cannot have a relationship with a friend we never talk nor listen to, we cannot have a flourishing bond with our Lord unless we are willing to speak and quiet our soul.
Today I urge you to examine your motivation to pray. Is it more about checking a box or about connecting to an old friend? Does your prayer life seem forced? Are you being unauthentic?
Lord, teach us to pray.
Matt simon blog 