I’ve been preparing to teach this weekend on “Why Pray?” The preparation for this message has turned out to be a huge challenge. One of the advantages of preaching is that I often put a microscope on myself regarding what I’m speaking about. If I’m teaching about prayer, how’s my prayer life? Do I teach from a place of authenticity?
Thank you for allowing your leaders to be honest. Right now, my prayer life stinketh (that’s King James English). Why? It is not that I don’t know how. It is not that there is some huge sin in my life. It is not that I’m not confident in God. It isn’t a lack of faith. It isn’t because of bad motives. You might have noticed these are the usual reasons given for a person having a prayer life that stinketh.
My issue is that I’m too busy. My greatest challenge in life is to slow down and not just speak to God, but allow Him to speak to me. I must allow time for reflection. I need quiet and silence.
I know what motivates me. Action and results are huge motivators. That’s not all bad – I don’t know anybody who wants a lazy pastor. But the danger is that I can allow my motivation to be what drives my life. When I enter the zone of being driven, that’s when I’m in danger of all kinds of things. That’s when I can run ahead of God – never a good thing! We are all driven. The question is who or what is driving us?
I suspect that I’m not alone. I’ll bet most of us have become too busy to pray. Whether we run a business or run a household full of pre-schoolers – we are heavily influenced by a culture that encourages us to be busy. Our lives, our schedules, our to-do lists and days are full.
Bill Hybels wrote a book titled Too Busy Not to Pray, Slowing Down to be with God. We know it is important to pray. We know how to pray. May you and I come to the place where we realize we are so busy that we must pray. My preparation for a message on prayer has been God’s way to remind me that He longs for us to be together. My Father longs for time together that is not hurried or full of interruptions. May prayer not be duty but desire – desire to be with the One who loves me unconditionally and has more wisdom than my pea-brain can ever hold.
Together to make the world different,
Glen
I love receiving Pantano E-News! Thank you Glen for sharing your heart with us. HA! I do teach pre-schoolers from 7am – 6pm M-F and I too feel I am too busy to pray! How sad. I often reflect on how my day was and how it could have been had I taken the time to slow down and just listen, really listen. Sometimes I feel I need to schedule it in, just like my play dates and date night! Again I thank you, Jace and I look forward to Sunday’s service.