Men,
Let’s be real. There are times when it is hard to pray.
I love the Pixar movie Up. I can relate to Doug the dog. Doug has a gadget on his neck which translates his thoughts into human language—he can speak Mandarin, French, Spanish, or English all at a turn of the dial. It is fun to hear him speak “dog thoughts.” In one scene he is speaking about how loyal he is and how much he loves his master etc. Then, he suddenly turns his head and shouts, “Squirrel!” The dog completely interrupted himself. He was distracted. I can relate. Can you? Yes, especially when it comes to prayer.
This is one tactic I believe the enemy seeks to use in our lives—distraction. He may not be able to push us to give up on Jesus or keep us from speaking about our Savior. Even so, he may seek to fill our time with anything but prayer. It’s as if, the enemy’s mantra is, “Just keep them from praying!”
One timed I asked a missionary friend who was serving in Asia, (we are all on mission by the way—yes!) what role prayer played in her work? She stopped to think and then answered, “Prayer is the work.” She shared how she learned how to not say Amen… Her prayer was constant. She had grown more aware of the spiritual battle around her. She sensed the need for constant connection with the Father.
If we love Jesus, then our purpose is to worship and enjoy our Savior and be a conduit of God’s love to others—Jesus declares this in Mark 12:28-31. It is God’s battle. It is God’s plan. It is God’s purpose. It is God’s glory. It is God’s power. It is God’s results. If we think otherwise, if we think we can do it all on our own, then we deceive ourselves to believe that we can influence this eternal spiritual battle through mere advertising, marketing, project management, and business savvy—in short, by man’s effort.
So what are we to do? The answer is really more about “be” than “do.”
Though these words were written long before Jesus walked the earth, they still carry great truth.
Hosea 6:3,
“So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.” (NASB)
Hosea uses an action word in this passage which paints the picture of “hunting” or “chasing after” God. You might be thinking that this sounds like a lot of hard work. Well, yes and no. No, it is not hard work in that we can’t work ourselves into connection with God—Jesus did this. And yes, in that, as Jesus said on the cross about His own work, “It is finished.” Jesus did the hard work. So what do we do? It's as if we cooperate with the Spirit as He drives us to chase after more intimacy with the Father.
Brothers and sisters may I suggest that we take time to come to our father in undistracted prayer and say like Daniel said in Daniel 9:3,
Father, here I am. You have done the work to enable me to be here in your presence. You first loved me--now I love you. Just like Daniel, I now "turn my attention to You." Lord, show me how to pray. Please lead this prayer time.
Father, You began the work and You are faithful to complete it. We surrender. We offer ourselves as intercessors. Please fill us with your Spirit of intercession—lead us to pray as You will. Help us to pray--we choose to press in.
Desperate for more of God, Steve
