Why don’t you pray? Busyness,
distance from God, inexperience with prayer, sin, pride, laziness, fear of
answers? What do you choose to do
instead? What lies do you believe that
keep you from the throne?
When you DO pray, WHY do you pray? Desperation, to have needs met, to give
thanks, because of sadness or loneliness, to obtain peace or guidance, for
fellowship, forgiveness, to intercede for others?
So begins our four-week study on prayer based on Cynthia
Heald’s book “Becoming a Woman of Prayer”.
Don’t be dissuaded, gentlemen.
This is for you, too.
Prayer is an invitation to intimacy with God. Read Jeremiah 29:11-14. What does this invitation say to you? Now read Romans 8:14-17. What is God’s invitation in these
verses? Look at Revelation 3:14-22. How does God want to meet with you in these
verses?
Do you see prayer as being initiated by God or by you? Believe it or not, God draws us to
prayer. We don’t initiate it. How does knowing that affect your view of
prayer?
It pleases God when we want to be with Him. God receives our prayers like incense. Read Psalm 141:1-2 and Revelation 8:3-4. Have you ever burned incense? It fills the space in which it burns with
fragrance. Our prayers rise to God like
incense, permeating, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice.
Is it a priority for you to spend time with God? What sorts of sacrifices do you make for
special people in your life? Time,
sleep, money, preferences, goals? Are
you willing to make those sacrifices for God?
If your answer is yes, hallelujah!
If your answer is no, I am willing to argue that you don’t have a time
management problem, but rather a love problem.
When we don’t sacrifice for God, we are demonstrating that we don’t love
Him enough. I am guilty of this, myself.
Daniel is a wonderful person to study. God was a priority to him. Read Daniel 6:5-16. What did Daniel sacrifice to spend time with
God in prayer? What are some things you
need to sacrifice to deepen your intimacy with God?
In closing, pray Psalm 27:7-8.
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