“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” (1 John 5:14)
Last week I wrote about how many of us struggle in our prayer life. I went on to mention two types of praying that I think could be helpful for those who are hoping to have more consistent prayer lives. I don’t think any “system” is the right one, nor do I think that these ideas are unique or necessarily for everyone. I am just sharing what I think might work for some and part of that some might be you.
First of all, I think that most of the information we receive on prayer emphasizes organizing when it should probably emphasize agonizing. Prayer, no matter how well organized will not be as effective if we don’t pray from a softened heart. I think of the short, wonderful, heart-breaking, heart-felt prayer of Christ on the cross that was born of agony, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Not so much grace in so few words has ever been uttered. Our concern for those around us should fill our hearts with a pain that only God can heal. When we hurt for others, that hurt can only be relieved by our prayers for others. When we pray from pain our prayers will be real and no “system” is better than that. With that in mind, there may be some things that we can do that will clear the table from encumbrances so that our prayers can come from the heart rather than the head.
A little history might be in order here. I tend to organize (which might surprise those who have visited my garage). 
I am a list maker. From my introduction to Christ in my early twenties to present day, I like to write down requests and try to refer to them often. Let me tell you how that obsession with listing has, in some ways, hurt my prayer life. My routine has always been an early morning one. I try to divide my list as I am sure many do, some prayers are daily, some every other day, some weekly, etc. But even doing it this way, daily prayers (when you include national and global prayers), number close to fifty or more every day. (For instance, I have nineteen immediate family members and another sixty or so extended family members on my list.) 
I have another one hundred or so from our church, fifty from work, and multitudes of others from vagrants to presidents. Actually, when we look around us, there is probably no one that does not need prayer- so mine is a short list.
Here lies the problem. With so many people, situations, needs, praises, and the like, prayer time can become mechanical. Going through a list is time consuming and can become routine. We can begin to pray the same things for the same people without really thinking of what we are saying. Worse yet, we look at the almost impossible list and realize we need over an hour to make a dent, so if we don’t have that hour, we drop the whole thing. The task looks overwhelming, so we surrender to avoidance. In an attempt to pray for all things, we pray for no things. We get discouraged and our prayer life suffers. I have gone through all these struggles over the past years. Because of these struggles I have begun to embrace the old adage, “Less is more.” But it has not been an easy road.
My dilemma seemed overwhelming. I did not feel like shorting the people who needed prayer, but I also did not want to bite off more than I could chew and choke on prayerlessness. Too often I felt the guilt of hearing an update on someone I should have been praying for, but didn’t. I always said a prayer of thankfulness for those who were faithful and praying in my stead, but it didn’t assuage the guilt. I needed to find a satisfying middle ground between my need to list 
multitudes of requests and the ability to find time to discuss those requests with God. I wanted a Spirit-filled prayer time that allowed me to intercede for others. There had to be a way!
First of all, I had to commit to the necessity of prayer. I think we often do not pray because we wonder if prayer really works. If God is Sovereign and His will will be done, why pray? I got over that hurdle theologically quite awhile back, but I got over it 
logically as well. If God tells us that He is sovereign and if He also tells us we have free will, both of those must be true. So even though God is in control, He is still moved by our prayers. How can the mighty immoveable God of the universe be moved by the prayers of puny man? I don’t know how God reconciles these seemingly contradictory statements, but I know He does. God would not call us to do something that was meaningless, so His call for our prayers must have meaning.
In Jeremiah we read, “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” (Jeremiah 29:12) God is truth and would not say this if it was not true. Our first step in a strong prayer life is faith in who God is. Prayer is not important because of who we are and what we say, but because of who God is and what He says.
Today I did not give any helpful hints, I will begin 
that next week when I talk about something that has radically changed many people’s prayer lives. Today’s emphasis is this: we need to believe prayer is important or we won’t find it important to pray.
Leave a Reply