So Why Aren't You Praying?

Jeremiah 33:3: "(The Lord said) Call upon me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."


James 4:2b: "You do not have, because you do not ask God."


Luke 18:1: "Jesus told his disciples . . . that they should always pray and not give up."


Throughout Christendom, there is a dearth of fervent prayer to God. If most professing Christians were honest, they would share that their prayer life is rather trite and routine. Most of the prayers that they offer are brief preludes to dinner or possibly the occasional prayer at bedtime (which only lasts until the head hits the pillow).


As we forsake this wonderful privilege of communing with our loving Lord, we wonder why our life experiences are unfulfilling and why we do not see God working supernaturally in our lives. Maybe we have tried praying in the past only to find that our prayers seemed not to accomplish much . . . maybe we have asked God for His Divine intervention only to find that our prayers were not answered according to our expectations. Maybe we have allowed such experiences to quench our faith to believe that God is our advocate, who desires to answer us when we are in need of Him (see Psalm 86:7). Maybe we think that God is so far removed from our everyday lives that He is not a resource for us when we need His supernatural presence (of course, that is not what Psalm 139:7-10 says). Or maybe we have just become too lazy and self-confident to pray . . . we know that it is important, but we don't want to invest the time and effort to do what we think we can do ourselves.


The fervency of our prayer life is a good indicator of how much we really trust God and believe that He is actively a part of our lives. God rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6); therefore, if we are lacking God's blessings, we must look at ourselves to see if we "have not because we ask not." Such introspection gives us reason to ponder just how many blessings we may have missed from God simply because we failed to ask the Lord in faith.


We must remember Jesus' command always to pray and not give up. We too must remember that God's timing in answering us is not necessarily our own, and His delay in answering us is intentional so that He can heighten our dependence upon Him and increase our appreciation of His supernatural work when He does answer us. We must be reassured that God is working all things in accordance with His sovereign purposes, so that we will continue to be transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory (see Romans 8:28-29; 2 Corinthians 3:18). This may mean that His Divine response may be different from what we had expected . . . still, it is ultimately what is best for us, because God loves us even beyond our ability to comprehend.


Let's not give up on what God is wanting to do in our lives. Let us commit ourselves to continual prayer, and expect God to answer us in marvelous ways. And when He answers us, let us offer Him the praise He deserves, for truly our God is a "compassionate and gracious God . . . abounding in love and faithfulness" (Psalm 86:15).