The Sin of Prayerlessness

To build, nurture, and maintain any relationship, communication is key. This is no new news to anybody reading this I'm sure. I can't expect a fruitful relationship with my wife, or children, if we are not communicating effectively.

Likewise it is with God and prayer ...

Yet in both cases, a frequent killer is perceived busyness. We are all busy, I know ... but when we are so busy we don't have time for God, or our family, something must change. I see so many marriages and relationships crumble because lives drifted apart as busyness crept in ... fractures were formed ... and eventually those fractures turned to chasms ...

Often with prayer, these chasms begin to form doubts ... not doubts in God so much as doubts in ourselves, and questioning our relationship with Him. For instance, it's not that when we struggle to make time to communicate with others it means we don't love our families, children, spouse, or friends ... and it would be absurd to think that because we fail to spend time with them that it must mean that we don't believe they exist. So for me it's not often a faith issue, but rather a pride issue.

I just make my life more important than God sometimes.

Pastor John Piper once said:

"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time."

Even beyond social media, this could be said about many things ... sports, entertainment, our favorite TV shows, golf, hunting, etc.

These things in and of themselves are not bad, but when they keep us from God, they become idols.

Additionally, our prayer life is not meant to be about us ... sure He wants (and asks) to hear our requests like any good father ... but it's so much more ... we need to seek Him, and Him alone ... to know Jesus, and make Him known ...

Yet among many critical reasons to pray, and warnings about how our lifestyle may hinder our prayers, (of which some I have written about before and I'm sure will again one day) another passage stood out to me today ...

'Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. ' - 1 Samuel 12:23

The sin of prayerlessness ...

By all means read in context to understand Samuel's background before this moment, but nonetheless, do we see prayerlessness as sin? We should ... when there is a need, and we neglect it, show apathy, or just are "too busy" we sin and grieve the Holy Spirit ...

So as for me, April will be a month I plan to regain some healthier patterns back into my life, including prayer. Real, intentional, reflective, seeking to know and understand Him kind of prayer ... and then not neglecting the needs that God put into my life that I can meet with both tangible ways, and spiritual ways through prayer.

Join me in April if you wish to reclaim some lost territory with prayer ... as Christians, it should be as natural as breathing ...

His,
~Matthew