I've been giving thought lately to why I spend so little time in prayer. Obviously thinking and writing about it may be just another way of avoiding prayer but may be something useful can be said and even an improvement made.
1. Prayer takes time and we often lack time
I'm sure people have been busy in every age but we seem to be busier than ever. Although we have many time saving gadgets, it simply makes us more ambitious and so there are activities enough to fill more than the time available. One of the things that can easily get squeezed out is time for prayer. This is one of our problems. Obviously we should seek to pray as we go but special times of prayer are vital to promote that and to seek God earnestly.
The reason some people pray so little is that they set no time aside for it. Yes, in theory, they may plan to begin or end the day in prayer or take time for it in the day but the pressure to get other things done means that prayer is often skimped. Carving out time is not easy and probably what we need is not only a plan but a back up plan too for when things don't work out as we hope - we're up late in the morning or get to bed too late at night or miss our appointment during the day.
Of course, we can set aside time to pray and then still find ourselves unable to pray when the time arrives but at least if there is a specific time then we have the opportunity.
As for carving out time something definitely has to go if we are to spend time praying. It may be time for sleep or for TV or other entertainments but the time needs to be found. Perhaps a variety of approaches will serve best. Missing a meal from time to time is an obvious way of creating a little extra time for prayer.
1. Prayer takes time and we often lack time
I'm sure people have been busy in every age but we seem to be busier than ever. Although we have many time saving gadgets, it simply makes us more ambitious and so there are activities enough to fill more than the time available. One of the things that can easily get squeezed out is time for prayer. This is one of our problems. Obviously we should seek to pray as we go but special times of prayer are vital to promote that and to seek God earnestly.
The reason some people pray so little is that they set no time aside for it. Yes, in theory, they may plan to begin or end the day in prayer or take time for it in the day but the pressure to get other things done means that prayer is often skimped. Carving out time is not easy and probably what we need is not only a plan but a back up plan too for when things don't work out as we hope - we're up late in the morning or get to bed too late at night or miss our appointment during the day.
Of course, we can set aside time to pray and then still find ourselves unable to pray when the time arrives but at least if there is a specific time then we have the opportunity.
As for carving out time something definitely has to go if we are to spend time praying. It may be time for sleep or for TV or other entertainments but the time needs to be found. Perhaps a variety of approaches will serve best. Missing a meal from time to time is an obvious way of creating a little extra time for prayer.
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