Confession: Prayer Is Hard

I don’t like to talk on the phone. As a matter of fact, I hate it. I would rather jump in my Jeep and drive across town to talk to you face to face rather than call you on the phone. I want to see you, see your expressions, when we talk. But logistics, time, and common sense don’t allow face-to-face meetings all the time. So I call you on the phone.

I told you a couple posts ago I was going to share some confessions pertaining to areas of dissatisfaction in my life. Here’s the first one: prayer is hard for me. Maybe my dislike of talking on the phone might be related to my stinkiness at prayer. I don’t know.

When I first got out of college I bought a book called “Spending An Hour A Day With God” and it had the whole outline for each day of the year so you could spend a whole hour every day with God. I was excited and committed to doing this because I was going to become a great man of God. I sat down at my desk in my office, opened the book, and began following the outline. I made it about 27 minutes. My personality isn’t wired for long moments of silence or endless contemplation.

Some think since I am a pastor that I have a direct line to God. Some pastors may have that, but I can tell you this is one pastor who doesn’t. When it comes to prayer and Bible reading, I have to work at it. It doesn’t come naturally to me. Don’t get me wrong, I pray and I read my Bible, but not nearly as much as I should. I’m not as intentional as I should be.

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray continually. I am pretty good at shooting up short little prayers all the time, like “That’s cool, God” or “Give me the words, Jesus.” But when it comes to sitting down, folding my hands, bowing my head, and spending time in prayer, I fail miserably. I think this might be a stumbling block for a lot of people, because they think if you spend a looong time in prayer it makes you more spiritual. It doesn’t work for me like that in my life. I’m not sure the fact that you pray lengthy prayers automatically increases your spiritualness.

What do you think? How are you at prayer?

By the way, don’t be afraid to call me on the phone. I will talk to you.