Recently, My pastor asked me to share a short testimony during a night of prayer at our church. I honestly got a little nervous about this. I was afraid he was going to ask me to talk about how strong my prayer life is and how I could encourage everyone with it. But instead I shared that I have been struggling with my personal prayer life. And when I say struggling, what I really mean is that I have not been praying regularly or consistently. I believe I can safely say that I am not the only one.
We know prayer matters and we know it is powerful. We know Jesus prayed, and we know Paul said to pray without ceasing. But what do we do when we are not praying at all? How do we climb out of the rut?
For me, it’s not usually doubt that hinders my prayer life. I truly believe that God is all powerful and can do anything. It’s not even that I don’t want to pray. It is that I let everything else push prayer out of the way. My schedule, my distractions, my routines. And honestly, more than anything, my lack of discipline.
We make time for what we value . We find time to eat. We find time to exercise. We find time to scroll on our phones or binge a television series or run errands. We feed our bodies every single day and usually more than once, but we let our souls go hungry. We do not feed our spirit through prayer and then we wonder why we feel empty or anxious or distant from God.
I see it in myself. And deep down I know my soul needs God more than my body needs food.
Sometimes we think prayer has to sound poetic or deep or impressive. But Scripture does not show us that at all.
In Luke 18 Jesus tells a story about two people who prayed. One was a religious leader who basically said “God thank you that I am not like other people”. The other was a tax collector who would not even lift his eyes. He simply said “God have mercy on me, a sinner”.
Jesus said the one with the simple honest messy prayer was the one who went home right with God.
That gives me hope, because it reminds me that prayer is not about getting the words right. Prayer is about showing up.
Romans 8:26 says “we do not know what we ought to pray for but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words”. That is comforting. Even when I cannot get the words out the Spirit prays for me.
And here is something else God has been showing me: He wants a relationship with us. Not just our requests. Not just our emergencies. He wants closeness. He wants conversation.
Think about it like this. If I went a whole month without talking to my wife but still expected her to take care of everything for me, it probably wouldn’t go well. I cannot expect the benefits of a relationship if I am not showing up for the relationship.
And yet, sometimes I do that with God. I want his blessings. I want his help. But I have not spoken to him in days or even weeks. That is not a relationship. That is selfishness.
God does not just want us to come to him for what he can do. He wants us to come to him because of WHO HE IS. Prayer is not a religious task, it is how we stay close to the one who made us and loves us.
I may not be strong in prayer right now, but I do know this: When I bring even my weak and distracted heart to God he meets me with grace every single time.
So if you feel like your prayer life is not where it should be, or if you have not been making time or you have drifted, you are not alone and you are not disqualified.
Prayer is not a performance, it is a relationship. It is not about perfect words, it is about turning your heart toward God.
So let us be honest with him and with ourselves. Let us set the pressures aside and just come to him. He is not looking for polished prayers, He is looking for open hearts.
Let us pray.
Forged by The Word 