Getting Prayer Right

I am a Type 2 diabetic. I have seen many infomercials lately telling me that the real problem isn’t too much sugar in my diet, but a parasite in my pancreas. I hope they’re right!

Many of you are Type 1 Prayer Flops. You try to pray, you really do. But after about 10 seconds your mind is on the next Netflix series you’re going to watch, or you’re thinking about what’s the best way to go about getting a better job, or you’re thinking about what time you need to get on the road to miss the worst of the traffic. You don’t mean to wander, you really don’t – but you do. And then comes the guilt and the condemnation of the devil. It’s such a familiar pattern. You cry out, “Why am I such a Prayer Flop? Why can’t I be more disciplined?” Listen – a lack of discipline is not the culprit behind your perennial struggle to pray. It’s much worse than that. Let me illustrate.

When my wife goes to the store and I forget to tell her to buy ice cream, I go into panic mode. I message her: “Please get me ice cream!” When she doesn’t respond, I’ll message again: “Did you get my text? Please get me ice cream! Let me know when you get this.” When she doesn’t respond to the texts I sent, I’ll call her and if it goes to voicemail, I’ll leave a message: “Please get me ice cream. Call me back so I know you received my message.” If she doesn’t acknowledge my texts or respond to my voicemail, I’ll call and ask to speak to the store manager. I’ll describe my wife and ask her to go roam the aisles of the store and hunt her down and tell her that her husband has been trying to reach her so that she can buy ice cream! OK – that last bit was preacher hyperbole, but what is driving my desperate attempts to reach my wife? Clue: it isn’t discipline. It’s DESIRE. It’s PASSION. I’m a ball of desire and a spasm of passion. I want something that only my wife can get it for me – and so I press in.

Your problem with prayer isn’t the lack of discipline. It’s much worse than that. Your problem is that you are not passionate about the things of God. You do not deeply value the will of God. You don’t desire the promises of God. The remedy isn’t trying harder and steeling yourself into more discipline. The remedy is going before God and repenting of the fact that you are not after His heart as you should be, that you don’t desire the things of God as you ought, that your soul is satisfied with the things of the world. Discipline may work for a brief season, but without desire, prayer will be a lifelong struggle. And don’t mistake discipline with desire – don’t fall into the ditch of discipline. The thing with discipline is that you often congratulate yourself about how disciplined you are, whereas desire focuses on the object of desire – in this case, God.

I’m not throwing the rocks of condemnation, but delivering the lightning bolt of revelation. If you desired the things of God, prayer would not be a burden. If you were passionate for the heart of God, you wouldn’t need to force yourself to cry out to God. It wasn’t discipline that made me desperate to reach my wife – it was a great desire for what I knew she could obtain for me.

“Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name, some of my brothers and sisters are allowing the weeds of this world to choke out the seed of the Word of God that when it germinates, gives birth to the desire for the things of God. We know that the devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy. And if he can kill, steal, and destroy our passion and desire – we are undone. We know that the Prodigal Son didn’t desire the things of his father’s house until he was broken in the pig pen. Break, I pray, my brothers and my sisters. Bring them to the place where they desire only Your House and will rise up out of that dark place and begin to seek Your face and come and humble themselves before You. May passion and desire be revived as they leave the place of their bondage and captivity and come before You with one single desire – to dwell with You and serve You. May they come to that place where prayer isn’t a discipline, but a delight born of desire. In the strong name of Jesus – amen.”

Tim Brown

Tim Brown has been in some sort of ministry since February of 1973 – as a youth pastor, an assistant pastor, and a senior pastor. Tim planted Calvary Chapel Fremont in January of 1997 and continues to pastor there. Tim has been married since August of 1976 to Fran. They have three children and nine grandchildren.