When we avoid prayer

As Christians, our time with God should be precious. It’s when we take a step out of this world and into His light, where we seek forgiveness and guidance, where we refresh our spirits and realign with Him. Yet, so often we don’t prioritize prayer time with God. I’m guilty of that too, but my reason may not be the same as yours. There are so many reasons we back burner our prayer time with God.

• We’re focused on the to-do list of this world rather than the to-do list of the kingdom. (It’s easy to prioritize the wrong things, and we need to stop and look at what is truly important.)
• We don’t know how to pray. (We don’t have to know some complex prayer. God hears the little children, and they come to Him with nothing more than open hearts. No fancy words. No ritual. He hears the groanings of our spirits. If you want specific words to pray, mark down scriptures that reach out to you and work them into your prayers.)
• We feel like prayer won’t fix anything (sometimes this stems from a lack of faith in God’s omnipotence—the belief that He is all powerful. There is nothing God cannot do. He spoke everything into being. Do you think your problem is too big for Him? Another reason we sometimes feel like prayer won’t fix anything is because we feel undeserving. “Sure, God will hear the prayers of others, but not mine. I’m not important enough to hear.” Oh beloved, God hears EVERY prayer. Even if you’re not getting the answer you want in the way you expect it, He hears YOU. Look for the unexpected. Look for the blessings around you.)
• We feel nothing when we pray. (Sometimes we feel the presence of God in the tingling and warmth of our skin. We feel Him around us. But sometimes we feel nothing. Prayer is one of the ways we show our love for God, and everyday we choose to love God whether we feel those tingly feelings or not. We choose to honor and spend time with Him. Those feelings will come again, but we must choose to spend time with God even if we don’t receive that instant feel-good reward.)
• Sin has driven a wedge between us and God. (Sin leads to shame, and shame divides us from God. As He waits for us to come to Him with the pain we’ve caused ourselves with sin, we shy away from Him. The more we sin, the wider that wedge becomes. But there is nothing you’ve done that God hasn’t seen before. Nothing you’ve done that is stronger than His love for you. Nothing you’ve done that Jesus’s blood doesn’t cover.  Stop running away and come to Him. Let Him love you and teach you through the mistakes you’ve made. You don’t have to go through it alone.)
• Exhaustion. (Sometimes life knocks us around so much that we don’t have the energy to pray. We don’t have the words. That’s okay. Turn on some worship music and just cry in Jesus’s presence. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done this. As someone who battles lifelong depression, emotional and spiritual exhaustion is a frequent challenge. Sometimes I can’t muster up the energy to pray, so I just listen to worship music and cry. Jesus knows the needs of my heart, He knows the words I can’t form. In times like this, it’s important to have a Christian community who can come around you in prayer. Reach out to someone.

If you’re struggling with prayer for one of these reasons, you’re not alone. Other Christians struggle too, but it’s important to come to God anyway. Find the time, open your heart, draw words from Scripture if you have none of your own, bask in worship and simply be in God’s presence. He is always waiting to hear from his beloved children.