Why Do We NOT Pray?
Verse of the Day
‘Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.’
Today’s Devotional
Most of us would readily admit that we do not pray as often or as well as we could. I long to have a more intimate prayer life, and this study has helped me so much. But I can study and learn all day every day and still not put any of this into practice. Which leads me to the question: Why do we not pray?
Today and tomorrow are going to look at the possible reasons why we don’t pray.
All of today’s “reasons” come from Anthony Lee Ash’s book Pray Always. He will give us the reason and his response. I can tell you that of all the reasons not to pray that we will look at today and tomorrow, there is only one that I don’t think I’ve ever struggled with. I can see evidence of ALL the other reasons keeping me from prayer at some point in my life. So let’s dig in. Why don’t we pray?
Reason: “God already knows my needs and has a plan for me, so why should I pray?”
Response: Though God knows our needs, his knowledge does not guarantee that he will respond to them. Scripture constantly stresses the need for faith. God acts for those who offer themselves to him for that action. To put it simply, God likes to be asked.
Reason: “I don’t know how God responds to prayer.”
Response: Prayer is something we can add to the long list of things we do or use without understanding how they work. Think cell phone, the human brain, your physical senses. You don’t know how any of those actually work, yet you use them all the time.
Reason: “I don’t know how the supernatural (God’s answer to prayer) works in today’s world.”
Response: Many of us have been reared with a secular world view that assumes there is a natural explanation from everything. And then, God’s supernatural responses to our prayers may well appear to us as natural phenomena; however, that does not deny that God has genuinely acted. (Also keep in mind that God created the “natural” world on which many of us rely.) Fortunately, we are called to pray, not to pass judgment on how God answers prayers, or about what constitutes an answer. We simply pray with the faith that he does answer.
Reason: “When God has not solved the world’s big problems, why should I expect him to be concerned about my small ones?”
Response: There are still wars, exploitation, materialism, human rights violations, and natural disasters. We set against these the scriptural assurances that God is concerned about the fall of a bird, the hairs on one’s head, and little children. These bring up the matter in determining what the “big” and “little” issues of the human scene really are. Perhaps there is really nothing bigger than the response of a single person to God.
Reason: “Prayer has such a low priority in our lives that we cannot marshall the discipline to do it.”
Response: The raw fact is that we do what is important to us, and we omit what is not. How much does talking to God matter? (If we say that prayer is important but our actions do not display that to be true in practice, then we are showing our priorities. The glorious truth is that if we want prayer to be a higher priority, and we ask for God’s help in reordering our priorities, He will help us.)
Reason: “Prayer is not enjoyable.”
Response: This is often true. Many things we do are not enjoyable but for various reasons we still do them. Yet, if we are made to serve God and enjoy him forever, we cherish the hope that eventually communication with him will be our supreme joy. Meanwhile, we are often plowing hard ground.
Simply put, we are called to prayer. We are invited to pray. Prayer is the avenue to the Father’s heart, and that truly is where we want to be, if only we could get out of our own way sometimes. I heard someone say this morning, “Why do you do what you do?” I think it’s also important to ask, “Why do I not do what I don’t do?” If prayer is hard for you, ask yourself why.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Do you see yourself, whether consciously or subconsciously, avoiding prayer for any of these reasons? Which ones?
If you’ve had (or are in) a season where prayer isn’t happening, what might the reason be?
What stands out to you today about prayer’s importance?