A Call To Prayer Series

That is not our problem, is it? Folks, I must confess that it is easier for me to preach about prayer than it is to spend much time in prayer. It is easier to read a book about prayer than it is to pray, because prayer can be tough.

Perhaps that is why a recent survey about prayer states that the average Christian in the U.S. prays 1 & 1/2 minutes a day. Now, I'm sure many of you are above that average. But we all struggle with a lack of prayer in our life.

All of the surveys on prayer indicate that in the U.S. especially, there is one reason given for that far more than any other. And it is simply this, "I'm too busy," or “I just run out of time to pray.” Haven't we all used one of these excuses?

We have gotten up in the morning with every intention of spending time in prayer. But then there is the press of events, & by the time we got into bed that night our prayer ends up being, "Lord, forgive me. I'm sorry. I'll try to do better tomorrow." And that was about it, wasn't it?

I think there is another reason why we have difficulty praying. We have an enemy, the Scripture says, & he's called the devil.

I believe that the devil would rather have us do anything than pray. For when we pray we begin to exercise the spiritual weapon that defeats him. So he will do anything to keep us from praying.

ILL. David Butts said this point came home to him very vividly a number of years ago after he attended a prayer conference. He had come back really excited about prayer & he decided to get up early the next morning & pray.

He got up at 5:30 & splashed some water on his face. Then he knelt down by his bed & began to pray. But he had no sooner begun praying when suddenly he had an overwhelming urge to wash his car.

Suddenly he remembered his car was dirty, & he had some meetings to go to that day, & he would be so busy that there was going to be no other time to wash it. If he was going to get his car washed it had to be right then.

All of these thoughts popped into his mind as he started to pray, & at 5:30 in the morning he felt an overwhelming urge to get up off his knees & wash his car.

Suddenly he stopped & thought, "Dave, when was the last time you got up at 5:30 in the morning with an overwhelming urge to wash your car." The answer of course was, "Never."

So where did the urge come from? Isn't that how the devil tempts us? Doesn't he put thoughts into our minds to draw us away from God?

You see, Dave realized that his real desire was not to wash his car at 5:30 in the morning. His real desire was to get up & pray.

And once he recognized that his desire was to pray & Satan's desire was for him to wash his car & not to pray, it was easy for him to make a choice.

It may not be washing the car at 5:30 in the morning, but if you have ever decided to get serious about prayer you've experienced something like that. You decided to pray & then a knock came at the door, or the phone rang, or the doorbell rang, or other distracting thoughts crowded in.