Discipline of Prayer

It’s been a long time since I last posted. My goal had been to post once a week. I managed that the first couple months, but have had a case of writer’s block for an extended period. It’s frustrating to sit down in front of the computer, hands poised over the keyboard and nothing happen. The fact is writing is as much a discipline as it is an art. I have not been faithful to write something daily, anything.

Prayer and reading the Bible can be like that, at least for me. Please tell me I am not alone in this. I have periods of zeal, reading daily, praying frequently throughout the day. Then, for inexplicable reasons, I fall off the wagon and go into a time of drought and the temptation is to just stop. But prayer and reading God’s word is as much a discipline as it is a joy. We go through dry spells for reasons that only God knows, but I will venture a guess that it is sometimes a period of testing to see if we will be faithful even when we don’t feel like it.

I am a person of passion. My emotions are often quite near the surface and I will go up and down without the ability to put on the brakes at times even with medication. It’s the bipolar disorder. God knows that and extends grace to me so that even when my mind is racing with the hypomania or is overwhelmed with feelings associated with depression, he can hear my broken efforts to connect with him, the whispered prayers of only a couple words. The Holy Spirit takes them to the throne and makes them acceptable before the Father. And I know Jesus is my Advocate and prays for me when I cannot. God has it all under control. Knowing that is a reminder that I need to pray no matter what, that I need to pick up the Bible and read something, anything.

Whatever your feelings on any given day, God understands and waits for you to come before him. He is compassionate in the times of drought, the valleys, and he delights in the times of mountain top passion and zeal. But through it all, he loves you, no matter what. The simplest prayers are just as important to him as the lengthier times spent praying for the world. Dry times come, but they also don’t last. The discipline of continuing to pray for others and ourselves, of picking up the Bible and reading perhaps a Psalm to give comfort and direction can make all the difference when the zeal is simply not there.

Whether you feel like it or not, take a moment right now to thank God for something, anything and pray for at least one person you know has a need. Then ask him for the grace to develop the discipline of prayer and reading the Word, no matter your emotional state, no matter where you are on your spiritual journey. It is a request he will answer with a yes.