It’s customary for a writer to say how much of a fraud he or she feels when talking about prayer, so here’s my bit: I’m feeble and faithless.
I’ve wanted to write this article ever since reading Christopher Ash’s in The Briefing (Issue 331). This article (particularly the words of Samuel, ‘Far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you’, 1 Samuel 12.23, ESV) convicted me again of the central place that prayer has in every sphere of Christian ministry, alongside the preaching of the Word.
Prayer’s demise
Prayer is something I was very excited about when I was a young Christian, because of the buzz that the experience of a new relationship brings. For the first time I knew what it was to be a dearly loved child of a loving heavenly Father, an heir of God and a co-heir of Christ, with the privilege of being able to cry by the Spirit, ‘Abba, Father’. Similarly, when I started my present job, I resolved to take time during each day to pray for those with whom I was working, and for the various projects that I became involved with. However, it wasn’t long before the natural way in which I spoke to God turned into formulaic phrases and long yawns. Worse still, I wasn’t able to get enough people to catch me in the act of praying in secret.
