(Un)healthy
habits of prayer.
Like many, I maintain a prayer journal.
I do it to maintain a discipline in my
prayer life, and especially with respect to ensuring a God-sized horizon and a
breadth in my prayer life.
My prayer diary is a soft file in table
format. At the top is a Bible verse or two and a schedule that on certain days
I pray for certain people and works of God. I have columns from left to right
for ‘near and dear’; my work; God’s kingdom; myself and ‘other’. On a daily
basis I populate this table.
So far so good. A prayer diary is a healthy
prayer habit and I commend it to others.
However, I notice the ease with which an
unhealthy habit creeps in. I am diligent to populate the table daily. My
unhealthy tendency is to act as through the mere writing of the prayer list is
the same as praying.
Compare my unhealthy habit with the
following:
· Col 4:2: Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert
in it with thanksgiving.
· Col 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you. He
is always wrestling in his prayers on your behalf, so that you may stand mature
and fully assured in everything that God wills.
·
1 Thess 5:17: Pray always
And compare with the master’s example:
· Mark 1:35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to
a deserted place, and there he prayed.
· Mark 14:32-38 32 They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said
to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ 33 He
took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and
agitated. 34 And he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to
death; remain here, and keep awake.’ 35 And going a little
farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible,
the hour might pass from him. 36 He said, ‘Abba, Father,
for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want,
but what you want.’ 37 He came and found them sleeping; and he said to
Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? 38 Keep
awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’
Writing a shopping list is not the same as
buying the items. Likewise with a daily work plan or even new year resolutions.
Writing a prayer is not the same as
praying.
