Bitter Just Like Charbuck’s Coffee

Thu, 2010-09-23 16:27 — moderator

We're posting some conversation-stirring quotes every Tues, Thurs, and Saturday. This week’s theme is prayer and meditation.

Albert Day said, “We Protestants are an undisciplined people. Therein lies the reason for much of the dearth if spiritual insights and serious lack of moral power.” Nowhere is this lack of discipline more evident than our prayer lives. We are by a prayer-less people full of excuses for our negligence. In today’s quote, D. A. Carson tackles one of these common excuses for prayerlessness:

I am too bitter to pray…

We cannot live long in this world without coming across injustice, chronic lack of fairness. Many of us accept such sin with reasonable equanimity, reasoning that it is, after all, a fallen world. But when the injustice or unfairness is directed against us, our reaction may be much less philosophical. Then we may nurture a spirit of revenge, or at least of bitterness, malice, and gossip. Such sins in turn assure that our prayers are never more than formulaic; eventually such sin may lead to chronic prayerlessness. “How can I be expected to pray when I have suffered so much?” “Don’t talk to me about praying for my enemies: I know who has kept me from being promoted.”

Life itself is consumed by the petty assessment of how well you are perceived by those around you. In this morass of self-pity and resentment, real prayer is squeezed out. In other words, many of us do not want to pray because we know that disciplined, biblical prayer would force us to eliminate sin that we rather cherish. It is very hard to pray with compassion and zeal for someone we much prefer to resent.

So, lets get this conversation a-rolling…

Do you agree that it is the cherishing of sins like bitterness that are at the core of prayerlessness?

If yes, explain how you combat this in pursuit of a faithfully prayer life?

If no, please expand on what you believe is the main source of a dead prayer life?

Comments

Thu, 2010-09-23 20:11 — David L.

Cherishing of sins,

Cherishing of sins, yes--bitterness included. But I tend to be prayerless whether I've been cherishing specific sins or not. Lately I've been convicted by the fact that the reason I don't pray is because I really don't believe God will do anything in response to my prayers. Today I read Psalm 78 and was struck by my similarity to the Israelites: "they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" This is a secular, materialist mindset resigned to the status quo and expecting to see nothing change for the better. If you have no hope, you won't pray.

How do you combat this? If you have the answer, let me know.

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Thu, 2010-09-23 21:25 — M Scott Foster

Praylessness is always a

Praylessness is always a symptom of misplaced faith. Misplaced faith really is just the sin of unbelief. The Israelites stubborn refusal to trust God wasn’t for lack of evidence (Psalm 78:11-16). No, their refusal was born out of a misplaced faith. Their hope was squarely invested in themselves. The choose to believe in themselves rather than the God who had rescued them. This unbelief in God will always leads to despair. Verse 22 says, “They did not trust his saving power.” Hence, you’re all on your own if you won’t trust God to save you. You are your own source of salvation, redemption, and hope. That might work for a while until the reality of life catches up with you. Then one day you find you can’t save or redeem yourself. Your only savior (i.e. yourself )has failed you. Then comes the tailspin into an abyss of self-loathing despair (aka the sorrow that leads to death).

I would combat this by going to the root of the problem, unbelief. The hopelessness is merely a symptom of refusing to trust in the work of God. So, how do you fight unbelief?

First, you don’t fight prayerlessness alone. This means you submit yourself to a local church. Sin must be fought inside the family of God. You will need people to lovingly and constantly call you out on your unbelief. Unbelief isn’t a vampire. You can’t just drive a stake through it once and be done with it. It must be mortified repeatedly. So, maybe it is more like a Zombie. Alberson would know. Regardless, it will take a community.

Second, you fight prayerlessness with persevering prayer. Ask that God would give you faith and keep asking. I think “Lord I believe, help my unbelief” is a good starting place.

Third, you fight prayerlessness with meditating on the wonderful works of God. Read your bible over and over again. God’s Word will chase unbelief out of your heart.

Does that help?

Love you,
Michael

Thu, 2011-12-15 12:24 — Tabitha

There are times in life when

There are times in life when you are in difficulty or sorrow, that there is nothing left but to pray. We are often to impatient, especially if we think that
God does not listen or hear us, but I read a sermon last year entitled "Yet" and the speaker said "you can not say that God has not answered your prayers, you can only say, "God has not answered my prayer, yet..." We are often unwilling to wait upon God. A great book to read is "Intimacy with the Almighty" by Charles Swindoll. This book is one of my treasures. I have been praying for a certain thing and I yelled out, "You have not answered me, I pray and pray and you have done nothing.." and then he pointed me to the verse "God is not slack concerning His promises." Sometimes we need to sit in quietness, so that we begin to sense the presence of God. The verse is right - "Lord, help my unbelief," and in sitting quietly before God you will be surprised how much He is interested in your life.

Sat, 2013-02-16 07:32 — salon muslimah bandung

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