Celebration of Discipline - Prayer

My apologies...I'm supposed to be posting the next part of Celebration of Discipline but I'm not feeling too well at the moment. Hope to get it done in the next couple of days.

...next couple of days later...

Its been one of those weeks again, where there has been much for me to do and I also started getting a tad ill with a silly cold thingy. As a result, cultivating any sense of meaningful prayer has been a little difficult. Which is kinda ironic since the chapter we're studying in our blog group is all about prayer.

Foster starts the chapter by setting the bar high,

"Prayer - secret, fervent, believing prayer - lies at the root of all personal godliness. - William Carey"

OK, but do I really get the picture? He's saying that prayer is a crucial part of my walk with God, yet my actions this past week haven't characterised that. This is one reason why I found the following quote from Martin Luther so challenging.

"I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer." He held it as a spiritual axiom.

Axiomatics plays well with my mind since I was taught many a mathematical proof at university. They are the foundation or basis upon which a proof is constructed. They are the 'definites', certainly holding true in a particular space or field. And I agree with Luther, the same is true here. Prayer *has* to be the foundation upon which we construct our daily lives, if we want a solid, steady enriched life that follows the heart of our Maker. (note to self: I'm starting to feel rather guilty now at saying all these things but not doing them. Yikes! this is hard! And the quote below confirms this...)

"We must never wait until we feel like praying before we pray for others. Prayer is like any other work; we may not feel like working, but once we have been at it for a bit, we begin to feel like working."

Now I'm starting to understand. Prayer isn't supposed to be a struggle. Its supposed to be a delight to converse with our Maker, Creator, and Saviour, but for some reason its not. Sin is always trying to block my way into His presence; pure laziness, ignorance...the list goes on...all these things stop me getting on with it. But in the words of Stephen Curtis Chapman, "I'm diving in" its about time I got this sorted.

"I want a life of greater, deeper, truer prayer" - Archbishop Tait

I like that guy, he makes a lot of sense but its up to me to make these words real.

One last note, I've noticed a sense of guilt creep in on me this week. Each time I come to pray I feel guilty because I haven't been doing it enough, and immediately I don't feel like praying because of that sense of guilt. That kind of guilt is unconstructive. I only want to feel guilty if its going to make me do something about the situation. So this week, I'm setting myself some targets to get on with prayer...30 minutes each day. I want to be held accountable by all the others involved in this study...check up on me each day during the week and see if I've progressed.