{"id":1653,"date":"2015-03-01T08:17:35","date_gmt":"2015-03-01T15:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/?p=1653"},"modified":"2015-03-02T09:11:52","modified_gmt":"2015-03-02T16:11:52","slug":"3-reasons-why-we-avoid-prayer-and-what-we-can-do-about-it-pt-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/?p=1653","title":{"rendered":"3 Reasons Why We Avoid Prayer (And What We Can Do About It), pt. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"3<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week was one of those weeks where I found myself forcing\u00a0my prayers. \u00a0Like the rest of the world, I faced a\u00a0full week of deadlines and a family to attend to. \u00a0On top of that I was also sick, so I didn’t feel much like praying. \u00a0I just wanted to feel\u00a0better. \u00a0I thought getting things done would help me feel better, so I cut some corners and majored on efficiency\u00a0instead of my Lord. \u00a0Like a college student who procrastinated all semester long, I found myself cramming prayers into my day just to say I did them. \u00a0As a result, my prayers really became a box to check not a God to encounter. \u00a0This obviously wasn’t the right choice, but God was gracious nonetheless. \u00a0In my quest\u00a0for a higher efficient work week, God showed up and revealed my heart on the matter of prayer (or in my case the avoidance thereof).<\/p>\n

I wasn’t doing anything really spiritual to get God’s attention, mind you. \u00a0I just had one of those “still small voice” moments where God got my attention in the midst of my busyness to remind me he wasn’t in it. \u00a0That’s when I stopped my work to reflect on the moment.\u00a0\u00a0It didn’t take\u00a0long before God gently pointed out three reasons why I was avoiding him in prayer (I’m sure there were\u00a0more, but he was gracious to stop at three for the moment).<\/p>\n

I will share all three\u00a0of them with you, but not all at once. \u00a0I don’t mean\u00a0to keep you in suspense, rather\u00a0I want to give you one at a time in order that you and I might digest them together. \u00a0Also, I don’t want to just list the ways we avoid prayer. \u00a0I want to give\u00a0us\u00a0the space each week to do something about our avoidance.<\/p>\n

Here is the first of\u00a0three reasons why we avoid prayer:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I think we avoid prayer because we believe that God only wants something from us<\/em> not for us<\/em>.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Let’s face it, God is someone who demands a lot from us (remember Lev. 11:44 where God said “be holy because I am holy?”). \u00a0When we read passages like this, they tend to reinforce a false image of God as\u00a0a stern father who doesn’t give his kids any slack. \u00a0This image demotivates us to pray\u00a0because we know we fall short of the holy standard God has set out for us much of the time. \u00a0As a result, we can conclude falsely\u00a0that if we approach\u00a0God in prayer there is only a reprimand waiting for us on the other end. \u00a0Therefore, it’s best to keep our distance – especially if\u00a0life is going well!<\/p>\n

I think we avoid prayer because we believe that God only wants something from us not for us. -Scott Vermillion <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

But when we believe God only wants something from<\/em> us, we fail to\u00a0hear God’s true heart for<\/em> us. \u00a0The truth is that God wants a great deal for us. \u00a0He longs to walk with us in prayer like Adam and Eve did in the cool evenings in Eden. \u00a0He\u00a0wants to remove our sin as far as the east is from the west. \u00a0To be clear, God does want us to be holy, but we have to also hear that God has made a way for us to be holy. \u00a0It’s not our job to become holy on our own. \u00a0It’s God’s job to make us holy. \u00a0It’s our job to confess that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection make us holy. \u00a0It’s in the confession of our need for Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross that we can begin to see just how much God wants something for us. \u00a0However, if we only think God wants something from us, we won’t be spending too much time with him in prayer. \u00a0For instance, how many people do you want to spend time with who only want something from you? \u00a0Those are the people we avoid like the plague. \u00a0If our view of God is stunted with the belief that God only wants something from us, we will avoid God like the plague, too.<\/p>\n

here is what you can do this week to change your avoidance of prayer into courage to pray:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Begin your prayers with an invitation from God.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

You are never the initiator in prayer. \u00a0God is. \u00a0So why not intentionally let God begin the conversation by listening to his invitation in\u00a0Isaiah 1:18-19. \u00a0If you have forgotten those words, let me refresh your memory. \u00a0God says to his people:<\/p>\n

Is. 1:18\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u201cCome now, let us reason together,\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

says the LORD.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cThough your sins are like scarlet,<\/strong><\/h3>\n

they shall be as white as snow;<\/strong><\/h3>\n

though they are red as crimson,<\/strong><\/h3>\n

they shall be like wool.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

19\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 If you are willing and obedient,<\/strong><\/h3>\n

you will eat the best from the land;\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

20 but if you resist and rebel,<\/strong><\/h3>\n

you will be devoured by the sword.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

God reveals his heart to us\u00a0in the book of Isaiah. \u00a0He invites us\u00a0to experience a transformation through\u00a0our conversations with him. \u00a0If we are willing to approach God as we are, God is willing to transform us to look just like him. \u00a0Through these words\u00a0in Isaiah, God is inviting us all to move from a sin stained life, to a holy covered life. \u00a0He will take our bruised and battered soul and heal our self-inflicted wounds. \u00a0If we are willing, God will give us his best, not the worst. \u00a0He wants to cover our sin with his holiness. \u00a0That’s a\u00a0gift we shouldn’t overlook.<\/p>\n

If we are willing to approach God as we are, God is willing to transform us to look just like him. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

This transformation that God does in our hearts motivates me to pray. \u00a0I need God’s\u00a0generous invitation in order to have the courage to come to him as I am with my crimson colored soul, in order to let him do his work of making me holy just as he is.<\/p>\n

So this week, don’t avoid God thinking that he only wants something from you. \u00a0Begin your prayers with God’s invitation in\u00a0Isaiah 1:18-19, so that you can hear how much God wants for you.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q: How would this invitation from God in Is. 1:18-19 change the way you pray?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week was one of those weeks where I found myself forcing\u00a0my prayers. \u00a0Like the rest of the world, I faced a\u00a0full week of deadlines and a family to attend to. \u00a0On top of that I was also sick, so I didn’t feel much like praying. \u00a0I just wanted to feel\u00a0better. \u00a0I thought getting things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theawakenministry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/3-Reasons-Why-We-Avoid-Prayer.0011.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1653"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1696,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions\/1696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}