{"id":1688,"date":"2015-03-09T06:30:50","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T12:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/?p=1688"},"modified":"2015-03-09T06:30:50","modified_gmt":"2015-03-09T12:30:50","slug":"3-reasons-why-we-avoid-prayer-and-what-we-can-do-about-it-pt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/?p=1688","title":{"rendered":"3 Reasons Why We Avoid Prayer (And What We Can Do About It), pt. 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I shared part 1<\/a> of my blog post series on prayer. \u00a0This week, I want to share with you the second reason why we avoid prayer.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

\n

I love productivity. \u00a0I confess that I am addicted to it. \u00a0The more I produce, the better I feel about myself. \u00a0However, this addiction is as dangerous to my\u00a0soul as meth is to my\u00a0body.<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Let’s face it, it feels good to do good work. \u00a0When you contribute to a cause, build a successful business, or meet the needs of people in ministry, there is a satisfaction that wells\u00a0up in our souls that feels irresistibly\u00a0good.\u00a0 Good work can give you an identity and a\u00a0purpose that\u00a0affirms that your life matters. \u00a0In fact, God gave us good work to do in the first place when he put Adam and Even in his garden and instructed them to work by tending to his garden (Gen. 2:15).<\/p>\n

So what’s the big deal with good work? \u00a0The danger in doing good work is that its “goodness” can corrupt our prayer life because it\u00a0can make us\u00a0feel important.<\/p>\n

HERE IS THE second\u00a0OF\u00a0THREE REASONS WHY WE AVOID PRAYER:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

I think we avoid prayer because we believe that our work<\/em> is more important than God’s work<\/em>.<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/blockquote>\n

No one would venture to confess this out loud, but when we turn\u00a0our work into our vocation instead of our occupation, we make our work more important than God’s work. \u00a0Vocation is a word that comes from the latin “vocare,” which means “to call.” \u00a0In Genesis 1:27, God called<\/i> each of us to bear his image which means that we are to put his work on display, not our own. \u00a0Adam and Eve\u2019s work in tending the garden was their occupation, not their vocation.<\/p>\n

When we get our vocation and occupation mixed up, we end up putting our own work on display, not God\u2019s work.\u00a0 When we put our work on display, we can become so enamored by what we are doing that we replay the tragic story of the\u00a0Tower of Babel. \u00a0We work “to make our name great” instead of working “to make God’s name great.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think we avoid prayer because we believe that our work is more important than God's work. – Scott Vermillion <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

For instance when I worked as\u00a0a pastor for a church, I found that serving people had an addictive quality to it. \u00a0Yes, it is good to serve people, but I also liked feeling good about my work. \u00a0However, when serving others became about my own self-importance, I was\u00a0badly missing the mark.\u00a0 I was trying to make my name great, not make God’s name great.<\/p>\n

When we believe our lives are about making our own name great, we avoid prayer like the plague because it is at cross purposes with our own agenda.\u00a0 We might still pray, but the thrust of our prayers is about getting God on our agenda.\u00a0 However, the true purpose of prayer is to get us on God\u2019s agenda.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here’s a test to see if you you believe your work is more important than God’s work: When is the last time you took a solid 24 hours off from your work? \u00a0No email. \u00a0No texts. \u00a0No calls. \u00a0No meetings. \u00a0No thoughts or energy given to your work. \u00a0No significant actions taken.\u00a0 Just 24 hours of uninterrupted free time with God, your spouse, family, and friends. \u00a0If you\u00a0find yourself arguing, “I can’t take a day off because people need me” or \u201cI have so much to do\u201d or \u201cI have to prepare for Sunday,” I think it’s time for a reorientation of your prayer life.<\/p>\n

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK TO CHANGE YOUR AVOIDANCE OF PRAYER INTO COURAGE TO PRAY:<\/b><\/h2>\n
\n

Say, \u201cYES,\u201d when Jesus invites you to \u201cCome, follow me!”<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In Matthew 4, Peter and his fishing buddies had come to believe that their work was more important than God\u2019s work.\u00a0 They worked all night but didn’t catch a thing.\u00a0 To make matters worse, when they were about to head home Jesus commandeered Peter\u2019s boat for his personal preaching platform to speak to the people who had followed him to the waters edge that morning.\u00a0 Peter didn\u2019t want to listen to a sermon by Jesus.\u00a0 He was too preoccupied thinking about how to explain his failure at work to his wife and kids.<\/p>\n

Then after his sermon, Jesus does something unexpected (he always does, doesn\u2019t he?).\u00a0 He tells Peter to work by throwing his nets overboard.\u00a0 Peter argues and tries to tell Jesus that it is a pointless endeavor.\u00a0 Yet, Jesus is unrelenting.\u00a0 So Peter tosses over the nets probably just to show Jesus he doesn\u2019t know anything about fishing.<\/p>\n

However, it is only when Peter\u2019s work is submitted under Jesus\u2019 direction that Peter\u2019s work becomes significant – he hauls in more than two boat loads of fish!\u00a0 Jesus calls out Peter\u2019s avoidance of Jesus in the great catch, and Peter responds by confessing his sin and asking Jesus to leave.\u00a0 He feels unworthy for avoiding someone so great.\u00a0 But Peter only gets it half right.\u00a0 He rightly confesses his pride in putting his work ahead of Jesus\u2019 work, but he tries to send\u00a0Jesus away.\u00a0 Jesus responds by re-establishing his true vocational calling with three simple words, \u201cCome, follow me.\u201d\u00a0 Peter left everything at the sea shore that day, and did just that.<\/p>\n

When we embrace our true vocation to be like God, we realign our work under the priority of God\u2019s work. \u00a0Our vocation then serves as an invitation to pray in order to discover what God is up to in our lives.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like Peter, we can get caught up by the wonder of God\u2019s gracious call on our lives to be transformed from sinners into bearing the holy image of God.\u00a0 When we hear those three words from Jesus, \u201cCome, follow me,\u201d we are bound to have our own sin revealed.\u00a0 Like Peter, Jesus will reveal the priority we have placed on our own work that makes us avoid true prayer – a conversation that gets us on God\u2019s agenda.\u00a0 But don\u2019t send\u00a0Jesus away.\u00a0 Stay and listen as he transforms your work into something significant by turning it from something that is about you into something that is about God.<\/p>\n

The way to reclaim our true vocation to be like God is to take the Sabbath seriously.\u00a0 We need to say, \u201cYES,\u201d when Jesus invites us to, \u201cCome, follow me.\u201d<\/strong><\/h1>\n

We need days built into our week where we do nothing that can be judged as important.\u00a0 We need at least a 24 hour period in our week where we break our addiction to work as a means to gaining our importance and significance in order to pray to the God whose work is truly important and makes us significant.<\/p>\n

If you work in ministry, chances are this day will not be Sunday.\u00a0 You will need to pick another day in the week to turn everything off.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t a day of entertainment.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t a day to get work done around the house.\u00a0 It is a 24 hour period of time where you can embrace your true calling as a child of God, not as a spiritual leader.\u00a0 To encourage you to pray on this day, put it in your calendar as an all day event.\u00a0 When people want to meet with you on that day, you can tell them that you are already booked.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s world is not so different than Peter\u2019s world.\u00a0 I believe that we live in a culture that prioritizes our work over God\u2019s work.\u00a0 It is all too easy to find our significance, value and meaning in what we do, and therefore avoid prayer altogether.\u00a0 We need to hear Jesus\u2019 invitation, \u201cCome, follow me,\u201d in order to reclaim our true vocation and place our work under Christ\u2019s work.\u00a0 In order to pray, take the Sabbath seriously and say, \u201cYES,\u201d to Jesus\u2019 invitation to, \u201cCome, follow me.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you take Christ up on his invitation, how\u00a0do you practice the Sabbath in a way that leads you to pray and prioritize Christ’s work ahead of your own work?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week I shared part 1 of my blog post series on prayer. \u00a0This week, I want to share with you the second reason why we avoid prayer. I love productivity. \u00a0I confess that I am addicted to it. \u00a0The more I produce, the better I feel about myself. \u00a0However, this addiction is as dangerous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1691,"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-1688","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-2.001.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688","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=1688"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1725,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions\/1725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}