Sin of Prayerlessness

In your walk with the Lord, God will lift you up to the highest level you allow Him, and He’ll do His best for you on that level. But, unfortunately, so many times we limit what God wants to do in our lives by insisting on our own way instead of yielding to His way. God would do so much more for us, but so many times we’re too busy insisting, “This is the way I want it, God!” In demanding my own way, I go from God’s best to second or third best. His work in my life is often limited because I reject His divine way.

Such was the case with Israel. Israel was once a theocracy, a nation governed by God. But the time came in Israel’s history when the people no longer wanted God to rule over them. They demanded a king like all the other nations. This was a time of national disaster as Israel deteriorated from a theocracy to a monarchy.

God accommodated the demands of the people and commanded Samuel to anoint Saul as king. God did not wipe out the Israelites and say, “I’m through with you!” They were still God’s people. He did the best He could under their imposed conditions…and He appointed a king for Israel.

However, God wanted them to know that He was displeased with their decision. Through Samuel He told them that He was going to send rain on their wheat fields. The rain came and the people grew fearful. They cried to Samuel, their prophet, “We’ve sinned! Pray to God for us that we will not die, for we have added to all of our other sins by asking for a king.”

Samuel answered, “Don’t be afraid. Even though you have sinned, you’re still God’s people. He has chosen you for His name’s sake.” Then he said these amazing words:

Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you. —1 Samuel 12:16–23

According to this passage, it is actually a sin not to pray. How many times are we guilty of the sin of prayerlessness! Think of what a reproach it is to God when you do not pray.

God is the Creator of the universe. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). The One who has created this vast universe has given you an invitation to come, talk, and fellowship with Him. He has invited you to enter into His presence to share any problems or needs you might have. Yet, so many times we ignore this invitation.

Imagine that in your mail was a letter which had the engraved, full-color, embossed seal of the President of the United States. You tear open the letter and find a formal invitation to the White House with all expenses paid. What would you do? Toss it away? No. The President, whether you agree with him or not, is an important person. Would you fail to respond? Of course not.

If you respond to a human being’s invitation with graciousness, think of the reproach when God, who has invited you to come and have fellowship with Him, is refused.

You may say, “I just don’t have time to pray.” Do you have time to watch television? We have time to do the things we really want to do. Therefore, God must assume that we really don’t want to fellowship with Him. And that’s a correct assumption.

Our flesh rebels against prayer because it’s an exercise of the spirit. That is why I get so tired as soon as I start to pray. I say, “I’m too sleepy, Lord.” My flesh is rebelling against the spiritual exercise of prayer.

The spirit and flesh are always warring against each other. Whenever I enter into spiritual exercise, my flesh rebels against it. I find any excuse possible. “I’m too upset to pray” or “I’m too weak to pray.”

Prayerlessness actually hinders the work of God. You may ask, “Isn’t God sovereign? Can’t He do whatever He wants to do? Doesn’t He rule over the entire universe? Aren’t His purposes going to be accomplished no matter what? Then how can prayerlessness hinder the work of God?”

It is true that God is sovereign. But it’s also true that God has created us as free moral agents. We have the capacity to choose and act freely, and God respects your free moral agency. He will not force His will nor His desires upon your life. He has given you the ability to choose, and He honors your choice.

God has ordained that His work on earth be wrought through prayer and by our agreeing together in prayer.

In Psalms it declares that the Hebrew nation “limited the Holy One of Israel” (Psalm 78:41). An unlimited God was limited by man’s unbelief. What is it that keeps you from prayer? Unbelief. You can actually limit the work God wants to do by your unbelief.

Jesus said,

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. —John 15:16

God wants to give you many things, but He will not give them until you pray. By prayer you’re actually opening the door to let God do the things He wants to do. I believe we have seen only a small fraction of what God has wanted to do—because of our lack of prayer.

God commands us to pray. Therefore, not to pray is an act of disobedience against God. The Bible says, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Failure to pray is a sin because I am disobeying the actual command of God.

We need to pray for one another. It is a sin if I, as a pastor, fail to pray for my flock. The Scripture says, “Pray one for another” (James 5:16). “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

Sometimes, we may pray about a certain problem in another person’s life. When the problem doesn’t immediately go away, we become so discouraged that we decide to quit praying for him altogether. We become so upset with other people’s failures, even though we may have the same faults in our lives. Our sins always look horrible when someone else is committing them!

Samuel had prayed that God would change the people’s minds so they would no longer insist on a king. Samuel wanted God to rule and reign over the nation. But after all his prayers the children of Israel still insisted on a king. Samuel easily could have become disgusted and said, “I’m not going to pray for those stubborn, stiff-necked people anymore! They have what they asked for. Let them reap the consequences.” But he didn’t. He said to them, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you” (1 Samuel 12:23).

Causes of Prayerlessness

If you examine yourself, you’ll find a variety of reasons for the lack of prayer in your life. The first cause is the lack of time.

In this society we’ve allowed ourselves to become busier than God originally intended. When the Lord first created our bodies He intended for man to live at a much easier, more relaxed pace than we live today. Today, our lifestyle and our society make it difficult to find time to be alone with the Lord.

Also, it is extremely difficult to find an undisturbed place to pray. It’s getting harder and harder to find a quiet place to be alone with the Lord. This world is becoming more congested and overcrowded, and Satan does everything he can to interrupt any quiet times you may have with the Lord.

For instance, you may go for a week without one telephone call. But, if you get lonesome and want the telephone to ring, just kneel down and pray. It may be a wrong number, but you can be sure the telephone is going to ring, or someone will be at the front door, or one of the children will come in crying. So many disturbances make it difficult to pray.

Another hindrance to prayer is the tendency to let your mind wander. You begin to pray about certain things. Quite soon your mind has taken you surfing—the waves are great, that next set looks like a beauty—oops, “Sorry, Lord!” Your mind has taken a little side journey.

Another problem which causes a lack of prayer is drowsiness. We live under such pressure most of the time that any free moment is a moment to rest. For instance, if you kneel down beside your bed and put your head in your arms and start to pray—that’s a real good position to sleep! You soon doze off in the middle of a prayer. After a while your legs and knees begin to ache. It wakes you up. You suddenly realize, “I’ve been sleeping on the job!”

It’s even worse if you decide to lie in bed and pray with your head on the pillow. Now, I don’t discourage that completely. I go to sleep every night talking to the Lord. I enjoy communing with the Lord till I’m asleep. But it is necessary to have a prayer time that’s much more active and alert.

Solutions

What can we do to overcome our problem of prayerlessness? I have a few practical suggestions. As far as time is concerned, we must discipline ourselves and take time for prayer. You’ll never find time to pray. You must make time.

Life is made up of priorities. Since you can never do all that you want to do, you must always sacrifice the less important things for the more important ones. A wise man makes good use of his time and keeps his priorities in proper perspective.

Prayer is the most important activity you could ever engage in. It should be at the top of your priority list of things to do. You need to take the time for prayer even if you have to skip your time to eat or read the evening newspaper!

Secondly, find a place that is undisturbed. It may take some doing, but make the effort. Many times I go for a walk or take a drive to get alone with the Lord. I also wake up much earlier than the rest of my family. Prayer is more important to me than my sleep, and the phone rings very seldom in the early morning.

To keep my mind from wandering, I usually vocalize my prayers. It’s true that God knows what’s in my heart, but when I try to pray out of my heart my mind often wanders. For a moment I’m thinking, “Lord, take care of this and that. Thank you for this…” and pretty soon I’m surfing again! But when I vocalize my prayer, I have to think about what I’m saying. That causes me to concentrate on my conversation with the Lord.

I’ve found that it’s best for me to pray while sitting in a chair. I don’t even close my eyes because that can get dangerous!

As a child I was always told that if I didn’t close my eyes, the Lord wouldn’t hear me. A pastor once mentioned that when he was playing basketball in junior high, the team decided to pray before the game. Some kid said, “All right, everybody close your eyes or we’ll lose.” He peeked to see if they were all closing their eyes—and they lost. He felt guilty over that game for years!

However, in the Scriptures we are told to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), which certainly indicates that prayer is not a position of the body. If I have to kneel down to pray, prayer without ceasing would mean that I would never get off my knees. Likewise, God does not expect us always to pray with our eyes closed, because prayer without ceasing would mean that I would never again open my eyes! Whether my eyes are open or closed, God hears all my prayers just the same.

I have found a good solution to drowsiness or sleepiness while praying is walking. As I’m walking I can’t fall asleep. Sometimes I even walk back and forth in a room. Other times I go for a walk in a field or in the yard and talk to God. Some of my most fruitful and blessed prayer times have been during walks.

When I pray I talk to God just like I talk to my closest friend. I don’t use any fancy tones or get wild and yell. God knows the real me. I don’t need a “prayer tone.” I talk to Him in a very matter-of-fact way. I tell Him all my problems, doubts, and questions. I try to be as honest with Him as I can. I might as well because He knows if I’m not! If I try to gloss over something, the only one who’s getting fooled is me. God isn’t fooled.

I may say, “Lord, you know I don’t really have the depth of love for this fellow that I should have.” This is an attempt to hide the truth and make me look not as bad as I am. I might as well tell Him the truth. “God, I hate him. I can’t stand him. I’d like to punch him in the nose every time I see him!” Be honest, and then repent!

Also, I talk to God in a conversational way. This means that I must listen, too. After all, God wants to talk back to me. I find such joy and blessings as I come into this communion and fellowship with the One who created me.

May God forgive us our sin of prayerlessness. May God help us to pray fervently. And may we see the mighty work of God accomplished in this desperate world through our prayerfulness.