Why We Lose Our Prayer Connection

(Excerpted from my book, Lord, It’s Boring in My Prayer Closet (How To Revitalize Your Prayer Life) available on Amazon.com. (Click on book title for direct link to Amazon. Available in print and Kindle.)

We do not want to be beginners (at prayer), but let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything but beginners all of our lives. —Thomas Merton

Now that we’ve gotten our prayer life off the ground, we may think, “Wow, this is great. I’ve finally discovered the secret to prayer and it can only get better.” Then one morning we wake up and we don’t feel like praying, or a crisis situation sends us into a tailspin. What do we do now? We may question, “Was my prayer life really improving, or was it just another fad that has run its course and let me down again?”

Our Enemy’s number one goal is to get us to abandon our prayer life. In Jentezen Franklin’s book, The Fasting Edge, he tells a story of how men are trained to become members of the elite Navy SEAL team. The candidates receive weeks and weeks of rigorous training both physically and mentally so they can overcome any obstacles they might encounter as a SEAL team member. Their training includes a final Hell Week, which is designed to break down the mind. By the conclusion of this week, two-thirds of the candidates will have quit the training. The way out of the program is easy and open to all. It is called DOR—Drop on Request. All one has to do when they’ve had enough is walk to the office, lay down their helmet and ring the big bell by the door. Those in charge of the training say that if a man even entertains the possibility of taking the DOR option, he is not a Navy SEAL.[i]

It’s the same in our spiritual walk. The Bible tells us not to give up our confidence (Hebrews 10:35-36). We have to make up our minds that we will never take the quit option. While our prayer lives will be tested and we will go through times of feeling disconnected from God, every step forward we have taken to faithfully develop a consistent prayer life is ground we have conquered. With God’s help and a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on (Hebrews 12:1-3), we need not ever consider taking the DOR option.

(This chapter discusses eight reasons why we might be having difficulty in our prayer life.)

[i] Franklin, Jentezen, The Fasting Edge (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2011), 216-222

© Sandra Chambers 2014