5 Reasons People Don’t Pray (Updated)

As I travel I find a lot of Christians who don’t pray. It is not that they don’t think that they “should” pray it is just that for various reasons they don’t. Just realizing what the reasons are can make a big difference in turning it around. Here are some of them with some thoughts to tackle it.

  1. We forget

I know how it goes. We get up and are feeling behind so we jump out of bed, get ready and help get the family ready for the day. We hurry out the door and head to our destinations. When we get to work or school we dive right in to the day’s activities. By the time we look up from our meetings and email the day is done. We hurry home get dinner ready and then run off to evening activities or just want to vegetate. Before we know it the day is over. We do this for 5 days, have a fun day on Saturday and end up in our regular seat on Sunday realizing we don’t know God any better.

2. Think it is boring

When people think about prayer they don’t often see it correctly. They do not see it as a planning session with the God of the universe. It is easy to not picture it as opening the door to enter the most powerful place in the universe. It is kind of like opening the wardrobe door and entering into Narnia. The Bible is full of stories of simple moments that people had with God that were revolution moments for their lives and those around them.

 3. Intimidated

It is easy to get intimidated when you listen to other people pray.  I lead a ministry on prayer and sometimes hear other people pray and am tempted to be intimidated. But let other people talk to God the way that they talk to God and build your own friendship with God.

4. Don’t see the difference it makes

We sometimes miss that massive difference that our prayer makes. Ordinary people pray and families, neighborhoods, cities, countries and the world are changed. Prayer is actually one of the more powerful things that we can ever do.

[tweetthis]Prayer is actually one of the more powerful things that we can ever do.[/tweetthis]

5. Just feel guilty about not praying enough

Even when we read something like this we can hear a little voice in our head saying, “You loser, you don’t pray enough.” But that is just a lie of the enemy trying to get you to be discouraged and not pray. Little prayer is better than no prayer. The next step is better than no step. Enjoy the moments you have with God and I can pretty much guarantee it will grow.

BTW-I wrote the e-book, “Your Meeting With God” to tackle these struggle a little deeper. You can get it for free by signing up for our emails.

How to live with God when you have a crazy schedule.

You may be reading this feeling the intense pressure of a crazy schedule for your day. There may even be a small feeling that you shouldn’t be reading this right now. Then at other points of your day you will feel uneasy because you feel like you have not given enough time for God.

There are some thoughts that stick with you that help you for a long time after you hear them. A couple years ago I watched this video and the thought I will shared after may be a great comfort to you.

One of my big takeaways from this video is when he talks about needing to have a longer calendar. This helps me in some great ways. First it has given me grace to see the spiritual practices that may be more periodic for me than a daily routine. For example Jack Hayford talks about how he is now a big journal person. He just writes at certain seasons when he needs to process something. This helps me as I embrace my own journal method.

Second, it gives me joy in the seasons of life. Certain times of the calendar year have a different tempo than others. If you are a parent of school children the season of right before school can have a busier pace to it. Giving myself grace in those times brings new joy to my journey.

Third, he talks about this long view meaning that at other times you push in more intensely. Maybe you can’t spend your normal time in the morning with God so then you take a walk with God on one of your break times at work. It is a busier season of life so you have to set aside the news for a couple weeks so you can designate your free time to prayer and Bible reading.

Finally, I love his simple practice of getting up and saying that God is here. It reminds me of Frank Laubach and his game of minutes. He challenged himself to try to be aware of God’s presence at least one second of every minute of the day. Being aware of God is one of the greatest ways to bring God into our busy days.

[tweetthis]Being aware of God is one of the greatest ways to bring God into our busy days.[/tweetthis]

Funny-How people think about praying in groups

I found these videos and thought they were good for a laugh but also a quick reminder that too many people are intimidated by prayer. I wrote Enjoying Prayer to help people with this!

Have you been in a group prayer time like this?

Do you feel like this when you prayer happens at your church?

What kind of prayer person are you?

One of the most interesting books on prayer I have read in a while

It is weird how God can bring things into your life. I have an interest in learning how to travel for cheaper so I listen to some travel podcasts. I was checking out a new one when I saw that they were interviewing Jared Brock about his book A Year of Living Prayerfully.

I read more than my share of prayer books. When I told my wife that I had just read the most interesting book on prayer that I had read in a while she said, “That is saying something.” Books on prayer can have good stuff in it, but not be something I would recommend because they are boring. A Year of Living Prayerfully is not one of those books.

The subtitle will start to give you a picture of what you are in for: How a Curious Traveler Met the Pope, Walked on Coals, Danced with Rabbis, and Revived His Prayer Life. A Year of Living Prayerfully is one person’s journey to bring new life to his prayer life. In the book Pete Greig says that most prayer books are written by introverts; this book definitely is not one of them.

I love how Jared travels the world to do what he can to take his prayer life to the next level. He visits places like monasteries to learn the history of prayer. We follow his attempts at meeting Billy Graham and he even visits Westboro Baptist Church.

Although it is a personal journey he introduces the reader to many varieties of ways to pray. Quoting from Pete Grieg again, “The Bible says to pray at all times with all kinds of prayers, but a lot of people think that prayer is just one thing. That’s like going to a buffet and only ever eating one item. You’ll get sick. You need a huge variety in order to stay healthy. Prayer is a menu, not a dish.”

[tweetthis]Prayer is like a buffet. You need a huge variety to stay healthy.[/tweetthis]

Now let me remind you that this is one person’s journey in the life of prayer. Some of his conclusions were impacted by the experiences he had. He did not have a good experience visiting the world’s largest church and it showed. I have written here before that I had a great experience visiting the world’s largest church. Even with saying that, I think that if you take his honest journey with him you will grow in your prayer life. I recommend you check it out. (or affiliate link)

(Disclaimer: I have not been paid in any way to write this review. If you hate the book you can take it up with Jared. If you like the book you can send me Chipotle gift cards.)

The Power of Ordinary People Who Pray

Too often as I travel around to churches I find Christians who think that prayer is just for super Christians. This thought leaves us missing out on an army of people that we need praying. Here is an encouragement if you feel like one of those people. (Thanks to my daughter for her cameo on this video.)

 

[tweetthis]God wants to use ordinary people who will pray! [/tweetthis]