The Principles of Prayer XXXVII

 The quickest way to become ineffectual for the Kingdom and the work of the Kingdom is to stop doing the things that made you effective in the first place. If prayer got you to a certain place in your walk, and the growth is visible and calculable, then rest assured, you will continue to grow in such a manner if you continue practicing it and dedicating yourself to it.

The biggest complaint of people who have a few pounds to lose isn’t that their preferred diet is ineffective; it’s that once they reach their stated goal, they struggle to maintain their new weight. The reason they can’t maintain it is because once the scale hits the magic number they’ve been sweating toward for the better part of a year, everything they did to get them to that place suddenly stops and they revert back to their old ways, their old eating habits, and their lack of physical movement.

I lose the weight, but I just can’t keep it off. When you ask if they’ve been watching what they eat, or being aware of how much or how little exercise they get, the standard answer is no, because they’re no longer on their diet, so why bother?

A life of prayer is one without a destination in mind. It is a lifelong endeavor, and once we cross the finish line into eternity is when we stop crying out, interceding, and praying to God, and simply praise Him for all eternity. Until such a time, the consistency with which we entreat God will determine our strength, our passion, our endurance, and our ability to discern His voice, recognizing it for what it is, and dismissing all others along the way.

When you pray is a conscious choice, for a determined amount of time. Spending time with God is a choice. Spending time in prayer is a choice, and in order for us to choose Him first and always, it requires a proper understanding of who we are addressing.

I keep coming back to this point because it’s so salient. Whenever you choose to do so, for however long you choose to do so, you get the honor, privilege, and grace to talk to God the Almighty, the Creator of all that is seen and unseen.

Prayer is not cumbersome. It’s not a task, a burden, or something we would otherwise not do given the choice. Anyone who sees prayers as a chore rather than a grace has not come to the understanding of who God is and how great an honor has been bestowed upon them that they can come before Him and know that He hears.

The same individuals who have no qualms about binge-watching six seasons of a middling series within a two-day span feel put out when spending ten minutes in prayer. How does that work exactly? Is your heart truly His if you spend more time trying to avoid Him than you do engaging with Him? Is He the desire of your heart if you’d rather be doing anything else than pressing in and having fellowship with Him?

I don’t ask these questions to be mean-spirited or edgy, but to reveal a truth that many choose to ignore because of what it implies. The reason we do not see the presence, power, and authority of God in most churches is that those who make up the body spend little to no time in His presence, and wouldn’t know His voice from a bleating goat half the time.

God hasn’t changed. He hasn’t suddenly decided to withhold His love, His peace, His grace, His light, or His voice. It’s that much of the modern-day church does not seek, therefore they will never find that’s the problem. They do not knock, therefore the door will never be opened, and He will never come in and dine with them.

We lay the blame on God because it excuses our culpability. We come up with theories as to why God can’t do what He once did, why He doesn’t speak as He once spoke, because it makes our inconsistency, duplicity, and faithlessness less glaring.

For some, accountability is as kryptonite is to Superman. They can’t be near it lest it reveal their true heart, and they might have to acknowledge that the most they’re willing to do is pay God lip service in the hope of winning the lottery, or waking up thirty pounds lighter.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Paul lists three things that are the will of God in Christ Jesus for you and me, and not one has anything to do with calling money down from heaven, speaking prosperity into existence, or symbolically washing our debt away.

These three things are somewhat symbiotic. It’s far easier to rejoice always and to give thanks in everything when you are praying without ceasing. When our focus is the will of God for our lives, when we are wholly devoted to a life of prayer and obedience, then we rejoice not in the things we possess, or the square footage of the home we live in, but in His presence.

When our will is no longer our own, then we are able to give thanks in everything, even when what we’re giving thanks for might seem like a detriment to anyone on the outside looking in. We give thanks because we know He has a plan and a purpose. We give thanks because we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, and are called according to His purpose.

Prayer is the anchor that keeps us steadfast in God. When we are in constant fellowship with Him, we are not swayed to and fro by the trials and hardships of life, nor by the machinations of governments and nations. We are in Christ. Therefore, we have the blessed assurance that He will see us through our valleys. We are in Christ. Therefore, we have the blessed assurance that when our strength falters, His strength will take up the slack and give us the wherewithal to press ever onward toward the prize.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Posted on 31 May 2025 | 11:56 am