Ok, I want to share something with you that may not be something a believer, much less a pastor should admit. I don’t like prayer meetings. Every time I go to a prayer meeting my one thought is, “how can I get out of here!" I know, I know, this isn’t good, but for some reason I just don’t like spending large amounts of time praying and prayer meetings obligate to something I am incapable of doing. I have to be honest, when I have shared my secret with other believers I never got the help I was looking for, instead I was told all the reasons why we should pray. So my guilt over this has been an obstacle in my faith. What I didn’t do was take it to God. And when I did I found this quote: “I don’t often spend more than half an hour in prayer at one time, but I never go more than half an hour without praying”. --Smith Wigglesworth. Imagine my surprise to find out that the greatest Pentecostal evangelist of the 19th and 20th centuries didn’t spend long periods of time praying. What he did was exactly what the Bible tells us to do. “Pray without ceasing…” 1 Thessalonians 5:17. This is something I can do and frankly have been doing all along.
I know that there is benefit to devoting a segment of time to praying, and believe me when the circumstance presents itself I can pray and pray intensely. But here is what I want the people of Eastside to know. God has designed prayer in such a way that we can all do it no matter what our personality dictates. God likes all prayers and He wants us to pray! No excuses! Just pray.
Just so you know, I believe that by God’s help I will be able to develop the discipline to pray better and who knows maybe even longer. But I will pray and from now one I will actually enjoy doing it. And how great was last night’s prayer meeting, I walk away from the church knowing I had been in the very presence of God!
I know that there is benefit to devoting a segment of time to praying, and believe me when the circumstance presents itself I can pray and pray intensely. But here is what I want the people of Eastside to know. God has designed prayer in such a way that we can all do it no matter what our personality dictates. God likes all prayers and He wants us to pray! No excuses! Just pray.
Just so you know, I believe that by God’s help I will be able to develop the discipline to pray better and who knows maybe even longer. But I will pray and from now one I will actually enjoy doing it. And how great was last night’s prayer meeting, I walk away from the church knowing I had been in the very presence of God!
