Developing Daily Prayer: Why Discipline Won't Help You Rely on God
Daily prayer. How hard can it be? I do plenty of things daily… I eat daily. I sleep daily. I talk daily. I look at my phone daily. I exercise (almost) daily. I eat junk food (twice) daily.
So why is daily prayer so hard?
Those who believe daily habits are created by discipline tell me that is what I’m lacking when it comes to daily prayer. If I were more disciplined, I’d pray more frequently.
Maybe. But I’m not convinced.
I’m not disparaging discipline. If there’s ever a banquet to honor self-discipline, expect me to be on the list of speakers. I’m a big fan. But I’m not sure that more discipline equals more praying. At least that’s not how it’s worked in my life.
I’ve read stories of Christians in centuries past who rose well before dawn to start their days with hours in prayer. I admire them, but I fail to live like them.
I’ve come to believe that, while there is a place for discipline in the Christian life, it shouldn’t drive the Christian life. One reason is that little word that you often find before “discipline”—“self.”
Self-discipline may help you be physically fit, get good grades, and save for retirement, but it won’t help you rely on God.
This is because self-discipline causes you to rely on…wait for it…yourself. Prayer, however, is all about trading in self-reliance for God-reliance.
Jesus prayed frequently because he remains the least self-reliant and most God-reliant person to ever live. In John 5 Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, the Son of Man can do nothing by himself.” Later in the same chapter he returns to the point again saying, “By myself I can do nothing.”
Really? Jesus can do nothing by himself?
Here’s my takeaway that I urge you to consider: you’ll pray when you realize that you can’t do life on your own. But the opposite is also true. You will not pray if you think you can handle life without God.
Prayerlessness is not due to a lack of discipline but to an abundance of self-reliant pride.
What if we prayed only when we had a real reason to pray?
- Pray when you have a need. (Philippians 4:6-7)
- Pray when you have sin to acknowledge and confess. (1 John 1:9)
- Pray when you have a friend who needs help. (1 Timothy 2:1)
- Pray when you are overwhelmed. (2 Chronicles 20:12)
- Pray when you are confused. (Psalm 25:4)
- Pray when you are thankful. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
- Pray when you are worried. (1 Peter 5:7)
- Pray when you need direction. (Psalm 143:8)
- Pray when you need to extend grace to another person. (Acts 7:60)
- Pray when your heart is chasing the wrong things. (Psalm 119:36)
- Pray when you are discouraged. (Matthew 11:28)
- Pray when you need to surrender your life to God. (Luke 22:42)
- Pray when Christians need to be unified in Jesus. (John 17:20-23)
- Pray when God’s justice must rectify an injustice in this world. (Amos 5:21-24)
- Pray when you need wisdom. (James 1:5)
- Pray when you can’t do life on your own. (John 5:19)
- Pray when you and others need to grow spiritually. (Colossians 1:9-13)
- Pray when you are amazed with God. (Psalm 111)
- Pray when you want to express faith. (Luke 23:42)
- Pray when you want to express humility. (2 Chronicles 20:15)
- Pray when you want God to be compassionate on those who don’t know him. (Luke 23:34)
- Pray when you need to know that all the forces arrayed against you pale in comparison to God’s forces for you. (2 Kings 6:17)
- Pray when civic leaders need wisdom to do their job well. (1 Timothy 2:1-2)
If you pray when you have needs, you will do more than pray daily. You’ll pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
When you wake up in the morning which kind of self-talk is more likely to lead you to pray?
“Self, I am determined to discipline myself to say my daily prayers whether I feel like it or not.”
Or...
“Self, I am poor and needy. I desperately need Jesus. I can do nothing apart from him.”
Let your needs drive you to your knees.