Persevering in Prayer

My year-long struggle with maintaining a regular prayer life continues. I reread a book this summer called The Contemporaries Meet the Classics on Prayer, this time taking notes as I read. It's a collection of short essays, book and sermon excerpts, etc. that Christian leaders from the last 2,000 years have written. One heading I have in my collection of notes is "Persevering in Prayer."

I've struggled with this, as I've been loathe to pray when the mood doesn't strike me. I fear not being authentic in my praying, so I've stayed away from forcing prayer when I just didn't feel like it. In my mind, that meant it would be in some ways fake, routine, and empty talk. After reading this text, I realize I was wrong.

Below are some of the quotes I've taken from the text that I wanted to share. I feel like a hypocrite for posting advice on prayer, but my weaknesses don't make any of these ideas any less true.

My notes:

• prayer is a relationship in which you allow God to see so much that you would rather leave in darkness. It’s going to be rare to feel like doing this. (151)
• resistance to praying is the desire to cling tightly to yourself (151)
• “The visible world daily bludgeons us with its things and events. . . Few people arise in the morning as hungry for God as they are for cornflakes or toast and eggs. . . (However), We are required to ‘bet our life’ that the visible world, while real, is not reality itself.” (157-9)
• Waiting for the right mood is impossible. “Make up your mind in advance to keep your course steady, when you feel like it and when you don’t. . . A man who surrenders to these variable moods is doomed to inefficiency. . .” (160-1)
• Dean Goulburn: “When you cannot pray as you would, pray as you can.” (161)
• “So if you are averse to pray, pray the more.” (162)
• Charles Spurgeon: “We should pray when we are in a praying mood, for it would be sinful to neglect so fair an opportunity. We should pray when we are not in a praying mood because it would be dangerous to remain in so unhealthy a condition.” (163)
• “The less one depends on feelings, the more one is prepared for union with God” (193)
• “We refuse to pray unless it thrills or excites us, which is the most intense form of spiritual selfishness. . . When you labor at prayer, from God’s perspective there are always results.” (258)