Why Don't We Pray More? | Matthew 26:43

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:07] Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths. I have a question for you this morning. Why don't we pray more?

[00:00:15] I mean, I've never met anybody who said, I'm completely satisfied with my prayer life.

[00:00:20] We're in Matthew chapter 26 and remember Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane.

[00:00:25] He's asked three of his disciples to stay awake with him and to pray and to watch and all that.

[00:00:29] And of course, listen to what it says in verse 43.

[00:00:33] And again, he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy.

[00:00:37] So why didn't they stay awake? Because they had a hard time because they were sinful.

[00:00:42] They were tired and so they fell asleep.

[00:00:44] So here's the question I want to ask you today. Why don't we pray more?

[00:00:49] Well, sometimes it's because we're tired, right?

[00:00:53] We get to the end of the day. We're so tired.

[00:00:55] We lay our heads down and we simply forget.

[00:00:59] So that's another reason we sometimes don't pray.

[00:01:02] We simply forget to pray.

[00:01:04] And as a result of that, we might even feel like God isn't listening to us even when we do pray.

[00:01:11] And here's another thing.

[00:01:12] Sometimes we look at prayer as a last resort instead of a first solution.

[00:01:18] And finally, when we've tried everything else and nothing has worked, we finally say, OK, I better pray.

[00:01:25] And sometimes we might say, you know what? It just doesn't work.

[00:01:30] I've tried and tried and tried to pray to God and it simply doesn't change things.

[00:01:35] And another reason we may not pray more is because it's a lot of work.

[00:01:40] When you're praying, it takes concentration.

[00:01:43] Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a prayer and all of a sudden you're thinking about something like the pot roast in the oven or the football game the next day or a relationship fracture that you're having?

[00:01:53] So prayers work to stay focused, to be intentional in prayer, to remain riveted on the Lord is difficult.

[00:02:01] So here's some helps to help you concentrate and be more faithful in your prayer life.

[00:02:07] Number one, designate a time and a place, right?

[00:02:12] For Jesus, he would designate often early in the morning and he'd go to a solitary place to pray.

[00:02:19] What is your prayer time and where is your prayer place?

[00:02:23] Designate a time and a place.

[00:02:25] Secondly, have a model for prayer.

[00:02:28] The one I use all the time is ACTS, Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication.

[00:02:35] Probably the best, well, for sure, the best model of prayer is the Lord's Prayer.

[00:02:39] You go through each one of those seven petitions and you can think of things that fit under that petition.

[00:02:45] That's a great model for prayer.

[00:02:47] Another one I've taught people is financial, relational, physical and spiritual things.

[00:02:52] So you talk about financial things.

[00:02:54] What's going on in your finances?

[00:02:56] What do you need?

[00:02:56] Physical things, things that are happening to you in your everyday life, to your body.

[00:03:01] Material things, things that you need in your home or in your life.

[00:03:05] And finally, spiritual things where you especially ask God to continue to give you the spiritual things you need.

[00:03:12] Life, salvation, forgiveness.

[00:03:13] And of course, as we've talked about in previous episodes, that's obviously his will.

[00:03:18] He wants you to have these spiritual things.

[00:03:20] So you don't have to pray when you're asking for spiritual things if it be your will.

[00:03:24] So have a model for prayer.

[00:03:26] So remember, designate a time and a place.

[00:03:29] Have a model.

[00:03:31] And finally, thirdly, talk to God consistently during the day with one sentence prayers.

[00:03:38] Right?

[00:03:39] Something comes to your mind, you can ask God about it.

[00:03:42] Something, a need comes into your life or the life of somebody else.

[00:03:47] You can ask God about it.

[00:03:48] You can pray about it.

[00:03:49] So anytime something happens in your life where you can immediately reflect it up to God, do that.

[00:03:55] God loves it.

[00:03:56] This is what it means to pray without ceasing.

[00:03:58] Some people have said, does that mean we pray 24 hours a day?

[00:04:01] No, it simply means that when something comes up in your life that you know the Lord would address, call upon him.

[00:04:08] The Bible says, call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you.

[00:04:11] So every time some concern comes to your mind about someone else or in your own life, you say a one sentence prayer and you give it to God.

[00:04:19] And finally, know that he is listening.

[00:04:23] A lot of times people think, oh, God is so busy.

[00:04:26] There's so many concerns in the world.

[00:04:27] There's so many things going on.

[00:04:28] He's not caring about my piddly problems.

[00:04:31] He's really not focused on me.

[00:04:33] Well, he is because he loves you.

[00:04:36] And here's the marvelous thing.

[00:04:38] God opened up access to him through prayer because Jesus removed the barrier.

[00:04:43] And what was the barrier?

[00:04:45] The barrier was the barrier of sin.

[00:04:47] And what did God do?

[00:04:48] He sent his son, Jesus, to take away our sin so that we have direct access to God.

[00:04:54] Friends, you don't have to go through a saint.

[00:04:56] You don't have to go through a priest.

[00:04:58] You don't have to go through, you know, some person who's died to directly give you access to the Father.

[00:05:06] Jesus did it all when he paid the price for your sin on Calvary's cross.

[00:05:09] So we go directly to God.

[00:05:11] This is why we say our Father.

[00:05:13] We don't say St. Mary or St. Catherine or St. Joseph.

[00:05:17] We say our Father.

[00:05:18] We go directly to him and he is listening.

[00:05:20] So I hope all of that is helpful.

[00:05:24] We've covered a lot of ground in a short time in this little podcast today.

[00:05:28] I hope it's helpful and may God bless your day.

[00:05:31] And that is today's Daily Truth.

[00:05:34] Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:05:37] Thank you for tuning in to Daily Truths with Dave Allman.

[00:05:40] Pastor Dave Allman is the pastor of Mount Hope Church in Boulder, Colorado.

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[00:05:55] Come back tomorrow for your next Daily Truth.