Prayerlessness is a Sin -- We Must Become Desperate for God!

I read an interesting article, “Desperate for God,” by Nancy Leigh DeMoss in Pray! Magazine this week and thought it worth sharing with you:


"Several years ago, the Lord began to speak to me about my prayerlessness. It's not that I never prayed- I tried to live each day in a spirit of prayer, seeking to know the heart and mind of God in relation to my activities and relationships and to know what would please Him in each decision and circumstance. But, with few exceptions over the years, I had never cultivated the practice of setting specific times for private prayer. Others may have assumed that I was a woman of prayer; but God knew and I knew that it was not the case.

"I'd like to say that I experienced a major "breakthrough" that turned me into the "prayer warrior" I wanted to be. There was no such breakthrough. However, what God began in my heart that summer has been a continuous process. It has included both a measure of growth as well as seasons of defeat. As Charles Swindoll would say, it has been "three steps forward and two steps back." What I do know is that there continues to be, deep within my heart, a call and a commitment to press on and to lay hold of the heart and hand of God through prayer.

"As God opened my eyes to this matter of prayerlessness, I asked Him to let me see it from His point of view. Here is what I wrote in my journal one day when God first began to deal with my heart:

"I am convicted that prayerlessness: is a sin against God (1 Sam. 12:23); is direct disobedience to the command of Christ ("watch and pray"- Mt. 26:41), is direct disobedience to the Word of God ("pray without ceasing"- 1 Thess. 5:17); makes me vulnerable to temptation ("watch and pray so . . .you will not fall into temptation"- Mt. 26:41); expresses independence- no need for God; gives place to the Enemy and makes me vulnerable to his schemes (Eph. 6:18, Daniel 10). 

"Not prayimg hurts us!  It results in powerlessness; limits (and defines) my relationship with God; hinders me from knowing His will, His priorities, His direction forces me to operate in the realm of the natural (what I can do) versus the supernatural (what He can do); leaves me weak, harried, and hassled; is rooted in pride, self-sufficiency, laziness, and lack of discipline; reveals a lack of real burden and compassion for others."