Have you ever tried to pray on a daily basis?
If you have, you have probably found that it is important to set aside a certain time of day that will be your time for prayer. Invariably, you will have a late night before a busy day and think to yourself, “I just don’t have time to pray this morning, I’ll pray at lunch.” As the day races along, the lunch-time prayers are forgotten. Exhausted, you go to bed thinking, “I’ll pray tomorrow,” and, before you know it, you are wondering, “When was the last time I prayed?”
I heard somewhere that a minister should pray one hour a day, while a busy minister should pray two hours a day. While this is a wise quote, it is also somewhat depressing because, unfortunately, as a busy minister, my chances for two or more hours of prayer come mainly during retreats or long, quiet drives on the road.
Maybe that is why I was moved by the text in Luke 5:12-16, which tells of a leprous man who was healed by Jesus. He preached to everyone about Jesus, which caused huge crowds to gather to hear him preach and heal their diseases. Then, Luke adds a simple sentence that helps me to understand why we can get not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually tired in our busy schedules.
Jesus would, “withdraw to deserted places and pray.” I think this is a powerful image of our Lord, who is preaching and healing until he begins to tire, and then, excusing himself and humbly finding a secluded, quiet place, he then prays for the Holy Spirit to renew his strength to continue preaching and healing.
This is an important prayer model for busy Christians, for we are certainly no busier than Jesus, or in more demand, or doing anything more important. Yet, all of us have had times, including me, when, by our actions, we say, “I’m too busy to pray.”
Jesus shows us how to get the spiritual nourishment we need, by waiting in a quiet place and asking for God’s spirit. Before his ascension, Jesus tells the disciples in Acts 1:4 to wait in Jerusalem and pray, and God will send them His spirit.
I find it is hard to wait. It is easier to do something. Do you ever fear you may be wasting time taking time to pray? Do you fear nothing will happen? Are you patient enough? Maybe you are patient ... God just needs to hurry up.
Catholic Monk Anthony DeMello writes (as detailed in “Contact with God”, Loyola University Press), “The spirit is given to those who wait, those who expose their hearts day after day to God and his word in prayer, those who invest hours in what seems a sheer waste of time to our production-oriented minds.”
That is hard for us to learn. There are numerous books out today saying a similar message. That one of the greatest causalities of the cell phone revolution is that we never let ourselves get bored. As soon as there is a pause in our lives, we pull out our phones and go to our favorite apps. Just 30 years ago, we let ourselves get bored, and then, we went deep into thought and/or prayer. Can you even remember the last time you had a moment when you didn’t have to do anything that you didn’t pull out your phone?
I have an exercise for you. After reading this article, pull out your phone. That’s right. Pull out your phone and set the timer for five minutes. Then, set your phone down and don’t touch it for five minutes. Sit still. Take a deep breath. Then, start talking to God. You can talk about anything you want. God will be glad for any time with you that He can get. I guarantee He wants more time with you than you give Him. He loves when we follow Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
If, when your alarm goes off, and you are not ready to stop talking to God, reset it for another five minutes. Better yet, just turn it off and enjoy the quiet moments with your Creator. If you don’t have time in your busy schedule to pray to God for five minutes, then maybe something is wrong with your schedule. I know it is a constant battle with my calendar to make sure that God and I have enough time to be together in prayer. I also know that, if I let my busy schedule win, I will have lost too much win. I hope you will find the same as you commit yourself to regular prayer.