Prayerlessness

As I was singing and praying the hymn, “I Am Thine, O Lord” this morning, the words, “O the pure delight of a single hour that before Thy throne I spend” jumped out at me.  The reason why it caught my attention is because I would not describe my prayer life as a pure delight.  As a matter of fact, “prayerlessness” would be more a more accurate description of my spiritual life.

Earlier this morning I listened to a program about George Washington and his spiritual life.  The speaker said that Washington kept a prayer journal and George prayed an hour in the morning and an hour at night.  In his journal while at Valley Forge, he wrote, “under the crushing weight of responsibility that I find myself, I can no longer sustain my prayer vigil” because of the suffering and dying of his men.  So he continued to pray an hour in the morning, but two hours in the evening.

The idea of even praying for an hour is mind boggling and I could come up with a whole bunch of reasons why I can’t spend that much time in prayer.  Yet, as I listen to my excuses, I am reminded of the numerous times when the Gospel writers spoke of Jesus praying.  Among them is the time that He arose early (Mark 1:35) and that He spent all night praying (Luke 6:12.

While I struggle in prayer, Fanny Crosby’s words remind me, “When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God, I commune as friend with friend.