Pride, Humility, Faith, Trust, and ... Prayer?

My (Aimee's) biggest problem with prayer over the years is something that I've had difficulty trying to explain.  I believe in the power of prayer.  I pray whatever the circumstances, which includes when I am in need.  But I have struggled with asking others to pray for me other than a small handful of people.

There is a part of me that feels like I am complaining or whining and that people don’t want to listen to that and I’d only be burdening them.  There is a part of me that feels like I am seeking attention that I don’t really need and begins to question the motives behind my initial thought to ask for prayer.  There is also a part of me that feels like I shouldn’t bother anyone with my concerns because there are other people with so many worse problems and that those people are the ones who really need prayer.  Do you struggle with anything like that?  I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I imagine most people deal with just one or maybe two of those issues.  I still struggle with these, though not quite as much as I used to.

I admitted this problem to our prayer group at church and do you know what they said to me?  They said, “That is such a great trick that Satan plays on us, making us feel like we don’t deserve prayer!” 

Now, I don’t want to get too far away from the topic of prayer, but I have to say this: one of the best things that Satan does is to take little tiny pieces of ourselves that are self-depreciating and then blowing them up to much larger, paralyzing sizes.  The thought originated in me.  It is an issue of pride and of faith and Satan plays with those and makes them bigger until they stop me from turning to God.  So, what do you do about it?  You pray!  Hey look!  I didn’t stray too far away from prayer!

Pride: Oh, this is a sin that I am all too familiar with.  Unfortunately.  I could write a whole blog on pride and maybe I will someday so I’ll try to be brief here.  Effective prayer requires humility and honesty.  Anytime, in any fashion, if you’re asking for help, it requires humility and honesty.  You need to be able to admit that you have a problem, that you aren’t perfect (humility).  And while God already knows what the problem is, the more honest you can be about your problem with those you are asking for prayer from, the better they can pray for you.  And even though God knows the truth, being honest even in our own private prayer time benefits us by humbling us, which makes us vulnerable, and in turn, it opens us up to God’s influence in our lives.  There is an intimacy to prayer, whether it’s between you and God or you and others.  Intimacy is best and most sincere when there is humility and honesty.

Faith: Or really, more specifically, lack of trust.  I think that this is one I’ve mentioned before as a problem for me.  I’m working on it!  Through prayer!  The only way to show God that I really do believe in the power of prayer is to utilize that power.  No one is going to claim that they believe Tylenol works when they don’t ever use it.  No one is going to claim that a hammer is great when they’ve never used one.  It doesn’t work that way.  So, if I’m going to claim it, then I need to do it, and prove that I believe what I claim.  God rewards acts of faith (if you don’t believe me, read the Book of Genesis, for example)!  I have to pray like the father of the boy with a demon when he said to Jesus: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24, NIV).

Let me mention one last passage.  In James 5:17-18 it says:

Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

I just recently finished reading 1 Kings where this story takes place.  Elijah inspires me because he did many wonderous things, miraculous things.  And he was able to do them all because of his faith, his trust, in God.  He trusted that God was watching over him and listening and protecting him.  That is why he spoke with authority and that is why God worked through him and gave him the power to do those things.  This passage from James points out that prayer works the same way.  We pray and then we complain because God didn’t answer our prayer even though we didn’t really believe that He was going to in the first place.  We need to pray like Elijah, who spoke to a God that he knew and loved and trusted, and trusted that God knew him and loved him back.  So God answered his prayers.

I want faith like that.

Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief.  Help me to trust.  Because I can’t do it without you.  Amen.