I believe more prayer takes place in a casino than in many churches. “Please God”…”I promise you if I win I will believe you are real”…I say this because God has challenged me to pray more and more specific. Mark 11:17 “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’ ? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.” Why do we rob God of communication:
1) Laziness
2) We don’t believe God will answer.
3) Our marriages are in a funk…1 Pet. 3:7 “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
4) Sin!! Prov. 15:29 “The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.”
5) ADD – (Attention Discipline Disorder) No deficit, just no discipline.
6) I am not desperate! Ps. 102:17 “He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.”
7) Distractions!
8 We are infatuated with ourselves more than God.
9) Little discernment…we don’t know what He is saying to us.
10) Burdenless! Prayer is a burden…until you have a burden!
I am asking God for more and asking more often. Why don’t you pray? Why doesn’t the church pray? How many minutes a day do you pray?
Look forward to hearing from you.
joshua marshall says,
I think you are 100 percent right. most of the time if we say god if you will do this, then we don’t hold up on our end of the deal anyways.
on 23 February 2009 / 11:41 AM
Kyle says,
Hey Shannon,
I just started following you in the past couple weeks after stumbling upon your story through the Sticks blog/podcast.
Last Saturday I was at Lincoln Christian College in Lincoln, IL for a conference called “Leading Your Church to Become a Praying Church” – solid, practical stuff.
If you e-mail me, I’d be glad to scan my notes and talk with you about the insightful experience?
on 23 February 2009 / 1:50 PM
Erica says,
Well…When I’m being obedient, I pray throughout the whole day, just random thoughts on different help that I need. But what happens most of the time when it comes to really needing or wanting something in my life, I tend to ask God once and in a rush so I can hurry up and try to take care of it myself. I don’t know why, I already know i can’t do it alone, but its just a nasty natural instinct. Then after I fail about 10 times, I finally decide to put my flesh down and ask God again! So thankful that he is always there when I turn around. Man, I get tired of being a child that needs constant discipline, the more I answer these blogs the more I realize what a crazy mess I am sometimes! Thanks for the insightful blogs, Shannon! Ha Ha. I really do enjoy reading them and I enjoy responding to them lets me stop and remember who I am and reminds me of who I want to be.
on 23 February 2009 / 2:37 PM
Shannon O'Dell says,
Thank you Erica!!! You are a precious soul. You are loved by Cindy and I.
on 23 February 2009 / 10:10 PM
Shawn D says,
Shannon these are great points. I feel people cry out to God when they are desperate. Why do People always wait till we are at the end of our rope to turn to God? Why do they look to God when things are bad but never when they are good? These are questions I ask all the time to my friend that are not believers. I want to look to God in all times good or bad. I pray for strength to do this but fail at times because I think I can take care of it myself.
on 23 February 2009 / 10:00 PM
Stephanie Lindley says,
You are right… so right. Lately I’ve been trying to stay in prayer throughout the day and focus more on praise than wants. Even though I have noticed a difference in how I look at things when trying to find things to be thankful for.. I still don’t get on my knees like I should and humble myself before my God. I always have an reason why I can’t do it today. So today, I will get on my knees before the Lord and spend time with Him. Thankyou for being willing to listen to God and share with us those things He wants us to know.
on 28 February 2009 / 8:09 PM
Rick says,
Prayer is the root of undoing evil.
on 20 March 2009 / 7:34 AM