Why does it seem so difficult for today’s Christian to pray? Have a church picnic and it’s like feeding the five thousand; call a prayer meeting and it’s a handful that make it out…maybe. Ravenhill writes, “Prayer is taxing. Prayer is exacting. Prayer means enduring. Prayer means denying self, a daily denying by choice” (Ravenhill, 1962, p. 64).
That “denying self” thing is big, really big. In Our Brilliant Heritage, Oswald Chambers writes, “According to the Bible, self-seeking did not begin on earth, it began in heaven and was turned out of heaven because it was unworthy to live there, and it will never get back again. If we are to be Christian after the stamp Our Lord requires, we must deny ourselves more than others. Our Lord never taught us to deny sin: sin must be destroyed, not denied. Nothing sinful can ever be good. ‘If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself’ (cf. Matthew 16:24). Our Lord is referring to the natural self which must be denied in order that it may be made spiritual.” Thus, not only must we deny our natural tendencies of the flesh, but the adversary also works to enhance those feelings as well since he made that choice so many years ago.
It is not a part of our natural life to pray because the natural life does not discern the things of the Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:14)—and genuine prayer is spiritual. Chambers continued, “One great effect of prayer is that it enables the soul to command the body. By obedience I make my body submissive to my soul, but prayer puts my soul in command of my body. It is one thing to have the body in subjection, but another thing to be able to command it. When I command my body, I make it an ally, the means by which my spiritual life is furthered.
Prayer Focus
We are almost a third of the way through our prayer focus and the natural man begins to rise up in rebellion to prayer times and efforts. The newness of the unction is wearing down and the practical obstacles and weariness loom larger and larger. But we are not ignorant of those obstacles or of the flesh and its desire to control. Continue your prayer today; persist with your petition for revival. The Father is hearing our cry!
