Prayerlessness is a Declaration of Self-Sufficiency

“Devote yourselves to prayer…” (Col. 4.2a)

I suspect that a chief reason for our apathy in prayer is not our lack of need but in our perceived lack of need.  Many of our prayer lives reflect shallowness and irregularity because we somehow have bought the lie that we are sovereign and not in need of help, glorious and not required to worship, and too busy and so not in need of the discipline of bending our hearts in submission to God through prayer.

Prayer is a humbling thing.  And failure to pray reveals as much about our prideful self-consumption as our misconceptions about self-sovereignty, divine power, and the glory of Christ.

We need a simple jagged command like this here to puncture our imaginations, flood our hearts with sacred truth and bring us into the reality of God-centered dependence.

Possibly Related posts:

1. Prayerlessness…our truce with the world
2. Prayer: Our Spiritual Cardio Work
3. Q & A Friday: Is prayer for us or for God?
4. How to live a miserable Christian life (part i)
5. A Prayer for our Nation (RC Sproul)

5 Responses to “Prayerlessness is a Declaration of Self-Sufficiency”

1. Mitch Majeski says:

   March 6, 2009 at 8:22 pm

   Bringing this to a prayer gathering several affiliated churches tonight. Thanks Erik!
2. Brian says:

   March 7, 2009 at 11:58 am

   Great post. Thank you.
3. Erik says:

   March 7, 2009 at 12:01 pm

   Glad it is helpful. It is some early thoughts for Sunday’s sermon on Colossians 4.2ff. I am greatly convicted right about now. Just trying to share the love.
4. Prayerlessness is a Declaration of Self-Sufficiency | The Daily Scroll says:

   March 9, 2009 at 10:38 am

   [...] is a Declaration of Self-Sufficiency March 9, 2009 By Erik Raymond “Devote yourselves to prayer…” (Col. [...]
5. Kingdom Journalism » Nothing to Declare? says:

   March 9, 2009 at 11:11 am

   [...] When I’ve talked to missionaries about communication, I’ve tried to stress that asking for prayer and financial support is an important way of declaring our dependency on God. In a recent blog post, “Irish Calvinist” blogger Erik Raymond says it a slightly different way: “Prayerlessness is a Declaration of Self-Sufficiency.” [...]