ChosenRebel's Blog

Sunday Afternoon Musings

Here’s a great word, again from A. W. Tozer, but stimulated by another great warrior for Christ and his Kingdom, a man by the name of Dr. Moody Stuart. Stuart had a list of rules for becoming a person who prays. Among the rules was this one:

“Pray till you pray.”

Here’s Tozer’s comment:

The habit of breaking off our prayers before we have truly prayed is as common as it is unfortunate. Often the last 10 minutes may mean more to us than the first half hour, because we must spend a long time getting into the proper mood to pray effectively. We may need to struggle with our thoughts to draw them in from where they have been scattered through the multitude of distractions that result from the task of living in a disordered world….

If when we come to prayer our hearts feel dull and unspiritual, we should not try to argue ourselves out of it. Rather, we should admit it frankly and pray our way through. Some Christians smile at the thought of “praying through,” but something of the same idea is found in the writings of practically every great praying saint from Daniel to the present day. We cannot afford to stop praying till we have actually prayed.

A.W. Tozer; This World: Playground or Battleground? pp.69-70

I need this word.

It is so easy to grow weary in prayer, to pray quickly or thoughtlessly as if we were not addressing the supreme monarch of the universe. And it so easy to be distracted by good things (let alone all the trash and corruption of modern culture). We can be distracted by books, and blogs, and enthusiasms, and food, and shows, and movies, and sleep, and _____________, (fill in the blank with your most prominent diversion from the priority of prayer).

But I need to learn to pray till I have actually prayed. Maybe that’s true for you too.