Whose prayer life is what they want it to be? Mine certainly isn’t what I hope it will be one day. Just this morning I decided that I would take out my earbuds during my workout and use the time for prayer. Minutes later I found my mind wandering, counting my reps, and even checking my phone for incoming messages. Why would I deny listening to and talk with my Creator and Savior? And yet I refuse this opportunity more frequently than I would care to admit. I want to say yes, but I say no. How do we improve our prayer lives? This is the question that Kevin Halloran tackles in his practical book, When Prayer is a Struggle.
Halloran invites us to experience the life of prayer God longs for us to have with him. Halloran reminds us that our prayer life and our faith are interrelated. The health of my prayer life is directly connected to the strength of my faith. He says, “Prayer is the natural overflow of a growing faith.” We don’t pray as we ought because we struggle with our faith. Does my life depend on the active work of God today, or is it mere intellectual assent to his existence? My prayer life reveals it is too often the latter.
Halloran encourages us to lean into our prayer life with God not trying to get it “right,” but to engage God and grow our faith. I love the quote from Jared Wilson he shares, “You may think your prayers are nothing to write home about. That’s fine. You are not writing home, but heaven. God is merciful. He accepts your lame prayers. What he wants is not your eloquence but your heart.” Our prayer life isn’t meant to be a demonstration of our eloquence or intelligence or spirituality, but the expression of a vibrant relationship with the Caretaker of our souls.
Halloran wants us to utilize the Bible in our prayer life. Scripture ought to feed our prayer life. It gives us words to say to God when we don’t know what to say, it directs us to God’s heart when we feel distant from him. If you want to dive into this particular topic more, I would encourage you to read Praying the Bible by Donald Whitney alongside Halloran’s book.
My favorite chapter is probably Chapter 4 where Halloran engages the question, “Why doesn’t God listen?” He navigates these challenging but important answers to that question: “You aren’t a Christian.” “You lack faith.” “You turned your back on God and his word by embracing a sin.” “You’ve treated others wrongly.” “You are prideful.” “You are experiencing God’s discipline.” “You treated others wrongly.” “You are prideful.” “You are experiencing God’s discipline.” There is a hard word for many of us in these, but it is a diagnosis of our souls given in love.
Halloran then calls us to consider the posture of our hearts. A prideful heart is a heart averse to prayer. There is a direct line between our humility and our prayer life. Humility plus prayer also release us from the stresses of this world. He says, “As you humble yourself before your loving Father this way, the tangled mess of your anxiety will begin to unravel.”
I love the last few chapters which offer very practical helps for distraction or not knowing what to pray. I’ve downloaded the PrayerMate app because of Halloran’s note that this is what he uses to keep himself on track in his prayer life and I have benefited from it. One thing I’ve noticed about my use of the app is that it has me praying for people I wouldn’t usually pray as often for and offering scripture to help guide my prayers which I might not have utilized.
I want a better prayer life. Don’t you? If so, I commend When Prayer is a Struggle”to you.
For more reviews on books to spur you on in your prayer life this post might be a helpful resource.
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