A Prayer-Producing, Sin-Slaughtering Love for God
Do you have the wherewithal to repel the muscular attacks of the devil or the discipline to flee temptation like a bolt of greased lightening?
There’s a diagnostic test to see if that kind of power has been granted to you: Take a look at your prayer life.
“Now what is the cause of most backslidings? I believe, as a general rule, one of the chief causes is neglect of private prayer. You may be very sure men fall in private long before they fall in public. They are backsliders on their knees long before they backslide openly in the eyes of the world.” – J.C. Ryle
Prayer Does Not Keep Us From Sin
Prayer has no special power to keep us from sin. But both prayerlessness and sinfulness have the same cause: a lack of love for God. Thus our prayer reveals our heart, and the condition of our heart determines our ability to fight sin.
“Besides, this mind (speaking of the pious mind) restrains itself from sinning, not out of dread of punishment alone; but, because it loves and reveres God as Father, it worships and adores him as Lord. Even if there were no hell, it would still shudder at offending him alone.” – John Calvin
Prayer is a Barometer of the Heart
Prayer is a barometer of the heart. If our heart is filled with a robust love for God, our life will be filled with focused prayer and victory over sin. If our heart is not filled with love for God, it should not surprise us if we are both prayerless and addicted to sin. We must cling with hope to the message of the gospel, because it is God who grants to us a heart increasingly filled with prayer-producing, sin-slaughtering love for God.
After doing a guest post over at Fallen and Flawed on secret sin, I couldn’t help but see its connection to prayer.
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Related posts:
- The Need for Collective Prayer
- How to Develop a Desperate Prayer Life
- More than a prayer for survival
Very helpful ideas, Daniel. I’ve been thinking a lot lately (i.e. over the past year or so) about what it means to truly love God with all our hearts and minds. Through the pain and agony of “public sin”, He has graciously revealed the state of heart and soul that led to that. I still don’t *feel* particularly strong in the face of these battles, but I have been amazed at His work within me and I trust in His strength.
These are good reminders that we need to be diligent about our time with God, praying, listening, and reading His Word. Thanks for always pointing us back to that!
This is a good gauge. And it always cuts to the quick. I always find it interesting when I find myself not praying as much as I like and getting that gentle tug towards getting on my knees…good indication that the HS is alive and well and interested in face time.
Daniel, good post. I think this piece offers an interesting counterpoint:
Beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’
(Matthew 14:30)
Sinking times are praying times with the Lord’s servants. Peter neglected prayer at starting upon his venturous journey, but when he began to sink, his danger made him a suppliant, and his cry, though late, was not too late.
In our hours of bodily pain and mental anguish, we find ourselves as naturally driven to prayer as the wreck is driven upon the shore by the waves. The fox runs to its hole for protection; the bird flies to the wood for shelter; and even so the tried believer hastens to the mercy-seat for safety. Heaven’s great harbor of refuge is All-prayer; thousands of weather-beaten vessels have found a haven there, and the moment a storm comes on, it is wise for us to make for it with full sail.
Short prayers are long enough. There were but three words in the petition that Peter gasped out, but they were sufficient for his purpose. Not length but strength is desirable. A sense of need is a mighty teacher of brevity. If our prayers had less of the tail feathers of pride and more wing, they would be all the better. Verbiage is to devotion as chaff to the wheat. Precious things lie in small compass, and all that is real prayer in many a long address might have been uttered in a petition as short as that of Peter.
Our extremities are the Lord’s opportunities. Immediately a keen sense of danger forces an anxious cry from us, the ear of Jesus hears, and with Him ear and heart go together, and the hand does not long linger. At the last moment we appeal to our Master, but His swift hand makes up for our delays by instant and effectual action. Are we nearly engulfed by the boisterous waters of affliction? Let us then lift up our souls unto our Savior, and we may rest assured that He will not suffer us to perish. When we can do nothing, Jesus can do everything; let us enlist His powerful aid upon our side, and all will be well.
~C. Spurgeon / A. Begg
How did I miss this one? I was browsing your blog and the title caught my eye. Thanks for the link, but that’s not why I am commenting. You’ve really struck a nerve with me here, and it’s not a bad nerve. Well, maybe it is, and it needs punished for being bad. *Bad nerve!*
Because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, our prayer life is reflected in the words we use. My impulsiveness is a good indicator of my need for such prayer.
Thanks for circling back to read it. If only reading simple posts could incline my heart to prayer…
Thank you for this article! I needed it…and in my heart I already knew that lack of prayer led me to the position I find myself in today. It’s funny, I don’t remember when or why I went from enjoying praying, sometimes for hours, to not praying at all.
God bless you!
I thankyou for this convicting reminder.
May it be a spiritual blessing to others as well.