5 Reasons We Avoid Prayer and 4 Prayers That Will Change Your Life

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3. Times of Abundance

Times of abundance often constitute a major challenge to our spiritual lives. Put simply, when things are going well, we tend to assume that we don’t need any help. Pride is a perennial temptation during times of abundance, and for those of us who follow Christ, a clear indicator of its insidious presence is a pronounced lack of prayer in one’s life. While we can certainly give God thanks for times of relative prosperity, we must take great care not to allow them to mislead us into thinking that we are the masters of our own destiny. There’s nothing wrong with wealth, for instance. But, as Scripture makes clear, it’s also temporary and highly fragile. A sobering current example would be the numerous beautiful homes that have been consumed by the fires in Los Angeles.   

4. Times of Scarcity

When our circumstances turn more desperate, however, the temptation to skip prayer remains strong. Why? If our modern sensibilities are shaped by ambitions of control, our tendency will be to first consult with all of the experts, all of the best strategies and methodologies in an effort to fix our circumstances. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with turning to experts and various problem-solving strategies, so long as they don’t take the place of our Lord. Once again, all too often, we regard prayer as a resource—the thing we turn to when we’ve exhausted all other options. In times of scarcity, a mature believer will recognize her total dependence on the Lord and allow this assumption to guide her list of priorities. 

5. Suffering

Finally, times of serious suffering can engender attitudes of profound distrust toward God, bitterness, and even unbelief. What is needful here is to bear in mind that:

1. We inhabit a fallen world where suffering and death are inevitable.
2. Christ is with us in our suffering, having himself endured the agony of the cross.
3. Suffering and death do not have the last word, thanks to our Lord’s triumph on the cross. 

In these times, prayer can feel like an impossibility. The best strategy in these circumstances is to pray Scripture, starting with the Psalms, a book containing human emotions. While suffering can threaten our relationship with Christ, it can also, by His grace, bring us closer together. 

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4 Prayers that Will Change Your Life

In closing, we want to leave you with four life-changing prayers. Prayer is a transformative practice, and if you’ve been finding it difficult lately, we invite you to pray each of these daily for an allotted time, perhaps a month. Think of it as a spiritual experiment. If you really want to deepen the experience, commit at least one of these passages to memory and pray it throughout the day. We strongly believe the results will speak for themselves. 

1. Ephesians 1:17–19a

“[I ask] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”

2. Ephesians 3:16–19

“[May the Father] grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”

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3. Philippians 1:9–11

“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

4. Colossians 1:9b–12

“[I ask] that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.”

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This article originally appeared on Christianity.com. For more faith-building resources, visit Christianity.com.