The Next Steps: Overcoming Spiritual A.D.D.

One of the things that I struggle with the most is focusing on something for a period of time. Have you ever found your mind wandering while I am preaching? Maybe your eye catches something and it makes you think? Maybe you will identify with this person’s prayer time...

Dear God, Thank you for this day. (This gets you thinking…) Oh man I have a lot going on today. I’ve got that appointment this morning and then I have another this afternoon with another client and oooh, I need to do a load of wash and … Oh man, I’m supposed to be praying. (Punch yourself with the glove.) Focus. Focus. Focus. Okay, God, sorry about that. I’d just want to say how grateful I am for all the blessings you sent my way yesterday. (This gets you thinking…) Although I’m still pretty ticked John got the promotion over me since I am waaaay more qualified and everybody knows John takes two-hour lunches and…ahhh. (Punch yourself with the glove again.) Come on, man, get it together, you’re talking to God. Okay, I just want to pray for my missionary friends in Papua New Guinea (which gets you thinking…) ahhh man, I could really go for a Papa John’s pizza right now. Ummm, pizza. (Punch yourself with the glove.) Oh man, look what time it is. Okay, God … good talk. (Punch yourself one last time.) Ahhh, I should have prayed longer.

And don’t get me started when it comes to reading the Bible sometimes. Thoughts like, “Wait, what did I just read?” (Punch.) What does that even mean? (Punch.) What am I supposed to do with that? (Punch.)

Can anybody connect with these examples at all? Well then, today is for you. I have read that eighty-four percent of Americans say they have prayed in the past week, so wherever you are in your spiritual journey, this is extremely relevant. I call this frustration/illness Spiritual A.D.D. Obviously we want to talk to God, so desire is not the problem. The issue is more in the “how.” And the how is what I get asked about the most...

Prayerfulness is a way of life

Today we are going to focus on our prayer lives. As I said last week, it is the easiest of the Spiritual Disciplines to begin but it is also the hardest to maintain. Why, well, we have already established that it is not the desire that is the problem, it is the focus. As someone whose mind races from one thing to the next most days, I get it and I completely understand why people feel like they have ADD when it comes to prayer. But like most other training that we do in our lives, it takes practice, practice, practice, and practice, with a little bit of accountability sprinkled in to keep us motivated and doing, rather than trying.

Prayer is something, when you grow up in the church, that you are taught from the time you are old enough to clasp your hands and bow your head. But, for those who were not in church every Sunday, kneeling on the floor of your Sunday school room or even sitting in a pew during worship, prayer is hard to understand and even harder to do. I think many of us have this idea in our minds that we have to be perfect at it because we sit in the pew on a Sunday morning. I am here to tell you that there are still days that I struggle to find the “Right” words in my own mind…we are in this together. Don’t get me wrong, we have some great models of prayer in our faith history, like…Abraham

Genesis 19:27 NIV

Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.

or…Daniel

Daniel 6:10 NIV

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

or…Peter

Acts 10:9 NIV

About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.

Each of these pillars of our faith understood how important it was to go and do rather than just try to pray. But we also have instructions from Christ on how to pray and what to say...

Luke 22:42–44 NIV

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Jesus is the finest example of what it means to be prayerful. He instructed the disciples and us about the importance of prayer. He not only instructed on it, he modeled it. Here is what I am seeing in this model prayer right now...

Time with God drains me of my own weakness and fills me with God’s strength.

Time with God drains me of my own will and fills me with God’s will.

Time with God drains me of me and fills me with God.

Connections are Important:

Our connection with God, as I know I have mentioned before, relies upon our willingness to stand before the throne, open our hearts and then open our mouths to say the things that are in the innermost recessive of our being. Think in terms of your marriage or partnership or even your relationship with a parent…when you are not completely and utterly honest with the ones you love, do you truly show them love? If you cannot open your heart to them, is there any hope for the relationship to survive? This is even more important in a society like ours where people no longer talk, they text.

Come on gang, we need to get serious about this…our eternal lives depend upon it…so, today, I thought we would get really practical on how to overcome Spiritual A.D.D. in our prayer lives and this piece from Matthew really gives us some great glimpses of what that may mean and look like...

Prayerfulness arises from an awareness of need that can only be met by God

What we have in our Gospel lesson for this morning is another one of those times that Jesus gives us an example of what not to do…he starts with this...

Matthew 6:5 NIV

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

So what he wants for us is that connection with God that goes deeper than looking good when we pray. I mean think about it…do you really think that God cares if we are in one position or another or if we pray well in front of others? No, God wants us to just speak to God. Not do it where everyone else can see us doing it because it is about our relationship with God not how we look to others. In this piece, Matthew is referring to the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadduccees who stood on the street corners praying loudly to God so that everyone knew how religious and pious they all were. Yet when they were alone, they did whatever they wanted and often did not pray in their own homes.

Then Jesus says...

Matthew 6:6 NIV

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

God really wants that close, tight connection with us to be intimate and private. Think about it this way…when you were a teenager or if you are now, when you go to talk to your parents about something that is really important to you, when do you talk to them? Out in the grocery store where everyone can see and hear or do you do it in your bedroom, sitting on the side of your bed, or maybe in another room of the house that has a door that can be closed and is private? If you are anything like me, I would often have these kinds of conversations with my mom in a place where it was just her and me and the door could be closed. This is the kind of relationship that God desires from us…but we must train ourselves to have this relationship with our creator, redeemer, and sustainer...

The last piece I want for us to consider this morning is this piece about saying only what needs to be said…consider this...

Matthew 6:7 NIV

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

I often listen for prayers of other faith leaders and those in positions within the church to hear what is in folks’ hearts. I have know people whose prayers seem to go on indefinitely and I have heard those who speak very few words. Me, I have taken this part of the passage to heart. I believe that God already knows what’s in my heart and how much I feel about something when I pray. When I say my prayers aloud, I also believe I can say them with as few word as are necessary. I pray boldly because I don’t need to explain the why of what I am saying, God already knows that. I pray boldly because God knows what’s in my heart and my what for praying. God already knows, so when we pray aloud, Jesus is reminding us that it does not need all kinds of flowery and theological words, it just needs to come from your heart.

Prayerfulness involves a heart that is right with God & the need to be alert

If we are in a mindset that our prayers are heard and that God is listening to what we say, then we are already starting to connect with God on a different level. If however, our minds begin to wander in our prayer time, much like I exampled at the beginning of this time together, then we need to train ourselves to be focused. I admit, I still need training in this area of my prayer life. I am not perfect, yes, I have a lot of practice, but training is necessary for me to be where I think God wants me to be in my prayer life.

And, let me get ultra practical here as we close up today. Here are two things you’ll need to decide right away if you are going to start living out the daily spiritual habits of Bible study and prayer.

1) Select a Time.

The best time to spend with God is when you are at your best. Think about the other areas of your life. You always schedule what is most important. If you just spend time with God when you’re not busy, you will miss most days because let’s be honest … you’re busy. You need to decide on a time. Most examples in Scripture are of people getting up early in the morning, but really what’s most important is when you can give God your best.

2) Select a Place.

In another passage in Matthew, we read about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Listen to how it starts: Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. Notice the words, “as usual.” This was not the first time Jesus had been to this garden to pray. The same principle should be true for us, as well.

Select a room in your house or apartment or an area where you know you can be free from distraction and spend time with God in silence. Just to make sure we are on the same page, your living room with SportsCenter or HGTV in the background is not a good place.

I know we are all coming from different places in our spiritual journeys. For some of you, this is brand new. You’ve never really spent intentional time with God on your own. There are others for whom this whole message has been a review and I was definitely preaching to the choir. I’m confident there are many in between who know the struggle we talked about at the beginning of making time with God a consistent part of your life.

A challenge...

Here is my challenge for you today. Would you for the next month test this whole thing out? Psalms 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” If we spend just a few moments in God’s presence each day, whether that be prayer or Bible study, which I did not even cover today, you will be amazed the difference it can make in your life.

As your pastor, if I could get you to add one habit to your life, this would be it. Would you join me this next month in spending time with God daily?

Let’s pray.

Prayer

Gracious and loving God, as we delve into the training of our lives, strengthen and uphold us, grant us wisdom and perseverance, when life gets hard and it is hard to stay focused, grant that we will have grace for ourselves and do not lose hope....