As we begin a global conversation on the book, A Praying Life, I encourage you to read or re-read the first five chapters. Each Monday, I and others will share questions, insights and thoughts about a chapter or section of the book that we hope will encourage this dialogue between us. I hope you will join us.
In the very first chapter, we read these comments by Paul Miller:
“We are so busy that when we slow down to pray, we find it uncomfortable. We prize accomplishments, production. But prayer is nothing but talking to God. It feels useless, as if we are wasting time. Every bone in our bodies screams, “Get to work” …
If we try to be quiet, we are assaulted by what C.S. Lewis called “the Kingdom of Noise.” Everywhere we go we hear background noise. If the noise isn’t provided for us, we can bring our own via iPod …
One of the subtlest hindrances to prayer is probably the most pervasive. In the broader culture and in our churches, we prize intellect, competency, and wealth. Because we can do life without God, praying seems nice but unnecessary. Money can do what prayer does, and it is quicker and less time-consuming. Our trust in ourselves and in our talents makes us structurally independent of God. As a result, exhortations to pray don’t stick.”
This “fierce independence” that Paul Miller describes is what caught my attention (and what I chose to underline). A couple of questions to get us talking,
- Describe what “structural independence” from God looks like in your life? In your prayer life?
- How can you (we) counter this fierce independence in such a way as to “slow down to pray” and learn a fervent dependence?
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