A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book, Don't Quit in the Dip (p. 23). Worthy. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)
Is that you, sometimes?
Shaun says, "Most people, when asked to pray publicly, would rather die. They say, 'I’m not good at praying.' What does that even mean? Can you talk? Great! That’s all prayer is: talking with God. Why are we so intimidated by prayer? I’ll tell you why. It’s performance anxiety. We get scared because either we are trying to impress people when we pray, or we attempt to sound like someone else when we pray. God is not impressed when we are trying to impress. But He is impressed with honesty and transparency and faith. Prayer is simply talking to God. If you are doing that, whether privately or publicly, you can never go wrong."
He goes on, "In our prayer meetings, we would show worth to God. We’d spend time telling Him how much we love Him. We’d thank Him for what He’s already done. This part is huge. Thanking Him first changes your heart and how you approach Him. Remind yourself of everything He’s already given you. Grace. Mercy. Love. In our prayers, we’d tell Him what we needed help with. We’d make sure we were in line with what He wanted in the Bible, and then we’d thank Him in advance for coming through for us. I told God, 'I can’t do this on my own! I need you. And I confess my dependence completely on you.'"
He continues, "Let me encourage you: set aside time—put a reminder on your calendar to talk with God every day. Do it when you’re at your freshest. Otherwise you’ll fall asleep or get a little spiritual ADD like me. I start praying, and about two minutes in, my mind wanders and I start thinking, Did I have pizza twice yesterday? Get a good prayer journal or outline to help you.
"When you’re in the dip, praying will remind you that God is in control. He can walk with you through the dip. He can guide you and carry you through people talking about you at school. He can guide you in your marriage and give you wisdom and strength, even when there’s been an affair. Where else are you going to turn when your child has walked away from you or God? What will help you hold on when you feel God has called you to a specific place, but it’s taking too long? What defense do you use when everyone around you is telling you it’s time to give up?
"Prayer! Don’t hold it in. Don’t try to do it on your own. Talk with God. He said He would answer and show you wonderful and marvelous things. Take Him at His Word."
He later says, "In winter, you want to take the longest and hottest showers you can. Running to the shower, early in the morning, you crank the water on as hot as it’ll go but you never jump in right away. That would be crazy. The water is never hot immediately. It’s ice-cold because of all the water that has been sitting in cold pipes all night long."
He then says, "You’ve never turned the water on and reached to feel the temperature with your hand and then in utter disappointment turned it off. No! You know that if you let the water run long enough, hot water will come. It’s just a matter of time for the desired result to show up. No matter how cold those pipes are, you know hot water is on its way. Why do we so often have more faith in our hot water heater than we do in God? Don’t turn off your faith. Don’t relinquish your trust just because you’re not seeing what you want right away. It may not come immediately but at just the right time, God will send the answer. Just don’t shut Him off. God’s answer is hot water through cold pipes."
So, let start and let's keep at it. Okay?
Yes, yes!
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