Praying When You Don’t Feel Like It

[Dan Crawford]

It was break time during the Prayer Conference when a participant said to me, “I like everything you are teaching us, but sometimes I just don’t feel like praying.” Do you ever refrain from praying because you just don’t feel like it?  It’s Ok to pray because you feel like it, but not OK to refrain from praying because you don’t feel like it. Indeed, life would be a mess if we only did that which we felt like doing, and refrained from doing those things we did not feel like doing. Feelings are fickle, and are easily influenced by circumstances, health, relationships, moods, morale, and the even the weather. Prayer is too much of a priority to be put at the mercy of feelings.  At Gethsemane, Jesus told His disciples to, “Watch and pray” (Mark 14:38), but they didn’t feel like doing either.  They felt like sleeping, and so they did, until Jesus returned and found them in that condition. Sleeping, watching, and praying are all important, and none should be ignored due to lack of feeling.  Sleep on, or pray on, but do not refrain from either due to a lack of feeling.