Sword & Trowel 2016: Issue 1 REMEDIES And Jacob was left alone; and there


wrestled a man with him until the break- ing of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wres- tled with him (Genesis 32.24-25).


V


ARIOUS troubles may be experienced from time to time by believers in their


life of prayer, and pastors are not excepted. Here are a number of such problems for which solutions will be suggested in this article. (We have not included the possibility of hardness of heart resulting from un- repented of serious sin.) (1) An inability to pray effectually due to lack of assurance. (2) Coldness of heart, or a lack of desire or enthusiasm (in an otherwise earnest believer). (3) A strange loss of any sense of a real engagement with God. (4) Straying thoughts, or short con- centration span, or tiredness, often only occurring when in prayer. (5) Worries crowding in and over- powering prayer. (6) Forgetfulness of concerns. (7) A mechanical tendency to pray in the same words for the same things. (8) The ability to plead fervently undermined by the thought of God’s


page 8 Remedies for Problems in Prayer – by the Editor –


FOR PROBLEMS IN PRAYER


predestination of all things. (9) The intrusion of anger or resent- ment over wrongs. (10) Excessive emotion overtaking prayer and impairing thought.


PRAYING WHEN FEELINGS FAIL


Let us fi rst take a family of prob- lems, such as lack of assurance, coldness in prayer, little sense of God, and small desire to pray. For a solu- tion we may go to that most famous of texts for troubled minds – Isaiah 50.10 – ‘Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and [yet] hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.’ These words warn that there will


be times when feelings, including any clear sense of assurance, will desert a believer, but the instruction of the Lord is that this does not prevent faith and prayer,


This article is a chapter from a book on prayer by the Editor


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