Learning to Pray Freely

I don’t run. Don’t get me wrong—I have run before, but I don’t make it a habit.

It wasn’t always this way. I have a fond memory of running barefoot through the seemingly never-ending hall of the middle school building our church met in when I was eight. It felt as if just the tips of my toes hit the linoleum floor with each step, as if it took everything in me to slow down enough so that I didn’t actually lift off the ground. I felt weightless, unstoppable, and even superhuman. I’d give anything to run that way again. Twenty-seven years later, I feel beyond clunky. I feel the air, alright, but it’s heavy and thick like humidity, and it seems to push me down.

Have you ever felt that way before—not on the pavement, but in your prayer life? Have you felt the weight of distractions and responsibilities thick like a humid southern Louisiana morning? Something you just can’t seem to cut through?

I sure have.

I desperately want to feel weightless and unhindered in my prayer life, but instead, these things I can’t even see keep dragging me down.

I neglect to pray because I need to spend time on a screen, keeping tabs on people I hardly know.

I hit snooze, assuming those last few restless minutes in bed will refresh me more than time with God.

I offer trite prayers because I know I should say something, but I forget that prayer actually has power.

Prayer can be one of the hardest spiritual disciplines in the Christian life. If you’ve felt that way, you are absolutely not alone. We’ve spent eight years creating prayer journals that add focus and organization to our most important conversations, but what we’ve learned is that there are internal distractions too. That’s what we’re going to address in this devotional.

Because, thankfully, we don’t have to limp through our prayer lives carrying the weights that hinder them. Paul, in Hebrews 12:1-2, gives us hope of what’s possible. We can throw off the things holding us back, so we can run focused and unencumbered, and I’m excited to share how!

Pray: Father, I thank you that we are not destined for boring prayer lives. I thank you that it’s possible to experience unhindered prayer with you. Transform me, Lord, and draw me near to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.