“I love God, but find it difficult to pray.”

I hear ya, friend. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

Somebody Goggled that phrase, “I love God, but…” and ended up here at Paper Bridges, so I thought I would share some thoughts. I’ve mentioned prayer briefly before, but never at great length.

I look at prayer the same way I do writing. Both take discipline, hard work. Lots of practice. Writers will tell you how long they toiled over just the right turn of phrase or the editing they did on the second draft or all the butt-in-chair time to get that novel finished. Same with prayer. It’s the doing that makes it easier.

Want to write? Write.

Want to pray? Pray.

And trust that the Lord is listening.

Yeah, I know. Not so simple. We are constantly bombarded with information, advertisements, talk radio, talking heads, cell phones, email, and blogs. And an enemy who wants us to do anything but talk with God. So much to ignore and fight against. It’s tough to block it all out to concentrate. And to cultivate a consistent, rich prayer life really can’t be left to chance.

I’m the first one to admit I hate work. I’d love to eat mangos and ice cream all day, lounging by the poolside. But I’d become fat fast, wouldn’t I? I discipline myself to eat broccoli.

There is no quick fix. The Lord is not going to sprinkle magic pixie prayer dust over you as you kneel at your bedside. Or wash dishes. Or whatever posture you take when you attempt to pray. Personally, my best time for focused prayer is right when I wake up in the morning. And driving alone in the car works for me too, but since that’s not a daily occurrence for me, I’ve got to work a bit harder at finding those times of focus.

Yup, I’ll say it again. I’ve got to find a way to make it work. I call it discipline.

What about you? Can you identify with the seeker who loves God, yet has a hard time connecting with Him in prayer? What advice would you give?