Diet Coke & Noodle Arms

Have you ever been in a parking lot and accidentally tried to open the car door of someone else’s vehicle?  Have you ever actually gotten in? I had just left the barber shop and opened the door to what I assumed was my car.  Sitting in the driver’s seat and checking my hair in the rear-view mirror, I glanced down at the console and thought, “When did I start drinking Diet Coke and smoking menthols?”  Sweat immediately started running down the back of my neck as I sheepishly slid out of the car, making eye contact with no one.

Here is the crazy part: the car looked nothing like mine.  Not the same make, not the same model, and it was a slightly different shade of red.  You probably aren’t surprised I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD.  But as a kid, I didn’t possess the “hyperactive” part of this disorder, so I never got the good drugs.  Those were reserved for the kids jumping from desk to desk and eating glue.  I was the kid who sat quietly in the back of the room, daydreaming.

As an adult, I still struggle with my focus.  Obviously, if I’m breaking into cars! I really notice it when I’m trying to pray and spend time with God.  Growing up in church, I would always hear the pastor ask all the “Prayer Warriors” to begin praying for some kind of crisis.  When I hear the word warrior, I immediately think of a 14th-century soldier in the opening battle scene of a movie.  With a long flowing beard and bulging biceps, he leads his men into war, wielding a massive battle axe.  When it came to prayer, I never felt like a warrior.  I would be the guy with the patchy half-grown beard and noodle arms, who gets killed off before the opening credits finish scrolling.

Concentrating long enough to pray for extended periods has always been something I’ve wrestled with on my faith journey.  I typically start out with a solid agenda, bringing a list of everything I want to pray for that morning.  The plan is to start with the big-ticket worldview issues and work my way down to the smaller local stuff.  But somewhere between the orphans in Uganda and my neighbor’s colonoscopy, I start wondering if it’s time to switch from skinny jeans to slim cut.  It doesn’t take long for the wheels to come off, and I completely abandon my prayer time with God altogether.

Have you ever struggled with prayer?  Maybe like me, you have the attention span of a Labradoodle and find it difficult to focus long enough to pray.  Sixty seconds in and you’re thinking about lunch.  Or maybe you’ve hit up God with the same list of prayers a hundred times, and it’s all starting to feel a little redundant.  Possibly, you’ve wondered, what is the point? If He’s God and plans to do whatever He wants anyway, you’re just wasting His time and yours.  Maybe you’ve let the busyness of life take over, and you’ve stopped making an effort.  It could be that you’re new to the idea of prayer and you really don’t know what to say.

My shortcomings in prayer used to cause a lot of guilt.  I felt like God must have been disappointed in me.  And I recognize this contradicts the very nature of our relationship with God.  He is my Father.  I am His child.  We are promised peace and joy when sitting in the presence of our Father.  The scriptures are full of these proclamations.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are” (1 John 3:1, NIV).

“And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:18, NLT).

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (2 Philippians 4: 6-7, NLT).

“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11, NIV).

It wasn’t until I became a father 17 years ago that I gained a better insight into these verses.  Holding baby Ella in my arms for the first time, no words could ever express how much I loved her.  Yet, somehow, God loves me even more.  It’s impossible for my finite mind to fully comprehend this kind of love, but slowly, I stopped leering at myself through the lenses of guilt or shame and started looking at myself through the eyes of a loving Father.

God is not disappointed in our unfocused prayers.  He is not expecting an eloquent and theologically sound request.  God does not get annoyed when our prayers become repetitive.  He does not hold a grudge because it’s been a minute since we’ve dropped to our knees.  God is overjoyed when we make the effort to spend time talking with Him!

Peter Grieg pastors Emmaus Road Church in Guildford, England.  He is one of the early pioneers of the 24-7 prayer movement and one of my favorite authors.  I love the way he describes prayer in his book Dirty Glory, “Our Father in Heaven longs for us to seek out his presence in the Holy of Holies without an agenda.  Not out of duty.  Not because we have favours to ask or things to get off our chest.  He wants us to seek him out simply because we are happier in his presence than anywhere else.”

Is it possible God is more interested in spending time with us than our structured list of prayers?  Please, hear what I’m saying.  I absolutely believe in the power of prayer.  I believe when we fall to our knees and pray specifically, it can move the heart of God, and miracles do happen.  But above all, I believe His heart is for you to draw close and spend time with Him.  In a broken world where we are overwhelmed with disappointment, heartache, and pain, it’s only in our Father’s presence that we can fully experience peace, love, and joy.

One of my favorite memories of Ella as a toddler was watching her get so excited when I arrived home from work each day.  With a full head of steam, she would come running into the room and jump onto my lap.  Nothing in the world made me happier than wrapping my arms around my baby girl and listening to her talk about her day.

I believe God would love for you to have the same experience.  He is waiting with great anticipation for you to come climb onto His lap.  Your Father wants to wrap His loving arms around you and hear everything that is on your heart.  He wants to give you comfort that can only be experienced in His presence.

My hope is that you will decide to spend time talking with Him today.  My prayer is that you would experience His closeness like never before.  My expectation is that you’ll receive the peace and joy only your Father could give.