Breaking the Prayer Inertia

Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak (Mk. 14:38 KJV)

There is often an initial resistance or opposition to personal prayer which I call the “prayer inertia.” You may want to pray, but everything else in and around you is just not “feeling the prayer.” It might feel as though you want to lift up a 10,000-ton weight from the floor! However, shortly after starting to pray, if you do not give up, it is often as though the weight is lifted and you have “broken through.” Yes, many times, prayer will feel this way. Why? The flesh( the body with its weaknesses) hates prayer.

The scripture above tells us that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Many believers fall into this snare. They want to “feel” prayer because they pray. If you are waiting for things to be optimal before you pray, you will end up not praying. As a matter of fact, you might never pray at all. You have to press through with your prayer life otherwise it will be suppressed.

How do you break the prayer inertia? What did Jesus do in Matt. 14 above? Did you notice that Jesus did not say “your flesh” as though it only applied to the disciples.He said “the flesh,” including His own physical body. He was as human as He was God. However, even in the midst of the flesh being weak, He pressed on during the hour of prayer and overrode the weakness of the body. Once you do this, you will discover that the body will follow your spirit if you say “no” to its demands by the power of the Holy Spirit!

MEDITATE

Are you also struggling with prayer inertia? Who is winning each day—your spirit or the body?

APPLY THE WORD

Did the prayer inertia stop you from praying today? Make a conscious effort to break through that inertia every time it is the hour of prayer and do not let it suppress your prayer life.