The Death of Prayer

We live in the greatest of times these days – they are like none other in history. Thankfully, in days now far gone we used to have to well… wait. I remember being a young child and putting a Hungry Man TV dinner in the oven and… waiting before I could eat it. We used to have to rewind our VHS tapes before returning our movies to Blockbuster – what an inconvenience! I recall writing to Angela while I was deployed on ship and awaiting for weeks to get a response from her. There was a day when I had to get around my pool man job with a Thomas Guide Roadmap for the 50 houses I would service a day. Ugh! So many U-turns back in the day. Back in the day, we had to wait for the next episode of our shows to come out on TV. We had so much that we had to wait for, so much that was inefficient, many ways that just didn’t have answers for us. We had no ability to get fast and accurate answers. These were hard days.

Today looks very different. We are far more efficient, far wiser. We have consistent paychecks (hopefully), groceries that get delivered, endless gadgets, pretty much whatever we want from Stuff-mart. What drives us today? Instant. Self-sufficiency. Personalized algorithms. Consensus with others who agree with us. Curated profiles.

In today’s wonderful world we can get answers about parenting in a moments notice. We can get medical diagnosis’s instantly. We can watch what we want, when we want and on the platform we want. We can talk with those we want to, and block those we don’t. We can find a mate with so many available apps. We can get help for a troubled marriage instantly online. We have Google, ChatGPT, Facebook, TikTok, X, and YouTube to relieve that terrible feeling of boredom and ignorance. We love AI!! We love that AI “gets us” (even though we say we don’t like that our information is everywhere!) We still love it!

There used to be a day when we had to trust in the Lord, when we had to pray… and wait. There used to be a day when we were dependent on God to answer and guide us. But rest assured, those days are long gone. We have our answers at our fingertips, we have Amazon Prime, we have omniscience. We can declare 2026 as the Year of the Death of Prayer! We no longer need Him in the day-in-day-out stuff of life. Sure, for the BIG stuff, for the times we really get into a pickle we can call out to Him, but no need to wait for an answer. After all, if He doesn’t agree with our prayer, then why pray? He’s far too slow. He says “no” far too often. We have been freed from such archaic times.

And Satan loves today! He champions the death of prayer in our lives! He loves our self-sufficiency and our ultra-efficiency, as well as the trivial pursuits of anything we want. Anything to keep us from praying and seeking the Lord’s direction. He hates our dependency on Him. Don’t wait for Him, you can get your answer far quicker today. We don’t need God, he would tell you that we are now like Him (Genesis 3:5).
But are we actually free from God? Is Satan lying to us? Does Satan have our best interest in mind? Is it possible that we’ve forgotten our real dependence on God, that He provides our very life and breath? Perhaps James 5:16b, “The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect” is still just as true today?
Jesus did say this: “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him.” [Emphasis added.]
Perhaps we aren’t as far along as we feel? Maybe, just maybe, we need to be dependent upon Him today. If so, it’ll probably be good to start with repentance and asking Him to forgive us for our self-sufficiency and how we have treated prayer like a gamble that we hope we win instead of surrendering to Him.

That’s where I am going. Come with me.

Held Abundantly By His Grace,

Pastor John