There's a young man I know who is very productive. In everything he does, he strives for success—and he often achieves it. He's a national champion triple jumper at a liberal arts college who is majoring in sociology and minoring in religion. He's deeply connected to other believers through college ministry, decently committed to a local church (though I'd counsel him to take membership more seriously!), and dedicated to sound doctrine and defending the faith.

He has one glaring heart issue—his prayer life is very weak. 

There's another young man I know in his mid-20's. He's not married yet, but he's searching for a wife. He works a full-time office job at a local factory and is pursuing a master's degree in teaching. In his free time, he hangs out and talks theology with the family who leads a small group in his community. Sometimes, he attends Bible study with his father at the home of an older couple down the street from his home. As a musician, he often spends his evenings and weekends working on songs that are rich with theology and glorify the Lord. He loves to read his Bible, and he's starting to build a decent theological library.

He, too, has a very weak prayer life.

One other guy I know is in his early 30's. He's a husband, father of 4, co-pastor of a small church, teacher, music producer, Christian rapper, tutor, track coach, writer, and mentor—it's exhausting to even write this list! He's also studying to be a health coach. He spins all of these plates, though there are times you hear a loud crash coming from the kitchen. In addition to this busy life he leads, he has an insatiable hunger for learning and usually reads and listens to 30-40 books a year. Making music and reading help keep him sane in the midst of all the chaos, but his doctor recently said he needs to get his stress under control and tone things down a bit. He's well-read on the topic of prayer, loves the Puritans, and his blog is actually about the importance of being devoted to Christ.

Ironically, this friend has a weak prayer life as well.

What About You?

If you're a close friend of mine, you'll know that the 3 guys are actually me. Each description is a different snapshot of my life since I've been a Christian. In the earliest days of my walk with God, I was a teenage boy with just a Bible and prayer. As I "progressed" in my faith, prayer has often been crowded out by less important duties and desires. Everything in me wants to defend myself and say, "My prayer life wasn't THAT bad!". I want to add a million qualifiers about how I did pray, just not as much as I want to. That is true, but it doesn't change the reality that my prayer life has indeed been very weak. There are seasons that prayer has been strong because I had nowhere to look but up. There are also seasons where prayer has been on the back burner. When I look back on the past 14 years of my faith, I see a man who has spent hours and hours making beats, reading books, hanging with friends, studying theology, staring at a mini-computer sending instant messages to my friends, and scrolling newsfeeds.

However, when it comes to prayer—one of the most basic aspects of my walk with God—I've struggled. My prayer life looks a lot like a roller coaster. Fits and starts, peaks and valleys dot the landscape of my prayer journey. But God is gracious, and He is calling me to more prayer. Is He calling you to do the same?

I'm not going to heap my sin on you. Some of you are genuine prayer warriors, devoted to prayer every day. I want to be like that. I don't want to spend an average of 1260 minutes (3 hours a day) on my phone each week while averaging a mere 35 minutes (5 minutes a day) a week in prayer. I want to be in prayer 36 times more than I'm on my phone, not vice-versa. God deserves more than that. Satan is overjoyed with that.  My flesh is weaker because of it. The more I preach, read, and learn about prayer, the more I realize that I haven't prayed much. I haven't prayed enough. I need to pray more. I'm admitting it. 

God is Better

If I could say anything to those 3 guys above, I'd say this: Stop being so productive and learn to pray.

Literally. Your soul depends on it.

Your family will be better off with a praying husband and father. Your church will profit more from you being a prayerful leader. Your employer will be better served if you take your prayer life seriously. Every realm of your life will be significantly better if you will simply commit yourself to being steadfast in prayer (Colossians 4:2). I don't mean easier, more successful, or perfect. Your circumstances may actually get worse, but your soul, frame of mind, and outlook on life will be shaped by that time in the presence of God. Your fruitfulness and soul satisfaction are tied to an abiding relationship with Christ (John 15:1-17). John 15 is one of your favorite passages, but you need to heed the words of your mentor: Don't be the guy who writes about abiding in Christ but doesn't abide in Him.

God is better than whatever is keeping you away from prayer.
He is better than your bank account.
He is better than your reading goals.
He is better than hip-hop success.
He is better than a fruitful ministry.
He is better than getting a book written.
He is better than being healthy.
He is better than your outreach efforts.
He is better than the church you want to plant.

If you want true satisfaction you must pray! The joy and happiness you work and long for is found in Christ alone. Be with Him. Don't waste your life, slaving away at dreams that won't ever satisfy you while Christ is standing at the door knocking. Be with God. He waits to be gracious to you and exalts Himself to show mercy to you as He did Israel (Isaiah 30:18). He is your shield. He is your rock. He is your help. He is your hope. He is who you will see and savor for all eternity when the Savior returns. Be with Him. Live today in the presence of God, and you'll have the longing for heaven that you have always desired and dreamed about. 

Perhaps this note-to-self will benefit you as well. By grace, in the Spirit, let's be a praying people.

Photo by Rakicevic Nenad from Pexels

New year, new you. Well, not exactly.

I'm a goal setter by nature. At the end of each year, I find myself naturally reflecting on the previous year. Sometimes, this is met with thankfulness and joy because I've seen some success in my life. Often, though, I find myself wishing I would've stayed the course a little better in March and April. Regardless of how I feel, I'm always ready to look through my priorities and develop my goal list for the following year. 

Different Perspectives on Goal Setting
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People respond differently to the idea of setting goals. One of my pastor friends said that making resolutions and setting goals is stupid because we don't usually make it past the shortest month of the year before we've jumped ship. We've all seen people losing weight for too many Januarys only to find it again by March and April, so he's got a point. But he's a bit too pessimistic. When goals are reasonable, specific, and measurable, we get closer to success.

Another one of my friends has a knack for systems and structures, and he is a diehard planner. He has his days mapped out with a plan for how he will use his time most effectively and move toward his goals. He takes goal setting seriously. Unfortunately, I'm not even disciplined enough to create a daily plan, let alone actually trying to keep it. He's showing me some ways to keep my goals in the forefront of my mind throughout the new year. This is helpful since I love setting goals and planning my year but don't always do such a great job following through.

Rethinking My Yearly Goal Setting Ritual

This year, I've decided to think differently about my goals. I'll still have my overarching goals with my shorter term objectives. I'm planning to have some monthly check-ins to evaluate how I'm doing. However, I'm considering how to turn my objectives into short, doable habits that can be added to my daily routines. This won't work for every goal, but it should get me moving in the right direction.

For example, if my goal is to write and record an album by June 2021, I won't plan to work on music every day of the week. That's not feasible because I get lost for hours when working on music. It would wreak havoc on my goals. However, one of my goals is to spend more quality time with my daughters. My habit can be to spend 15 minutes at the end of each day spending intentional, distraction free Daddy time with my girls. Will I spend more than that with my daughters? Of course. But if I add 15 minutes a day of quality time with my girls and hit that goal 80% of the time, I'll spend an extra 73 hours—over 3 days—of additional undistracted time with them.

2 Major Influences: Big Picture Themes and Priorities

I have some big picture themes that I hope will permeate all areas of my life. In flawless Baptist preacher alliteration, here are my themes for 2020:

• Prayer: I need to spend more time with God and less time seeking Google, friends, or family for everything. 
• Presence: I want to abide more deeply in Christ and be more present with the important people in my life.
• Passion: I want to pursue the Lord and His will with a passion—including all of the priorities listed below.
• Patience: If I don't want to make a train wreck of my relationships, I need to put on patience.
• Perseverance: With friends and ministry leaders falling away from the faith, I need to keep pressing on in the faith.
• Purity: I want to pursue purity of heart, thoughts, and motives in every area of my life.

I also prioritize key areas of my life. My priorities don't change much, though there may be dynamics that need to shift in some of these areas priorities. My priorities include:

• Spiritual Life
• Marriage
• Parenting
• Ministry/Fellowship
• Work
• Finances
• Health and Wellness
• Writing and Music

As you can see, I have a lot going on. I'm going to have to walk by the Spirit if I don't want to crash and burn. However, if I can chip away day-by-day, week-by-week, and month-by-month, with the Lord's help, I can make progress.

God Has the Final Say

Lest I be self-reliant and focus too much on my methods and plans, here are a couple of passages that I keep in mind this time of year:

With these scriptures in mind, one truth must undergird all of this planning and goal setting: without God, I can do nothing (John 15:5). Nothing means nothing. If the Lord doesn't sustain my life, I won't even wake up tomorrow. If the Lord doesn't empower me to do good, my efforts will be no better than the self-righteous Pharisees who patted themselves on the back as they waited for the praise of men.

This very morning I was tempted to look in the mirror and think about how great I am. I had to immediately repent and pray for the pure heart required to be a truly godly man. Then, during corporate worship, my pastor reminded me that I'm not righteous apart from Christ. I'm a lost sheep brought home on the shoulders of a rejoicing Savior (Luke 15:6). I need the gospel in all of my plans and pursuits.

The Lord has the final say on what goals I reach and what goals I don't. He gets the glory for every success and goal that I reach. And if I've set goals that aren't in line with His purposes, I should be praying that He would purify my heart and show me the goals He would have for me. All of this comes through time in the Word and prayer in the personal devotion and community with other believers. God's means of showing me His will are right here in front of me if I will open my eyes, humble my heart, and resolve my will to obey His Word.

Have you set any goals, resolutions or plans for 2021? What methods are you using to track them and keep yourself accountable? Let me know in the comments! Happy New Year!