Almost every believer I've spoken to admits that they find prayer a struggle. Many of us struggle to set aside more time to pray, and when we do pray we struggle with the fact that we find our prayers to be cold, and distracted. Why is this? J. C. Ryle puts his finger on one of the reasons when he says:Therefore, let us work hard at recognising the reality about ourselves, that we are creatures who are utterly dependent upon our Creator, sinners utterly dependent upon a gracious Saviour. The more we recognise our weakness and helplessness, the quicker and more urgently we will run to our Father's throne of grace in prayer.How is it that many true believers often pray so coldly? What is the reason that their prayers are so feeble, wandering and lukewarm, as they frequently are? The answer is very plain: their sense of need is not so deep as it ought to be. They are not truly alive to their own weakness and helplessness, and so they do not cry fervently for mercy and grace. Let us remember these things. Let us seek to have a constant and abiding sense of our real necessities. If saints could only see their souls as the ten afflicted lepers saw their bodies, they would pray far better than they do.
