Praying Harder

How often in times of stress or worry have you said, I’ve got to pray harder? What does praying harder look like?  More intense until sweating drops of blood?  Louder, longer, with more feeling? Jesus agonized in prayer, but he taught others to pray without drama:Make your prayers simple. Ask your Father with faith, humility, and persistence. Seek, ask, knock, i.e. pursue your requests as though you have a father who knows your every need and willing provides every need.

For me, praying harder means trusting more, realizing it depends less on me and more on my Father.  Trust without ceasing. Set aside anxiety after making my request. I’m struggling to shift my agony in prayer to agonizing over faith in the Faithful One and to sweat over letting go, to let him control, to accept whatever outcome he chooses.

Mark Reed

Author of Rehearsing for Heaven