At the same time, he gave warnings about the future if people put a king in the place of God. Samuel had his doubts but bowed to pressure and anointed Saul. Once in Israel’s history, people demanded a king like other nations had. James told us if we know good and don’t do it it’s sin. The Bible says we (persons, churches, families, nations) “have not because we ask not.” So, not praying means not having the things prayer obtains, such as love and joy and peace, the ties that bind our hearts, the forgiveness of sin, God’s guidance in our lives. And a shortage of prayer leads just as surely to a spiritual crisis, for one person, or a church, or a family, or a nation. If there isn’t enough rain, we call it a drought. When the money supply is strained, economists speak of a money crisis. We have a need here, perhaps even a crisis of sorts.
And proxy-praying, which is people letting others do it for us while we just listen. There may be a lot of praying among Christians today, but there’s a lot of not-praying, too.
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