Prayer And Lack Of Concentration

Prof. K. Runia. Trowel and Sword, December 1962

Preamble: We had decided some weeks ago that this week should be an article on Jesus ascension as this week, Thursday 9, is recognised as ascension day, a day that often slips by without due recognition; often being overshadowed by Pentecost on the 19th. We were somewhat surprised that we were unable to find a single article relating to Jesus ascension into heaven. Thursday evening and no article for the following Monday. As it happened, my attention was drawn to an article written by Prof. Runia of the RTC 62 years ago. Reading the article I recognised some of my own shortcomings when it comes to prayer. But as always Prof. Runia not only points to problems but also offers practical solutions to those problems. This is an article from which we can all benefit in improving our prayer life, and therefore also our relationship with our creator and redeemer.

Prayer And Lack of Concentration

Prayer is the HEART BEAT of the Christian life. If there is something wrong with our prayer life our whole Christian life suffers. If the heart of your body does not work properly, your whole body is suffering.

Of course, you and I know this.

But – what are we doing about it?

How is your prayer life? Is it vigorous or is it languishing? And if the latter is true, did you ever try to find out, what might be the cause of the trouble? I am sure, if you have heart trouble, you would not wait a minute, but see a doctor about it in order to find the cause and, if possible, to get some effective treatment?

Why is it that so often we do not care to take any trouble to find out what is the cause of our weak prayer life?

Of course, there can be many different causes. Just as in the case of heart trouble. The disease appears in many different forms due to different causes. But in ALL cases the result is the same: you have heart trouble.

In this short article we will mention one particular difficulty, which troubles many Christians in their prayer life. It is the LACK OF PROPER CONCENTRATION in our prayers. I think we all know it by experience. We begin our prayer in the right way, we feel that we have real contact with our heavenly Father and then, all of a sudden, we discover that our thoughts have completely wandered off. We are not praying any more, but thinking of entirely different things. Perhaps of our work of tomorrow, or the need of a new dress, or the talk we had with Mr. X this afternoon.

Can we do something about this?

I believe there are several rather simple means that can help us in this difficulty.

The first and easiest and most effective is: TO PRAY ALOUD! When you pray, put your thoughts into words and say them aloud. Speak to the Lord, as you would speak to your friend with you in the room. If you do this, you will soon notice that your thoughts have no opportunity to wander off. No more than this happens, when you speak to your visiting friend.

In the second place: ‘ORGANISE’ your prayer. I know this sounds awful, but it is really not as awful as it sounds. I simply mean that you should think about the contents of your prayer before you start. Why not take a slip of paper and write the topics down. Put down all the things you want to thank the Lord for, Put down all the things you want to ask Him and bring before Him. And put down the names of’ those you want to remember in your intercession. Perhaps a small notebook is even better than a slip of paper.

And then follow this list and stick to it. It will certainly help you to concentrate on your prayer and avoid wandering thoughts.

In addition, it will help you to realise how many things and persons you have to pray for. I believe that too often our private, personal prayers are extremely ‘poor! We often simply repeat some traditional phrases, and that is it. On this point we all have our own ‘traditions’, and just as all traditions they easily become lifeless and purely formal.

Thirdly, before you start your prayer, SET YOUR MIND ON GOD. Make yourself aware of the fact that you are going to speak to HIM, who is the Living God, the God of Heaven and Earth, your Father in Jesus Christ. Bring yourself in His presence by consciously opening your heart for Him. And you will discover how REAL He is and how REAL your fellowship with Him is.

K. RUNIA

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