Prayer Meeting – July 23, 2003
The Cause of Prayerlessness – Prayerlessness #2
(Taken from Andrew Murray’s The Prayer Life)
Galatians 5:16-18
What is the cause of prayerlessness?
How about unbelief? Like the disciples who could not cast out the demons (Matt.17)?
Jesus said it was that, and it was the lack of prayer and fasting.
Prayer is laying hold of heaven, and fasting is letting go of self.
When self is held onto, prayers are not answered.
“That is the whole difficulty; we wish to pray in the Spirit
and at the same time walk after the flesh, and this is impossible.”
Gal.3:3 – their service lay in outward performances
“They did not understand that where the flesh is permitted to influence their service for God, it soon results in open sin.”
Gal.5:24 – as Christians, our flesh is technically dead. But we give it life when we follow it.
Rom.6:6 – by faith we must accept that we do not have to give in to it.
1 Cor.3:3 – as people who claim holiness, there isn’t much of it around.
Walking in the Spirit is not an “eternally secure” thing – we can slip out of it, and go back to walking in the flesh.
“The Christian who is still carnal has neither desire nor strength to follow after God. He rests satisfied with the prayer of habit or custom.”
So prayerlessness and powerlessness come when we follow after self.
There’s nothing that can be done except what has already been done.
We need to claim the promises of scripture that tell us we can be free from sin.
For indeed, prayerlessness is sin that we need forgiveness and deliverance from.
