I am struck by two seemingly contradictory truths: The first is that prayer should be the way of life for the believer. "Like breathing" is the illustration MacArthur used. The other truth is that prayer is hard work. Prayer requires both persistence and perseverance. Colossians 4:2 tells us to "continue steadfastly in prayer". Jesus told His disciples to "watch and pray" (Mat 26:41).
I had the pleasure of beginning The Truth Project with our small group tonight and something that Dr. Tackett said really caught my attention. He asked if we really believed that when we prayed we were entering the very throne room of Almighty God and that He was there, leaning forward, and telling us "come closer so we can talk", would we have such a hard time praying? The question of how sincerely we believe what we say we believe can be applied to any of the doctrines we hold to. What would our lives look like if we wholeheartedly, completely lived as if what we believed was really true? These questions are not only thought-provoking, but convicting.
In our own strength we are destined to fail in our efforts to persevere in prayer - just as the disciples did. We are completely dependent on God even to maintain our communication with Him. Pastor Raemisch encouraged us to pray his favorite prayer: "You know". God knows that I struggle with my prayer life - why not just tell Him, talk to Him about it, ask Him to help me? After all, since we know God desires communication with us, we should have confidence that helping us in that communication is a request that He is going to be more than willing to grant.
Prayer is a difficult task but we have a great God who wants us to be successful and, in Him, everything we stand in need of to make it happen. Pray on!