Jonah: Lack of Prayer [Bible Study With Prayer Tips]

Photo Credit: Christianjournals.org

Chapter 1:5-6

So far in our Bible study through the book of Jonah we have not seen anything that really redeems this guy. He is asleep at the wheel. His lack of concern is damaging not only his life, but the life of those around him. Last time we saw that he does not care about others, now we will be looking at the prayer life of Jonah. We will see that he cares about praying just about as much as he cares about others. (very little)

Prayer is a major part of Christian life. It is a foundation. Although prayer is already emphasized in Christianity, I feel I need to talk about it. 

Why repeat something so well known? 

Well, I believe these more common topics are the ones that my brothers and sisters in Jesus often take for granted. We hear them so much that some of us probably check out the second it’s mentioned. 

“Jesus loves you” or “read your Bible” or “praying is essential” are all things we should be deeply internalizing everytime we hear them, but are we really doing that? Are we allowing those words to sink down into our hearts? A lot of us, without realizing it or not, have heard these basic truths so many times, we think we have mastered them. That very assumption is detrimental to us. 

Sometimes we confuse hearing these truths with practicing them. We think because we hear something so many times that we just absorb it like osmosis and it becomes a part of our lives. Now, you may be able to repeat the fact that prayer is important, but do you BELIEVE it?

 Does your life show that you believe it? Or have you simply mastered the art of repeating things you have heard? Even toddlers can do that. Don’t take offense to what I am saying, I just try to beat around the bush as little as possible. I would submit to you that simply hearing something is not going to help you if you do not take action with what you hear. 

The Bible says this…..

James 1:22

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only…..

Hearing “wear your seatbelt” will not help you unless you do it. In the same way as we look at Jonah today as our example (as usual) of how NOT to be, make sure when you finish reading this that you actually purpose in your heart to take what we learn and be a doer of it. Please, actually apply it to your life. I will do the same. Deal?

We have heard that prayer is important, but it’s time we start acting like it! It’s time we start getting excited about these foundational topics, as we will see in a moment that Jonah certainly was not.

We should work hard at our prayer life.I mean really P.U.S.H. your prayer life. My friend says that. I don’t know if he made it up, or learned it somewhere but it means Pray Until Something Happens. I like that. 

Let's push on…

Because Jonah is asleep at the wheel…

He Does Not Care About Prayer

Jonah 1:5-6

5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

“What meanest thou O SLEEPER?”. Wow, imagine being told that? Ouch. The shipmaster is saying “Jonah! What are you doing man?! You're all cozy in your blankey while the rest of us are in the storm lamenting our impending death! The least you could do is pray like we are!”

We should remember that although the people of the world may not agree with our Christian views, they know what a Christian should look like. And you'd better believe that they will hold you accountable!

As a worshiper of the one true God, we shouldn't ever need someone to remind us that we need to be praying. Prayer should already be a major part of our life. 

Time to get personal and honest. How is your prayer life? God wants to hear from you. Take something as simple as eating dinner with your family, or with a friend, or alone. What about the simple act of praying and thanking God for your food? Also, what about when you're at a restaurant? I feel that some people, even if they really do pray at every meal, can sometimes get shy when out in public. This should not be the case! This tells our children, our friends, and anyone else who knows us “praying is important...unless others find out. Then it's not.”

We should not be afraid of people seeing us pray. Prayer is such an important part of our life, and to avoid doing it when others are watching is actually us trimming down who we are as people.

Now, what I am not saying is to be that guy who gives an entire speech when people are watching him pray, as if to appear super spiritual. Don’t get upset with me for saying it, you know those people exist. “Dear God, the creator of all things, who made man in His image, who doth know all things that do exist, and doth indeed bless us continually….” Yes, that guy. While we stand famished, with wisps of food hovering delicately into our nostrils. Please pray over the pizza and lets get going.

I am not saying you have to stand on the street corner screaming into the sky so everyone sees you praying. I live in Portland, and trust me people will not think you are praying, they will think you need help. All my Portland or Seattle brothers and sisters will know what I mean. 

The reason I am pushing you to not be afraid to pray in public, is because people DO expect to see Christians doing things Christians are known for, or at least, SHOULD be known for. Generally speaking, people know that Christians pray. If someone meets a Christian and for some reason finds out that person doesn't pray often, that is going to seem weird. 

It is weird to the shipmaster that Jonah is not praying. When the man of God is called out for not being who he is supposed to be, that my friend is sad. Jonah totally deserves to be called out here because the shipmaster is right. Even this heathen shipmaster knows that prayer is important. 

Jonah is well aware that he could pray to God at any moment. Jonah could pray and ask the God who controls the wind and the sea to calm the storm at any moment. Terror and fear could be over in an instant. The  black tidal waves of death could be stayed and calmed if Jonah would simply ask God for help. Jonah has access to the most powerful entity in existence, God Almighty, and yet chooses that his life and those around him are not worth Jonah’s time. It’s all about who you know, right? Well now would be a decent time for Jonah to take that expression to heart.

Remember when nothing seemed impossible? As a kid I was very much into superheroes. I was always fascinated with the idea of having superpowers that you could change the world with. Having a source of power that you can access at any time to make an impact on your own life, as well as the life of others sure would be pretty cool!

Eventually as we get older we see how unrealistic these super powers and these heroes are, and we give up on the idea altogether. We give up on the idea that we could tap into something so powerful that could change who we are as a person, highly affect what we can accomplish and dramatically increase our purpose in life. Sadly we carry this same thinking over into our prayer lives. I fear we do not see prayer like we should. We don’t fully comprehend that without prayer, we have no access to a power beyond ourselves. The creator of the universe is available to us at any time, and has unlimited power….He is able to give us anything we could ever ask for if He so chooses. 

Prayer is often neglected in the life of believers. Maybe we get busy, maybe we just don't truly understand how important it is, whatever the reason is, we should really make sure we are having a consistent prayer life. 

I would like to offer you some advice. If this has touched your heart in some way, allow me to do what I can to help. Here is what worked for me. This was the game changer… 

Make a prayer list. Yes, it is that simple. What I do is go through a list every morning. I wake up, and hop in the shower. At this point, I start praying and going through mentally everything on my “daily” prayer list. This is stuff you don’t need to read from because its on your heart all the time. This is where I thank God for my salvation, my wife and kids, pray for them and their wellbeing, their salvation, work, being a better husband/father, church, all that kind of stuff. 

Then when I get out of the shower I move on to a monday through friday portion of my prayer list. I do not usually have this part memorized so I have to do it after my shower. This is in addition to my “daily” prayer list. This portion of my list that I spend praying for others. People that are not super close to me like my wife and kids,  who I spend the majority of my  time praying for. It’s not that these people don’t mean a lot to me, it’s just I only have so much time before I head to work. 

Here is how this section of my prayer list works: When I hear of a need, or a prayer request, I assign that prayer request to a Monday through Friday slot. This is the only way that I can actually remember to pray for people who need it. Example: Tuesday might say “Benny’s upcoming doctor appointment- doctor’s to have wisdom” or “Martha fell and hurt her leg- healing” or “ Sister Judy has an unsaved grandson- pray for him to get saved”. It is important to me that I pray for these needs, and what a privilege it is to go to our Heavenly Father on their behalf! If you are alive and breathing you never have to be out of the spiritual battle, you can be praying for people and truly affecting eternity!

If I say “I will pray for you” I truly mean it. Don't be that person who says you are going to be praying for someone, and then not do it. Having it on a list like this also reminds you to follow up with that person and ask how things are going and let them know that you have been praying. Then you can either take them off your list, or simply continue praying for their needs. 

What is a step you can take today to have a better prayer life? Try making your own prayer list!

So that is that! We continue on in our Bible study though the book of Jonah. Let this story we just talked about from Jonah 1:5-6 be used as a catalyst to really take your prayer life to the next level! Work on being a prayer warrior. God wants to hear from you. Think about that, you matter to Him. Your needs and your concerns truly matter to Him.  Maybe you have never had someone you could spill your heart out to. Well, my friend, Jesus can be that person for you. God loves you and could listen and care for you better than anyone else could, you just need to pray to Him. Start a prayer list if you feel like that will help you. I hope that from this study, and looking at just how important prayer is for a Christian, that you and I both will become better people of prayer. Until next time, God bless!

If you are not sure that you are going to heaven, please get this settled today by clicking here: How to Go to Heaven.

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