EASY AND DIFFICULT

The ease or difficulty I have in prayer is the ease or difficulty I have in repentance, giving, forgiving, helping, caring, seeing, hearing and a number of other important things. It is really simple. For example if prayer is difficult…giving is difficult and if prayer is easy…giving is easy. All of this just seems proportionate. If my prayer life is struggling my heart and mind do not choose to give but to withhold and protect and hoard out of some kind of perceived self-limiting fear.

Prayer is the fuse that ignites the fire of the spiritual life. The ease or difficulty of prayer therefore determines the strength of the fire. But what if I do find it easy to give, repent, help and care for others without prayer? Maybe it is from guilt, shame, habit or works, even a religious spirit. It seems all of this ease or difficulty in prayer is simply our ability to desire a pure heart. The Holy Spirit will do the rest.

“Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Jesus