You can no more have intimacy with God without prayer than you can have intimacy in marriage without communication. Though you may have never thought of the two in relation to each other, what makes both meaningful is much the same. Success in both is dependent upon the quality of your relationship with the object of your affection. When you can’t communicate with your husband or wife–for whatever reason– your relationship rapidly disintegrates. Love grows cold. Warm memories are just that–recollections of the past, not realities in the present.
Prayer is communication, and the secret of intimacy in your spiritual life is being able to share your thoughts and your feelings without fear of rejection. What are the enemies of intimacy? There are several, and they apply both to your mate and to your relationship with the Lord. As we ponder on this, I’d like to begin by asking you to focus on your relationship with God. What hinders your intimacy with God? What keeps you from moving beyond thinking of Him as just an acquaintance?
Enemy #1. Busyness. This is undoubtedly the chief foe that turns our good intentions to well-worn excuses and leaves us feeling guilty. Yes, we know we ought to read the Bible and pray, but we are too busy. And what’s the solution? In a word, priorities. We find time for what we really consider important. In my personal life, I’ve found that the only way to turn intentions into forward steps is to set the alarm clock thirty minutes earlier and discipline myself to spend this time with God.
"But won’t that leave me tired?" No, on the contrary, you’ll find that you have greater energy, are more focused, and accomplish far more than if you slept for another thirty minutes.
Enemy #2. Attitude. Whose attitude? Yours? It’s quite amazing how your personal relationships with others also affect your relationship with God. Anger, bitterness and a lot of other negative feelings don‘t put you in the mood to bow your heart and say, "Good morning, Lord. It‘s me and I’m not very happy right now." Pouring out your heart to God will not only change your attitude but will also create an environment whereby God lets you know what your response should be to what bothers you.
Enemy #3. Distractions. "I’m burned out!" writes a friend of Guidelines, who explains, "I go to work early and go home late because of overtime work. I‘m beat when I reach home and my quiet time often becomes really quiet time because I’m sound asleep." Drowsiness is a definite distraction to prayer, but it isn’t the only distraction. If you haven’t discovered this, you will. It happens to everyone. As soon as you bow your head and start to pray, the phone will ring or your two kids will start a war. Or you suddenly remember a chore you didn’t do yesterday or a phone call you didn’t return.
Is there a solution to distractions? If your mind wanders, pray out loud. If something comes to mind that is important, stop long enough to jot down a note to remind yourself later, but don’t give up on praying altogether.
Intimacy with God doesn’t come by going to church for an hour on Sunday or by flinging a prayer towards heaven, just as a basketball prayer hurls the ball towards the hoop, hoping to win the game in the last three seconds of play. It’s based on a relationship that can be sustained only through communication. With God we call it prayer. - Resource reading: Matthew 26:36-45