The enemy of our spirt enjoys watching us continue to neglect our prayer life. We have been formed and shaped by the ways of the world that instruct us to engage constantly in active works. We believe that the estimation of our value as a person is closely aligned with how much we accomplish. We are so very impressed by our success. As a matter of fact, we are addicted to them so much so that we find ourselves unable to pull away from our work and spend some time in a quiet place.
We experience this dilemma not just in terms of our secular work, but also in the work we do in the church. Many of us are so involved in doing God’s work that we fail to take time to know the God of the work. Knowing God does not come from our church involvement. What we do in God’s church should be the outcome of what we have heard from God in prayer.
A church worker who does not take the time to go to that solitary place of prayer can easily become destructive. This person begins to operate on personal feelings as opposed to having received divine direction. There is also the constant temptation of measuring the success of one’s work by how much and how often one engages in it.
Jesus was not addicted to his ministry work, nor was he impressed by how much he did or the results of it. Jesus understood the danger of such attitudes, and so he modeled for us the need to find that quiet center of our lives.
When we go to a solitary place, we can slowly unmask the illusion of ourselves and discover who we really are. In a solitary place, we can learn that being is more important than doing or having, and we are more than the results of our efforts. When we get alone with God, we realize that our life is not a possession to be defended by a gift to be shared.
From The Journey Inward- A Guide to Prayer& Meditation by Jessica Kendall Ingram (Revised Edition 2005)