Resistance, prayer, good running shoes

Last year I decided to run the Paris Marathon. Well, decided, no, more like strongly considered. Here's what happened. One day like so many others when everything seemed to be going well in the best of all possible worlds, I took my train to Brussels and suddenly, in my compartment, I met someone I knew and liked. We struck up a conversation, during which she told me about her participation in the Paris Marathon.

What really caught my attention was when she told me that she used to be, like me, a zero-exercise, couch potato, for whom running to catch the bus was the ultimate physical exertion. And all of a sudden, one fine day like so many others when everything seemed to be going well in the best of all possible worlds, she decided to get in shape and train for the marathon, and that's what she did. Sure, she made some mistakes and even hurt her foot, but all things considered, things had gone pretty well.

Well, so I started to wonder if this meeting was perhaps a coincidence, that the marathon was probably just what I needed to finally break out of my chronic aversion to exercise. Decision made, I was going to run the marathon, I talked about it extensively around me, and finally, finally, I went out and bought the right shoes. When after a second attempt, the shoes remained nowhere to be found, my enthusiasm began to wane until it disappeared completely. And suddenly I discovered a host of reasons why it wouldn't work. In reality, the reason couldn't be simpler: lack of willpower and laziness.

Many have the same attitude toward prayer. They will love to do the prayer marathon and become a 'prayer warrior'; that noble, heroic, and prestigious title that every Christian wants to wear. The man or woman of prayer, that individual stepping out alone into troubled spiritual waters, battling the forces of darkness, wresting the blessings of a life from Satan's malevolence, and bringing deliverance and light. Who hasn't dreamed of being able to tell stories of great victories in the spiritual battle, of radical transformation of cities brought about as we cried out to God, of mighty moves of the Holy Spirit as we labored in the secret place calling on the name of the Lord, bringing about revival alone and in spite of everyone, the Father Nash of our generation? Then we decide, 'Yeeeees Lord, I'm going to pray, ooooohhhh yeess ...

The next day, we get up to pray, full of zeal. And soon we face resistance, nothing happens, but where is the glory, the presence of God? Despite our efforts, we cannot seem to put on the right spiritual shoes. We try again, and again, and again, and... we give up, concluding that we are clearly not called to this. Naaa, our only affliction is laziness and lack of willpower. Resistance is perfectly natural. And besides, if I had continued my marathon training, I would have certainly started gradually, but I would still have encountered strong resistance from a body too addicted to the couch and unaccustomed to physical exertion.

So how do I become a prayer marathoner? It's simple. I pray. When the spiritual muscles or prayer muscles are soft, the flesh resists, and when I exert myself, I hurt. But this is a situation experienced by great athletes. No victory without pain. They put in long, hard workouts, they are disciplined, and they reap the rewards. The same is true of prayer. I exercise those soft prayer muscles; I get out of that comfortable bed and renounce the somewhat strange notion that all it takes to have a vibrant prayer life is to whisper half-asleep 'I love yous' to Jesus. And I pray, I pray, I pray, and... It is necessary to overcome, not to give in to resistance and reluctance.

Some will pray in tongues, others will read the psalms, others will declare the word aloud, worship, praise, recite the Lord's Prayer, pray on a mountain, or in a cave, some will walk up and down, some will kneel, some will do everything, it doesn't matter. The key is availability and regularity. And maybe at the very beginning it doesn't feel like fun, but that's not the point; it's about forming and reshaping your spiritual 'body', giving it a dazzling shape. Besides, entertainment has no place here, we are not children in a playground who need entertainment, God is not a clown, we are soldiers undergoing training for war.

Finally, we will all be happy to know that, contrary to popular belief, prayer does not kill. History, as far as I know, does not provide any interesting stories about people who died as a result of an overdose of prayer; and the Bible does not contain any information about people who were struck down by God for having bothered him too much and abused His time. Which, in my opinion, is equivalent to giving us carte blanche. So, do not relax, continue to pray, to praise, to train his muscles again and soon, they will be strong, solid and powerful. And they will be useful to God and to men.

I think I'll end up killing this marathon bull. I just need to get away from this couch. Shalom.