{"id":57306,"date":"2016-08-15T06:31:28","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T06:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xenodochial-archimedes.45-76-20-142.plesk.page\/2016x108x1why-millennials-dont-pray\/"},"modified":"2022-11-29T18:20:49","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T18:20:49","slug":"why-millennials-dont-pray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/2016\/08\/why-millennials-dont-pray.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Millennials Don’t Pray – Mrs. Bishop"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Prayer is our direct communication with God, our speed dial to the creator of the Universe. It can direct and affect our daily lives. But, something concerning\u00a0is happening with this generation. The line has been cut- we don\u2019t pray. Not like we\u2019re supposed to. We don\u2019t have prayer closets or dedicated times of prayer. With busy, full lives in an always on the go world, it has sadly, become a thing of the past. I am part of this generation, and it really scares me. Herein lies the\u00a0root of the problem- the reasons Millennials don\u2019t pray:<\/p>\n

They\u00a0live in an instant gratification society. They\u00a0want results. They\u00a0have every little bit\u00a0of information in the entire world at their\u00a0very fingertips. A pastor spoke at my church recently and said that we expect our prayers to be answered like a fast food drive thru. We want to be able to ask God what we want, and just drive around the building and pick it up in a nice, conveniently packed box. We want results. \u00a0And we want them NOW!<\/p>\n

They\u00a0can\u2019t switch off. We have our phones buzzing, tablets blinking, and the television constantly chattering on in the background. We don\u2019t even go to the bathroom without our phones attached somewhere on our person. How can we expect to find a few moments speaking\u00a0with God, when we are NEVER truly alone?<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t \u201chave the time.\u201d This goes hand and hand with the not being able to switch off. In modern society, free time has become a rarity. Every one is always busy. We have to be completely entertained all of the time- and because of that, down time is almost non-existent.<\/p>\n

They haven\u2019t been desperate. Our generation has been coddled\u00a0more than any other generation before us. We aren\u2019t even half as self sufficient as past generations. Any time we get into trouble we call Mommy or Daddy to fix it. We have the answer to any question we can think of in seconds flat- about as long as it takes for our smart phone\u00a0to answer. In that respect, we have been sheltered from complications that life sometimes throws at us. Sometimes we really only learn to pray when we REALLY\u00a0need something. When we have nowhere to turn. If we\u2019re never desperate, we won\u2019t need to seek God.<\/p>\n

\"desperate\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nothing is private anymore. In a social media driven world where we share every detail about ourselves, down to the food that we ate for dinner last night (I\u2019m guilty!), nothing is sacred. We know everything about everyone- in real time. We don\u2019t feel the need to talk to God. We just assume He knows what we want, everyone else already does. But, He wants us to talk to Him. To be specific when we ask Him for things. We can\u2019t just assume God knows what we want- we need to actually ask Him.<\/p>\n

They feel entitled, and therefore aren\u2019t as thankful for what they\u2019ve been given. I don\u2019t mean this is true for everyone-but the generation as a whole\u2026 They just assume they deserve what they have. Ann Voskamp says, \u201cThanksgiving always precedes the miracle.\u201d And if we don\u2019t give thanks, how can we expect miracles? If we aren\u2019t actually thankful for what we have, why would God bless us?<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t \u201cfun.\u201d In a world where churches have worship teams, flashing lights, loud and fast paced music, and a jumbo screen- quiet prayer doesn\u2019t sound very interesting. These are not necessarily\u00a0bad things,there are lots of great\u00a0churches with great bands\u00a0and upbeat services. I attend one myself. But, if we never learn to appreciate quiet and reflective prayer- prayer without distractions, we may never have the relationship with our Heavenly Father that He so wants us to have.<\/p>\n

They were never taught how. Prayer meetings have become a thing of the past. Praying over people, an oddity. Look around you next time you\u2019re at a restaurant and take a look at how many people pray over their food before they consume it. Probably none. It\u2019s sad, but true. How can we expect young people to know how to pray if they\u2019ve never really been exposed to prayer?<\/p>\n

This lack of prayer life in this\u00a0generation is disturbing. And it will only get worse. If we don\u2019t pray, our children sure aren\u2019t going to. This problem will turn into an epidemic unless we do something about it. Until we get down on our knees in our living rooms. Hold hands around tables and bow our heads in thanks. Pray with and over our children at bedtime. Hold our spouses and share our worries and concerns. Shut off the distractions and pray wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n

We need to make prayer a priority again.\u00a0To not be afraid to expect miracles. To boldly stand in the\u00a0presence of God, His arms wrapped around us, as if He is right here with us. To praise and thank Him daily for this wonderful, amazing life we\u2019ve been blessed with.<\/p>\n

The bible says to \u201cpray without ceasing.\u201d (1 Thess 5:17) It\u2019s time to get started.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prayer is our direct communication with God, our speed dial to the creator of the Universe. It can direct and affect our daily lives. But, something concerning\u00a0is happening with this generation. The line has been cut- we don\u2019t pray. Not like we\u2019re supposed to. We don\u2019t have prayer closets or dedicated times of prayer. With busy, full lives in an always on the go world, it has sadly, become a thing of the past. I am part of this generation, and it really scares me. Herein lies the\u00a0root of the problem- the reasons Millennials don\u2019t pray: They\u00a0live in an <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":58827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,15,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encouragement","category-thoughts","category-uncategorized","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrsbishop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}