God Hears Our Cold and Infrequent Prayers

Charles Spurgeon’s devotional, “God Hears Halfhearted Prayer,” begins with Psalm 66:20 and a candid look back at the kinds of prayers believers often offer. The author suggests that an honest review of past prayers should leave us amazed that God has answered them at all. Where a self-satisfied person might think their prayers deserve acceptance, the true Christian, looking back with more clarity, grieves over them and wishes to have prayed more sincerely and earnestly.

Spurgeon then turns to the coldness of many prayers. He points to the persistent, wrestling faith seen in Jacob, set against the faint and infrequent petitions that often come from us, especially when we pray in private. Still, he finds it remarkable that God hears such prayers and answers them anyway.

The post also notes how prayer tends to grow urgent only when trouble arrives, while thanks is rarely offered once relief comes. Even so, the author observes that God does not stop blessing when His people become careless in prayer, and that His light continues to shine. He marvels that God listens to those who come only in need, and even to those who come reluctantly and nearly forget Him in seasons of plenty.

Spurgeon closes by asking readers to let this patient kindness move their hearts toward prayer “in the Spirit on all occasions,” as Ephesians 6:18 urges. The devotional ends with two questions: in what areas have you been praying halfheartedly lately, and where can you see God at work despite your lack of prayer?

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