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Friday, April 13, 2007

Badgers In Your Prayer Life?

My father has a problem with a badger in his garden. For months it has been digging up his lawn looking for worms. In Britain badgers are protected animals so there is very little Dad can do. His only option seemed to be to prevent the creature getting in at night.

The Ins And Outs of Badgers
Dad went looking to find any gaps in the boundary where the badger might be finding its way in. He soon discovered the place where it had burrowed under the fence. Dad was sure he now had the solution. He dug down further into the ground and placed a piece of board in the hole so that the badger could no longer get under the fence - problem solved.

The next night the badger was back digging in the lawn, looking for more worms. On investigation Dad found another burrow under the fence right next to the original one. From the displacement of the soil it was clearly not the entrance route of the badger, but the exit. The badger had been in the garden all the time.

The Badgers Within
When we struggle with prayer we often blame external distractions - noise, interruptions from the phone, lack of time, tiredness because of overwork. The truth is that, like the badger, the real problems are within - poor self-discipline, lack of desire and unconfessed sin.

Whatever we try to do to avoid the external distractions we will always struggle with prayer if we haven't recognised our own weaknesses and failings and brought them to the cross.

Prayer College Assignment
Are there badgers in your prayer life? Are there aspects of character or secret sins which hinder you from really connecting with God? Jesus said, "it's not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart" (Mk 7:15, NLT). Deal with the badgers and see how your communion with the Lord is transformed.

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