How needy are you?
That was the question asked by a speaker at a conference I was at last week. It was a question that cut right to my heart! ‘How needy am I?’ We don’t like to think of ourselves as needy, do we? Certainly I don’t. It’s seen as weakness in our culture. I like to think of myself as calm, competent and in control. But every day…in fact, many times during every day, I am confronted by my helplessness and neediness. The speaker was addressing the topic of prayer and suggesting that the reason for a lack of prayerfulness is because of a lack of neediness – we think we can do life on our own without God’s help.
He then reminded us that Jesus was the great prayer. That’s because Jesus was utterly dependant on his Father and totally in relationship with his Father. His prayer expressed his dependence and desire for His Father. So if Jesus needed his Father, I definitely need Him…and so do you!
At the end of the talk, the speaker quoted a book called ‘A Praying Life’, by Paul E. Miller. I have since bought it, read it and highly recommend it! This was the quote: ‘If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money and talent are all you need in life. You’ll always be a little too tired, a little too busy. But if, like Jesus, you realise you can’t do life on your own, then no matter how busy, no matter how tired you are, you will find time to pray…The main issue in our prayer lives is not discipline or time management, but neediness’. So, how needy are you?