Don’t Train Yourself to Wait

You feel a nudge to pray for someone. To call a friend. To apologise. To open your Bible. And you think, I will, just not right now. Later the nudge is gone, and so is the moment.

Every time we put off a prompting like that, we are practising something. We are training ourselves to hesitate. Do it enough, and delay becomes a habit, and the habit becomes a kind of numbness.

James says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” Hearing without doing is a quiet form of self-deception. The psalmist shows the opposite habit: “I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.”

Obedience builds momentum, too. The next time you feel that nudge, move on it, even in a small way. Pray right then. Send the text. You will be training a better reflex.