The book Sometimes I Don’t Feel Like Praying is a hall of mirrors. It strips you of religious clichés and the trappings of spiritual practices that mask a dysfunctional Christianity. It reveals spiritual failures that are hard to admit. Above all, however, it is an extremely useful tool for Christians for whom the concept of grace remains largely unexplored.
What strikes one about Mike Jones’s book is the courageous and vulnerable way in which the author outlines his spiritual journey. It is not easy to publicly expose your spiritual struggles, let alone your failures, especially if they do not fall into the category of sins that we consider more or less respectable. Inability to forgive (especially one’s own mother, who is also a Christian), tobacco addiction, and sexual addiction fall more into the realm of failures that we would be slow to admit, even to those closest to us.
God remains merciful towards us even when we lose our compass, fail miserably, pretend to be obedient, or parade our virtues, convinced of our own moral self-sufficiency.
Mike Jones chooses to speak about all the struggles he has faced, some of which he encountered while he was a writer and editor of the Insight magazine, an Adventist pastor, and an Associate Director of the Ministerial Association for the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Southwestern Union Conference. At the age of 44, following his divorce, Jones withdrew from the church, returning 16 years later. During that time, he did not abandon Christianity, attending other churches while simultaneously engaging in habits that risked pushing him back to the brink of addiction.
Although it recounts fragments of some uncomfortable personal experiences, the book does not focus on the author’s history. His life story is a highly convincing argument that God is merciful even when we lose our way, fail miserably, pretend to be obedient, or parade our virtues, convinced of our own moral self-sufficiency. At the same time, Jones’s story serves as the backdrop against which the author conveys his message, built upon two key biblical verses: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20), and “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
These scriptural texts provide an explanation for our failure to achieve authentic, practical Christianity, as well as the secret to overcoming the harsh trials that life subjects us to, such as broken relationships, addictions, illness, and confronting death. The revelation of an authentic life, something that is so difficult for chameleon-like characters to attain, is only possible once the confusion surrounding the concept of grace has dissipated. We all have two faces: one that we show the world, and one that we don’t want anyone to see.
Grace is for the weak, the inconsistent, and those who are disappointed in themselves and feel unworthy of another chance.
According to the author, the book’s purpose is to demonstrate that only God’s grace can enable us to exchange our old life for a new one, freeing us from the burden of pretence and perpetual failure, which plunges us into discouragement. Using simple, accessible language, the book delivers the good news that grace is available to the weak. It is for the inconsistent; for those who are disappointed in themselves and feel unworthy of receiving another chance. This book is for those who have experienced the devastating taste of defeat, yet long for a stronger will to bind them to the life of the One who has never known defeat.
In a culture steeped in the philosophy of self-love and self-development through one’s own efforts, Sometimes I Don’t Feel Like Praying starts from the premise that we can only reach our full potential as human beings and truly become a new person in one way: by dying to our sinful nature every day in order to live. Only by acknowledging that nothing good is found within our sinful nature can we open the way for the help of grace. Jones compares this grace to a spiritual vaccine administered by the Holy Spirit, which destroys the self and eliminates its effects from the Christian’s life.
This is a supernatural transformation (“a new you with a divinely implanted DNA stretching back to eternity”), which is unattainable through the myriad strategies preached by promoters of positive thinking or self-help philosophy. It is also inaccessible to Christians who turn obedience into a means of obtaining God’s love and to those who, having been defeated time and again, have reduced Christianity to a message of forgiveness, stripping it of its renewing power. Relying on one’s own achievements or shirking the demands of discipleship are the most obvious reasons why the behaviour of Christians is so little influenced by their religious beliefs. Surveys on this topic show that it differs very little from that of non-Christians.
“Whenever we’re in crisis and everything appears hopeless, we can never be defeated as long as our faith in God endures.”
The author emphasises that in order for grace to transform and empower us to withstand crises, we must experience it. We need to feed on it, to absorb grace into our lives, so that its effects become tangible. We need real power that shapes us from within, not just behavioural adjustments. Ultimately, the world needs to see that God is alive and still touches people’s lives in a healing and transformative way. For this to happen, the church must be “the living extension of Jesus Christ in time and space”.
Throughout his book, Mike Jones offers practical advice on the most common crises and difficulties faced by Christians and non-Christians alike, from failed relationships to anxiety and the inability to forgive those who have hurt you. He calls these pieces of advice “grace pills”. These are sets of practical biblical advice for each crisis interwoven with scriptural promises.
God does indeed do new things; He promises “a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:19) but He wants to offer Himself alongside the good gifts He distributes. It is an offer too good to refuse from the One who knows us fully and loves us just as fully, even in our darkest moments.
God truly does new things; He promises “a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland”.
Drawing on the strength of this love, we can find the courage to cast off our masks and stop pretending to be anything other than who we truly are. Ultimately, Mike Jones’s book is a plea to abandon the Sisyphean effort of projecting a perfect image, and to present ourselves before the One who alone can forgive, heal, and restore us, with an unveiled face.
It’s true that sometimes we dislike praying, no matter how many veils we throw over this reality, but God knows that our human nature inclines us to place Him in a secondary position. This is precisely why the importance of our daily encounters with Him increases: we do not have the power to change ourselves, but we do have the power to choose to place ourselves within the sphere of influence of “Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).
Carmen Lăiu is an editor at Signs of the Times Romania and ST Network.
