It is not uncommon for prayer to feel like a failure. Spiritual barriers, such as doubt, distraction, or distrust, constantly intrude on communion with God.

At School of Prayer on March 2 at 7 p.m., Rev. Dave Pivonka taught students how to defeat those barriers, focusing on experiencing freedom in prayer. 

Pivonka began by asking students: “What does it mean to be free?” In answer, he provided a definition from Pope St. John Paul II: “Freedom is not the ability to do anything we want, whenever we want. Rather, freedom is the ability to live responsibly the truth of our relationship with God and with one another.” 

Unfolding this quote, Pivonka homed in on freedom as a deep relationship with God. He described Adam and Eve’s original intimacy with God in the Garden of Eden as the freedom God intended for humanity. Pivonka pointed out that God allowed Adam and Eve to choose whether to eat the forbidden fruit; therefore, God’s freedom includes free will for mankind. 

However, Satan twists that freedom. Pivonka explained that, in the Garden of Eden and beyond, Satan manipulates God’s words, causing people to question God’s goodness. Those doubts often lead to bondage in sin. 

Yet God did not reject humanity after the Original Sin. Pivonka said that God immediately responded to Adam and Eve’s failure by seeking them in the Garden. According to Pivonka, “in one sense…the entire story of the Scriptures is about God looking for us.” 

Pivonka explained that just as God freed the Israelites from Pharaoh, Jesus came to free mankind from the bondage of sin. According to Pivonka, Luke 4:18 clearly outlines Jesus’s liberating mission when Jesus declares: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives…to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” 

After describing this framework of God’s gift of freedom, Pivonka asked students, “What is it that the Lord desires to set us free from?” He then proceeded to detail two areas of bondage that can hinder communion with God. 

Pivonka said that the first issue, a warped image of God, can be especially destructive to prayer. For example, the falsehood that God is harsh and vindictive can strain prayer. To heal these wounds, Pivonka recommended asking the Holy Spirit to destroy false images of God and reveal his true nature. 

Secondly, Pivonka stated that Jesus came to “free us from the fear of the Cross, which is ultimately one of the greatest stumbling blocks in the Christian life.” While fear of suffering is a form of bondage, finding God in the midst of suffering leads to profound freedom, according to Pivonka. Freedom entails embrace of the Cross. 

Pivonka concluded that with the Holy Spirit’s guidance, students can leave fear behind and experience deeper communion with God.