It’s interesting that Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1). After all, prayer was certainly nothing new to Jewish culture, and really, to the history of humanity- as far back as Genesis 4 we see that people called on the name of the Lord! And yet, it’s easy to feel unsure about how to approach God in prayer. We fear we will say something offensive to God or that we will in one way, shape, or form, do it “wrong.” To think that we could just talk to the holy Creator of the universe seems simultaneously too easy and too hard. And so, it’s a sort of comfort to know that even the disciples of Jesus felt they needed some guidance in this area.
When I reflect on my knowledge of and experience with prayer in my own life, I can’t help but think of the church in which I was raised. This was a church committed to preaching the Gospel and to faithfully teaching God’s word. Naturally, prayer was also a large part of our time of worship. Whether it was in the sanctuary on a Sunday morning, in the Sunday school classrooms, or at youth group and choir practice, prayer was always involved. I knew that anyone, anywhere could pray their heart to the Lord. To hear other people pray out loud, and to do so myself (publically and privately) seemed a natural part of life.
Now don’t get me wrong- my prayer life has always been, and continues to be, in a constant state of refinement. As our current Wednesday night Bible study is focusing on the written prayers in Scripture and of the Puritans, I can see how lackadaisical and stagnant my own prayers have become. As I strive to deepen my prayers, I can only praise God that He hears me when I pray- even when I pray in the same way, day after day. Truly, we never stop learning how to pray.
The subject of prayer has come up many times in my office, and in fact, just last week the topic came up in three separate sessions. In each case, the person acknowledged their prayer life consisted of only the prayers they were taught in their (Catholic) church. As noted in the opening paragraph, there was fear of saying something wrong, or in general, a lack of knowing how or for what to pray. For others, the idea that God has bigger things to worry about other than their personal struggles keeps them from praying. Some don’t even consider that God wants them to pray about everyday matters. Or, they believe, as we’re all tempted to believe, that they can “figure it out” without God’s help.
All of that leads me to say this: If you are someone who struggles with the idea of prayer, please consider the following points:
- God wants us to come to Him in prayer- about everything. God’s Word tells us to pray in all circumstances and to pray continually (Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). This means there is nothing under the sun that we can’t pray about. We can ask for God’s mercy, justice, and righteousness to reign. We can ask Him to guide us in truth, for the Holy Spirit to produce in us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. We can ask Him to help us love and serve our spouse and for wisdom in parenting our children. We can pray for our aunt’s cancer and how we should handle our finances. There’s nothing that’s off the table when it comes to prayer!
- We can pour out our heart, however informally. In 1 Samuel 1 we see Hannah in the temple praying to the Lord for a child (for she was barren). When Eli the priest saw her praying, he wrongly assumed she was drunk. When he confronted her about this she said, “No my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:15). However, this looks for us- whether in flowery, eloquent language, or in raw, fragmented bits, the Lord hears us. Psalm 51:17 tells us that he will not despise a broken and contrite heart. In our brokenness, He simply bids us come; and when we do so, we need not fear we’re “doing it wrong.”
- The Lord’s prayer as a model for prayer. Of course, we can best learn from the instruction Jesus gave his disciples when they asked him how they should pray. This instruction is found in Matthew 6:5-13 and Luke 11:1-4. In this example, we see Jesus taught his people about the following components of prayer: praise, confession of sin, expression of need and dependence on God, protection from temptation, and for His will to be done. While we can of course pray this prayer word for word, we can also use it as a template for our own prayers.
How I pray that you and I will strive to be a praying people! So much so, I pray we ask God to give us the grace to pray! May we long to commune with our great God in prayer, and may our time in prayer increase our joy and delight in Him.
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