What Is Prayer?

Prayer is a conversation with God. A conversation requires at least two parties engaged in shared thought and expression. Prayer occurs within a context of God speaking to us through his word, history, other people, and his creation.

Prayer is a product of faith. Prayer is predicated on the belief that someone is listening. In Matthew 6.5-8, Jesus condemns two falso approaches to prayer: (1) religious ritual for the show of it, and (2) calling on God out of habit and custom. Prayer must be passionate and come from an active faith that God is the Father who loves his children.

Prayer is an act of humility. We come before God acknowledging that he is the Creator and Sustainer of life. In Matthew 6.9-10, Jesus prays, "Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is done in heaven."

Prayer can be spoken or unspoken. Prayers do not have to be articulated, they can be thought. And, in Romans 8.26, Paul says, "We do not not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

Prayer can be private or public. We should have a daily habit of personal prayer. We should pray regularly with our family, friends, and the church.

Prayer can be temporal and unceasing. We pray at isolated moments, but prayer should envelope the whole of our lives. In 1 Thessalonians 5.17, Paul commands, "Pray continually (without ceasing)."

Prayer can be self-centered or focused on others. We should pray for ourselves and for others. Paul's description of Epaphras is beautiful: "Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured."

Prayer must be a work in progress. Like our faith, we must grow in prayer. Our understanding and practice of prayer must progress and mature during the course of our lifetime. If we are saying the same prayers at 65 that we said when we were 25, something isn't right.

To the righteous man, prayer is effective. James says, "The prayer of a righteous man is pwoerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again, he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops" (Jas 5.16-18).

Prayer is a blessing. The psalmist praises, "I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live" (Ps 116.1-2).

Thoughts on Prayer

Phillips Brooks: "Pray the largest prayers. You cannot think a prayer so large that God, in answering it, will not wish you had made it larger. Pray not for crutches but for wings!"

R. A. Torrey: "We are too busy to pray, and we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity but we accomplish little; many services but few conversions; much machinery but few results."

D. L. Moody: "We honor God when we ask for great things. It is a humiliating thing to think that we are satisfied with very samll results."

Teresa of Avila: "Souls without prayer are like people whose bodies or limbs are paralyzed: they possess feet and hands but they cannot control them."

A Prayer for Boldness

Acts 4.23-31 (NRSV)

After [Peter and John] were released, they went to their friends (the church) and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said,

"Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant: 'Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.' For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

The People's Prayer

A prayer by Amos R. Wells:

God bless our dear United States,

Preserve the land from evil fates,

Lift high her banner fair and free,

And guard her bounds from sea to sea.

From foe without and foe within,

From open shame and hidden sin,

From boastful pride and greedy store,

God keep our nation evermore.

Forever may her friendly hands

Receice the poor of other lands

In kindliness of sisterhood,

And fill their arms with ample good.

Assailed by battle hosts of wrong,

God help our country to be strong,

Assailed by falsehood's crafty crew,

God help our country to be true.

God hold the nation's aim sincere,

God save her heart from coward fear.

God prosper her in true success.

And crown her head with worthiness.

God bless our dear United States,

Preserve the land from evil fates,

Lift high her banner fair and free,

And ever guard her liberty.

As We Pray . . .

As we pray, our faith should allow for God's answer to come at a time and in a manner in which we may not expect. God sees the big picture. His sight is not limited by the things that hinder our perspective. His wisdom goes far beyond our capacity. He knows of answers that surpass our longings.

As we pray, our faith should allow us to realize that God's silence is often intentional and that "unanswered" prayers are still heard by God. God may be silent to test the maturity of our faith, or to cause us to reevaluate our prayers in the light of his will. And, God's silence may be his answer.

As we pray, our faith should motivate us to be persistent in bringing our petitions before God. God is not hard of hearing, but in our persistence our trust in God's response is affirmed and our prayers may become refined through the repitition in which we offer them.

Michael Irvin's Prayer

Did you hear Michael Irvin's Football Hall of Fame acceptance speech? It was powerful. In it, he included a prayer for his sons. He prayed, "I say, please, help me raise them for some young lady so that they can be a better husband than I. . . . Help me raise them for their kids so that they could be a better father than I."

What a beautiful prayer.

A Prayer to the God Who Sees

Father God, help me to see as you see, or at the very least to realize and be comforted by the fact that you see all when my vision is often very limited. My perspective is often quite small, Father. My sight is obstructed by time and place, by the limitations of my physical presence, by my intellect and understanding (which are both quite human and not omniscient like you), by my prejudices and hangups, by my sin and stubbornness, and by the sin and deception of others. But, you, Father, can see past through all of these things to see the Big Picture. Thus, I must trust you and depend upon you . . . to accept the guidance you give. I get so impatient. I want a resolution now to the trials I experience. But, you are the one who sees, and I will trust in you to see me through.

The Prayer of Jabez

1 Chronicles 4.10

"Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, 'Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from hurt and harm!' And God granted what he asked."

A Parents' Prayer

Dear God, we parents humbly come to Thee,

With all our hearts to make this earnest plea:

O Father, in the name of Thy dear Son,

We ask thy blessing on each daughter, son.

Help us to set small footsteps on the way

That leads to Thee, and may they never stray.

And then, by word and deed and truth

Help us to be a guide to those in youth.

Help each one grow in body and in soul,

To be upright and clean and good--their highest goal.

Alone, we cannot do this greatest task--

To raise a family, therefore this we ask:

Give us a wise and understanding heart;

Thy guidance, counsel, love, to us impart.

And where we fail, then in some other way

Supply their every need from day to day.

Forgive our past mistakes, and may we be

Much better parents, strengthened, Lord, by Thee.

Lead us and ours by Thine almighty hand

Till, kept by Thee, before Thy throne we stand.

For this we pray: we and our family will be

At last, in heav'n, forever--all with Thee.

(The prayer of Gertrude Krenzke Ebeling)

We Often Ask God for Too Little

In A Slow and Certain Light, Elisabeth Elliot tells of two adventurers who stopped by to see her, all loaded with equipment for the rain forest east of the Andes. They sought no advice, just a few phrases to converse with the Indians.

She writes: "Sometimes we come to God as the two adventurers cames to me--confident and, we thing, well-informed and well-equipped. But has it occurred to us that with all our accumulation of stuff, something is missing?"

She suggests that we often ask God for too little. "We know what we need--a yes or no answer, please, to a simple question. Or perhaps a road sign. Something quick and easy to point the way."

She concludes, "What we really ought to have is the Guide himself. Maps, road signs, a few useful phrases are good things, but infinitely better is Someone who has been there and knows the way."

(This article was taken from Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching, editted by Craig Brian Larson.)