Our Prayers

Our Prayers

For many of us, our prayer life isn’t as robust or real as we’d like it to be. We string the words together but the ‘connection’ seems to be lacking. Here’s a piece of good news. Our prayer life can change for the better. It doesn’t need to be lacking or deficient. And it’s within our power to turn things around.

 
From our Father’s perspective, there’s nothing that would please Him more than to be in constant contact with His children. You could never communicate with Him too often. We might get tired of hearing someone’s voice - but not Him! He is delighted when we initiate communications with Him – whether it’s a prayer of thanks, worship and praise or the ‘uploading’ of an anxiety; or the out-pouring of grief, or the confession of a sin or a plea for help. His ear is open 24/7 waiting to hear from you. Unlimited long-distance calling – night or day!  Imagine – unlimited access to the Eternal God!

 
But there are things we can learn about praying. Just as an infant progresses from goo-goo talk to more advanced communications year after year – there should be development and progression in my prayer life as well. Jesus mentioned a few things to the disciples about ‘how’ to communicate with their Heavenly Father.

 
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are:

for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets,

that they may be seen of men.

Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret;

and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do:

for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

(Matthew 6:5-7)

 
God values sincerity in our prayers. He always hates pretense, show, and hypocrisy. Some like to pray if a significant person is there to hear them. At times we can be more concerned about who’s listening down here than who’s listening ‘up there.’ He’s not impressed when we’re trying to impress.

 
I can remember confessing this wicked thought: “I’m going to take up an Old Testament type when I pray today, so the Christians will see that I’m really growing and becoming knowledgeable.” Pathetic! Can you imagine ‘using’ a prayer as the venue to display how much one knows? I’m embarrassed I even shared that with you.

 
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lord also values brevity in our prayers. Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their ‘long’ prayers. You can pray as long as you like in private but brevity seems to be valued in public prayers. Just because an older Christian has fallen into the dreadful rut of praying long in public – don’t you.

 
Similar to sincerity, God values ‘reality’ and ‘clarity’ in our prayers. He’s not longing to hear vain repetitions, overused prayer clichés or complex, highfalutin sentences. We shouldn’t be pompous, artificial or unnatural in our prayers. Sometimes I catch myself asking the Lord to ‘grant us journeying mercies,’ and then I smile to myself: “Where did I pick up that expression? Is that mine or someone else’s?” Why can’t I just ask the Lord to protect us on the highway? Here’s another one:  Or “Make Thou their bed in their sickness.”  Wouldn’t it be more like me in 2007 to ask the Lord to be especially close to Henry and Myrtle during their sickness?

 
One more confession: we are creatures of habit and form. So often we fall into the rut of starting or ending our prayers the same way without exception: “O merciful God, loving Lord, and Heavenly Father….”  Or we quote the lines of the same hymn every Sunday morning: “Hark I hear the dull blow of the hammer swung low, they are nailing my Lord to the tree...” It’s called a rut.

 
Prayer is an amazing and incredible privilege for us and a resource that eclipses all other possibilities. Let’s be reverent, respectful, real and robust in our prayers. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”