What is this thing called prayer?
What is this thing called prayer?
Last Updated on Friday, 30 October 2009 18:52 Written by John Schaenzer Sunday, 08 March 2009 21:20
"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start" - Julie Andrews - The Sound of Music
Dictionary.com begins this way:
1. a devout petition to God or an object of worship.
2. a spiritual communion with God or an object of worship, as in supplication, thanksgiving, adoration, or confession.
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary begins:
Prayer
is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or formal.
The simple, common definition is that prayer is communicating with God. We will ignore the "object of worship" portion of the above definitions since we worship the Living God, the Creator of all things, seen and unseen. We will, however, pay attention to devout, spiritual communion and direct address. A devout prayer is one that is devoted to divine worship. It is pious, reverent and sincere. It brings us into a spiritual communion with God. Praying to a spirit can at times be difficult to wrap our heads around. The key is to know whom we are praying to. For many reasons, not the least of which is knowing God, we must spend time in the Word to improve our prayer time. Bible reading reveals the character, attributes and will of God. These are important things to know in order to develop the highest communion with God. To truly know God is more than knowing about God. Learning about the other party is as important here as with any other relationship we develop. The relationship becomes more intimate as more time is spent together.
Prayer is a direct address to a Holy God. It is communication that is very intentional. While prayer is serious, it can also be relaxed or casual in tone. More important than the words that we choose or the posture we assume is the sincerity of heart with which we approach Almighty God. There is nothing we can hide from God, so there is no need to put on a show. Jesus Christ tells us, "for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."(Matthew 6:8) He knows our thoughts, our desires and our needs. Any act we put on does not impress Him. Sincerity and truthfulness on our part will draw us close to God. We may deceive others with our performance, but we are only fooling ourselves if we think we can deceive God.
The Bible also has many examples of prayer, including the teaching of Christ on how to pray. In the 6th chapter of the Gospel According to Matthew we read, "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' " The aspects of this prayer include praise of God, both in position and attributes, seeking His will, seeking His kingdom, seeking His provision for our needs, seeking forgiveness for our sins, and seeking His protection. We will deal with this passage in greater detail in a future article.
The first thing that is necessary for an effective prayer life is a respectful relationship with God. Being our loving Father, our Creator, and our Savior, He is deserving of our respect and worship. It is our responsibility to spend time in the Word to learn of Him and His attributes. Jesus Christ says, "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."(John 14:21) And also, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him."(John 14:23) Again, we must spend time in the Scripture to learn what the commandments of our Lord actually are so we can keep them. It is not because we need to earn the love of God. It is because the keeping of the Word is the fruit of the loving relationship. The seed of the Word within us produces the fruit of our obedience. That outgrowth is evidence of our loving relationship with Almighty God. We cannot keep His commandments in our own strength, and trying to do so will not create a relationship with God. Hebrews 11:6 teaches us, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." We must spend time in prayer seeking and growing close to God. We are more enabled to do so as we spend time in the Word. The two activities are inseparable.
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