The Discipline of Prayer

As we consider Jesus’ life and activities, we soon learn that He was a man of prayer. Since Jesus thought it important to His soul to pray, it is good for our souls as well. Prayer is perhaps one of the most popular spiritual disciplines, but too often, praying has not had the transforming effects that we might hope for. Prayer can help us connect with God, but we may need to be open to learn to pray. It is likely that Jesus’ disciples were praying men whenever they asked Him to teach them how to pray. Perhaps they had begun to realize that Jesus’ prayers seemed different than their own. Paul affirms that there are times when “we do not know how to pray as we should” (Romans 8:26). It is doubtful that we pray as often as we should. Sometimes we go through periods where we may become negligent in our praying. Sometimes whenever we do pray, we don’t feel comfortable, or don’t know what to say. Each of us can learn how to pray more like Jesus prayed.

Prayer is about getting to know God. Prayer is about building a relationship with God. Jesus’ prayers no doubt conveyed a deep and intimate relationship with His Father. Abraham was called “the friend of God.” In looking at their relationship, God and Abraham communicated openly. There were questions, guesses, reassertions, statements of fear and doubt, calculated pauses, and careful restatements of one another’s thoughts. Prayer is, in one sense, having a conversation with God, and in order for a conversation to be meaningful, we must be genuine, honest, in tune with the other person's thinking and words, and even willing to ask penetrating questions. In order for our prayers to be genuine, they must be from the heart. We are to tell God exactly how we feel. We are to pour out our hearts to Him, even if it includes doubts, fears, and questions. A look at many of the prayers recorded in Psalms reveals praying from the heart. Real praying is indicative of real relationship.

It can be quite a challenge to pray openly and authentically, yet also to pray with the reverence and awe that we should have in approaching God, because let’s face it, prayer is a conversation between unequals. In the coming weeks, we will explore how we might learn to pray so that our souls are transformed to be more like Jesus.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 23, 2009 at 4:54 AM

    Great thoughts on prayer, Terry. I like to think of prayer as a declaration of dependence on God. Like you mentioned, sometimes we don't know where to start or what to say. Maybe we should start with whatever is on our minds & hearts. If it's concerning us, it is God's concern too. Sometimes I try to think of the "proper" things to pray for, which can make my prayers less than genuine. I think C.S. Lewis said something like, "In prayer we lay before God what is in us, not what ought to be in us."

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