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Our pastor has been preaching the book of Romans recently and the last couple of weeks on the need to pray. It seems quite evident from what I have experienced and seen from other Christians that when we neglect prayer and Bible reading, we become more susceptible to our flesh…our emotions, illnesses, temptations, etc. It is much easier to keep the mind of God as our own when we do these simple things…pray and getting instruction and encouragement from God’s Word.

Easier said than done though. It is easy to get caught up in our busy lives and spend all our time worrying or talking to friends or family about all our troubles or experiences. We get caught up in our own selfish lives and pursuit of worldly things that snuff out our desire to fellowship with God. It takes a serious relationship with God to feel comforted by talking to Him. Yet…that is where our answers and blessing come from. It is silly we bear our own burdens so often.

I am so thankful in my return to the faith that God has made Himself more real to me than ever. This is a gift of His presence that I cannot take credit for nor deserve. There ARE days when I neglect devotions with my wife because I get too busy or preoccupied. I feel the difference those days in my attitude towards the pressures of life. When we spend our time united with God, it is much easier to leave our cares or worries at the foot of the cross.

Many people, even lifelong Christians, feel “funny” praying, at least publicly. It’s like we are competing about who has the most flowery prayers. I would suggest that is not an objective. God wants to hear what’s on our hearts and in our minds. He does not judge us by how we say it or our vocabulary. He already knows the content of our hearts, but he has made it important to express with our tongues…confessing our praise and need for Him even though He already knows that. It helps US to express it. It is self-edifying in a positive way.

Some of the most real powerful prayers I have heard from people were simple people talking to God in the same manner or voice they talk to their loved ones. Jesus of course taught us how to pray while He was here via what is commonly known as the “Lord’s Prayer”. It is probably universally the most effective prayer that is prayed over the centuries and is a very short prayer.

Our Father Who are 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 forgive our debtors. And lead us not into trial. But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13)

This short prayer has all the ingredients that God honors in prayer. It has praise, it addresses His position over ours, it asks for blessings while at the same time repenting of our sins. It asks that we be forgiven as long as we are willing to forgive others. It asks for protection of our faith from the evil one and finishes in a flurry of recognizing God as the ultimate power and glory forever.  I think its a good idea if we pray these things each day in our own way as well.

There are various forms of prayer we are admonished to do in our lives.  We are to pray privately to God, with small groups of 2-3 (“where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name”), in joint congregational prayer, and to also be in a constant attitude of prayer all day every day. I would suggest the more we pray, the more peaceful we will be.

We are to be creative and not repetitious in our prayers. “Also, when you pray, use no meaningless repetitions as the heathen. For they think they are heard for their many words. (Matthew 6:7) I think we are to graduate beyond the childhood prayers many of us learn to say before meals or bedtime. “God is Great, God is good” or “Now I lay me down to sleep” are fine for children for a while…but not for adult believers.

We aren’t encouraged to pray in public as a show of “holiness”.  “And when you pray, do not be as the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, because they wish to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. (Matthew 6:5)  God is not particularly impressed with public praying and I even question participation in government driven “prayer breakfasts” and the like. I know many of us think it is a wonderful display of faith united with others in our community, but I would suggest we are condoning people who are not true believers but who want to be SEEN around believers as having faith for political reasons. We see this a lot in America, especially in these days of “social justice” and political correctness.

Finally, I would be careful about praying too much for earthly blessings or prosperity. While God wants to give us the desires of our heart, He has also warned us about getting too comfortable materially. If we are constantly asking for wealth or material things, you might get what you want…but when most people get economically well off, they tend to get smug and not NEED God quite so much to depend on or be in relationship with. Pride of life…even “pride of faith”…could potentially set in on those who prosper more than their needs.

“Do not lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where the moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves dig through and steal. “But lay up treasures for yourselves in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupts, and where thieves neither dig through nor steal.” (Matthew 6:19-20)

The main purpose of prayer is for praising God or praying for the needs of others. This is part of the love commandment where we are to love and be concerned about others before ourselves.

While it is customary for many to kneel when praying and historic paintings of many leaders, religious and political, show them kneeling in prayer, I think that any position is acceptable to God. When we are humbling ourselves or repenting of some previous sin to the Holy One, it is probably a good idea to bow or prostrate ourselves as a symbol of our remorse and guilt. Throughout the Bible people prostrated themselves before the Father or Jesus when asking for His forgiveness or when they were confronted by Angels or Jesus in a vision, which happened often. I think I would be inclined to do so myself in those cases and when I finally submitted back into faith due to God’s calling this past year, I found myself prostrate on the floor totally destitute of any pride or deserving of His grace. Yet, when we become sons of the Living God, I think we can “boldly come before His throne of grace”. It all depends on our relationship and level of faith in God.

The biggest prayer lacking in the church of today in my view is real intercessary prayer for our fellow believers and those in our families and circle of friends who are lost and without faith or hope. Intercession is beseeching God’s intervention in a specific situation or on behalf of someone who is not of faith or is too weak to believe for themselves. I believe this is the highest form of prayer when we ask God to heal someone’s body, soul, or mind from the attacks of the wicked one. When we seek God’s mercy and grace for someone else, it is a great part of His commandment to love others before ourselves and laying down our wants and needs in order to meet another’s.

The early church had a habit of “laying hands” on the person they were praying for. Jesus and many of the apostles healed people through their effective prayer and touch. I believe today miracles can still happen by the laying on of hands, and praying under the annointing and will of God. I have recently felt God calling me to pray more directly with people as the situations arise…and I plan to obey expecting the Holy Spirit to meet people’s needs and change their lives. I am honored to do so.

A key to prayer is of course living righteously. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16. If we have sin that is unconfessed or trying to hide from God, the result of our prayer may not be worth the time and breath to say them. It’s unnatural to ask something of someone we have sinned against. It takes hubris to go ask someone for help who we have no relationship with or have even stolen from them before. We cannot expect people to be receptive to such petitions, and since God is a just and righteous God in all things…we cannot expect Him to grant our prayers if we have no relationship with Him or unconfessed sin in our lives. So that is where effective prayer starts…the prayer of repentence and forgiveness.

Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23-24)

If we want our prayers or praise to be effective before God, we must first strive to be at peace with all men, especially our brothers. If we have sinned against someone, or hold bitterness and resentment against another…our prayers are not going to be very effective according to scripture. I believe this is a reason so many churches today are cold and dead spiritually. They have not followed the Biblical precepts of being reconciled or even responsible to and for each other.  When churches are only about public, repetitive prayers that are self serving and without ferver, you can expect very little to come about from their corporate prayers.

Bottom line, I think God expects us to come to Him as a little child. Children in the natural are full of innocence and expectation. They trust fully in their parents (until that trust is somehow broken). They don’t hesitate to ask for what they want, but healthy children also know that they will not always be granted what they request. If they are trying to break the rules or get something before they deserve it, a good parent will deny them until they have grown up enough or deserve what they ask for.

I think God treats us the same way. He wants to give us what we want, but He wants our requests to be for whats good for us and not always about getting “candy”. He wants us to grow up bit by bit and start communicating with him about the important and personal things. Prayer is not for show, and it is not about what we can get. It is about making us who we can become as we know Him more intimately as our Heavenly Father.