Praying – goodchristianfiction

Next to our very precious salvation, prayer is the greatest gift we have from our loving Father. In prayer, we clumsy, defective humans get to communicate with the One who is so powerful, even our amazing brains don’t come anywhere close to comprehending His magnificence.

Besides the book of Psalms, which might be called a book of prayers, there are also many prayers throughout the Old and New Testament. Moses prays for Israel in the Wilderness. Solomon prays for the newly finished Temple. Mary prays for the gift of the Son of Man. In times of great trouble or tremendous joy, believers lift their voices to supplicate and praise an awesome God.

Before Christ tore away the curtain, the only people who had direct access to God were the High Priests, who went into the most Holy of Holies to be in communion with the most direct connection to God humans at that point had. But, when Christ died on the cross for our sins, we were given an intercessor who gives us direct access to God any time we take advantage of it. The Holy Spirit, who dwells in those who believe that Christ is the Savior, is who makes it possible for us to know that when we call out to God, He is always listening.

God promises to answer every prayer. Because His answer can be no, we often forget that God doesn’t break His promises. Have you experienced times in your life that, in retrospect, were important growth opportunities because God said no? Our limited perspective is incapable of seeing things from God’s big picture view. But learning to embrace faith in God’s ability to guide things to the good makes praying an act of truly trusting God’s will.

Jesus gave us all a pattern for praying, the Lord’s Prayer. Whether we say it word for word or use it as a pattern for our communication with God, this prayer is the starting point for any believer’s path to better conversations with the LORD.

Our Father, who art in heaven, the prayer begins, hallowed be thy name. Begin any prayer by coming to God in full knowledge of his holiness. God is the master of the universe and your life. When you approach Him in the humility fostered by this view of His awesomeness, you will be offering your most truthful, sincere self to the One who already knows what you are going to say and yet wants to hear it from you anyway.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, is the next section of this prayer. We can only ever expect God to answer our prayers when those prayers are in alignment with His will. If you pray for a nicer car or other material luxuries, you are much less likely to be in the will of God as when you are praying for your relationship with Him or the welfare of yourself and others.

Give us this day our daily bread, the prayer continues. We have the right to ask of God the things we need to make it through each day. Because God takes care of us from day to day, we are encouraged not to let tomorrow, which might never happen anyway, or the past, which is done and unchangeable, not misdirect our focus from the present moment. The present, this day, is the only thing we really have, and Jesus encourages us to trust Him to take care of our needs each day.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us, comes next. The core value of prayer is the relationship we have with our God. Because sin separates us from God, only when we recognize our own foibles and bring them to God in our repentance do we come back into relationship with Him through the grace of Christ. Equally important, this section of the prayer reminds us, is our ability to forgive others just as Christ has forgiven us. If we can’t pay mercy forward, Christ tells us, then why should God be expected to overlook the sins we all carry?

Many manuscripts end the Lord’s Prayer with this plea: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. The narrow path of walking a Christ-centered life in a fallen world means we will be exposed to evil. A prayer that acknowledges that we live in a world where the devil is very active helps us to understand how very important our ongoing relationship with God is to our survival. We can only stand against what we recognize as a threat.

Holiness, thankfulness, neediness, forgiveness, cleanliness–these conditions of our relationship with God are what should guide our conversations with Him. Ever wonder how we can call prayer a conversation when only we humans are talking? We can find God’s side of the conversation in His Word, where many of the answers to life’s questions can be discovered if only we will read and study the Bible in a Holy Spirit-guided way.

Your prayers don’t have to be award-winning poetry. Paul tells us they can even be groanings that are not words but still convey our needs to the Father. What prayers need to be are our honest, humble attempts to enter into a relationship with our most powerful, loving God.

Say what you feel to the LORD-ALL-POWERFUL. Anytime, anyplace, anywhere–He’s listening.

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:6

Do you remember the first time you tried to ride a “grown up” bike–no training wheels, just you and two wobbly tires and the hope that when your parent let loose of the seat, you wouldn’t smash immediately into the ground? Or what about the first time you slipped behind the steering wheel of a real car, with your parents’ permission or not. If you were smart, you knew just enough to be a little bit afraid of the almost 2,000 pounds of machinery you had in the palms of your hands.

There is almost nothing besides breathing that we humans do not do without first having some help figuring out how to do that something well. Even though Paul explains to us that “. . . the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26), we can learn much about how to pray, not only from the Bible, but also from each other:

“Let us never forget to pray. God lives. He is near. He is real. He is not only aware of us but cares for us. He is our Father. He is accessible to all who will seek Him.”
― Gordon B. Hinckley, Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes

“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one”
― Bruce Lee

“Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.”
― Mother Teresa

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.”
― Abraham Lincoln

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”
― Meister Eckhart

“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
― St. Francis of Assisi

But, lessons on prayer don’t have to be from someone “famous.” Each church meeting is a chance to listen to others pray and learn from them. If you listen closely, you will often hear phrases from the Bible and hymns, humble requests in full recognition of God’s will, a truthfulness about ourselves and our relationships with others that is sometimes so raw as to be almost painful. You will also hear the calm serenity of true peace that comes with the acceptance of that will.

The Bible, of course, is full of examples of prayers and advice about praying:

Philippians 4:6-7

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice always; pray without ceasing. in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 50:15

And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.

James 5:13-15

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.

And sometimes, lessons on prayer can come when you least expect them, like sitting on the floor of your office putting together a new chair and having your father-in-law ask you point-blank how you pray. Luckily, after you stumble through your answer, he gives you three really useful pointers for your prayers that go something like this:

Begin by picturing yourself in the long, flowing robe you have been walking around in all day. The robe was clean when you put it on, but now it is dusty, dirty brown from the sandy path you have been walking. Pray for God to wash away the grime in the name of Christ; watch the ugliness of sin melt away from your robe until it is beautifully, glaringly white. You are in a peaceful meadow, washed clean, and ready to enter the perfect Presence of the One and Only. Take a moment to be thankful of this opportunity to communicate with the Maker of Heaven and Earth, an opportunity purchased for you through Christ’s blood.
Now that you are fully in the presence of God, you can ask to have a heart like Christ’s so that you might fulfill the commandment which encompasses all the others: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40). A heart like Christ’s will embrace compassion, seek God always, see through eyes of love.
Finally, you can pray for the wisdom of Christ, so that you might know the true will of God and do it. Wisdom knows the Bible in its totality and doesn’t decide right and wrong based on what “feels right.” Wisdom is self-aware of one’s own frailties and failings. Wisdom is slow to anger and knows that judgment is that work of God and not of man.

When you have prepared your mind in this way as you pray, you will find that your heart and brain are working together to really pray to God with your whole self. You are more focused on thinking about the needs of others as well as yourself. Most importantly, you are fully aware of the privilege of standing before the throne of God.

I Will Shine His Light this week by practicing my prayers. Knowing that, like any good thing worth doing, prayer too takes practice, I will rejoice in my opportunities to approach the Father. I will be glad that even if my prayers are only groanings, I can be confident that God understands me anyway.