Recently I was visiting a Bible Study and the topic for the evening was prayer. As participants were discussing prayer, success stories of answered prayers, hindrances to a more effective prayer life I became increasingly disturbed and saddened.
I was disturbed because of the realization that you could have cut and pasted the words “texting” or “toasters” for the word prayer in the discussion and it would have made perfect sense. “Texting” is an inanimate activity we engage in to communicate with in cyberspace. A “toaster” is an inanimate object that most use from time to time and with varying degrees of success in accomplishing our obvious objective.
I was saddened because the very best part of “prayer” is interacting with the one I a praying to – The Lord. He is my inheritance, He is my hope, He is my Shepherd, my refuge, my strength, my Bridegroom, my protector, my joy, my promise maker and promise keeper and soul-satisfier. Intimacy with THE LORD GOD is the very best that it can get.
We do the people of God a disservice when teach and preach about “prayer” disconnected to Holy One we are praying to. Many believers struggle in prayer because they have somehow lost focus of the one whom they are to pray to.
Show me someone who struggles to pray out loud in a small group or large group, and I will show you someone who is more aware of their human “audience” than their divine “audience.” Our divine audience isn’t concerned with flowery words or our use of “thee” and “thous.” What impresses God is a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17).
Prayer is not some inanimate noun, it is a divine verb. Prayer is the activity of talking with and listening to our Heavenly Daddy.
What made me thirsty 35 years ago to turn to God was a conversation I overheard from some very ordinary teenagers. I overheard them talking about how the God of the universe was involved in their day to day lives. I concluded that evening that if having a relationship with God was possible, I wanted some of that for myself. The activity of prayer facilitates my interaction with that God.
Comments
"Show me someone who struggles to pray out loud in a small group or large group, and I will show you someone who is more aware of their human “audience” than their divine “audience.” Our divine audience isn’t concerned with flowery words or our use of “thee” and “thous.” What impresses God is a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17)."
I couldn't agree more. That's exactly why it's so important for group leaders to set the right tone for prayer in their groups. The leader must set the pace, must establish the understanding that we are praying TO God, WITH people. The two-dimensional nature of praying in a group setting can be very confusing to people if this is not clearly spelled out. This is especially true when group members are in the habit of praying long, flowery prayers designed more for the group to hear than for God to hear.