Is the majority of prayer that you hear serious prayer or simply the repeating of well-worn prayer phrases and ideas? Are pray-ers giving serious thought to the wording of their prayers? For instance, if you are talking with me you don’t need to use my name at the beginning and end of every sentence. So why do pray-ers use God’s name in this fashion? Again, how much of modern prayer could be classified as “vain repetition” (Matthew 6:7) like that used by the heathen in Jesus’ day? “Asking God to “lead, guide, and direct” seems to be asking the same thing three times. “Bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies” is a bit repetitious. If God blesses the food, it will in turn, nourish the body. Lord, if you want me to witness to someone today. . .” God has already requested that of you in His Word. Little need for repeating. It makes one wonder if those praying are actually talking with God or with their fellow worshippers. Theologian and author, Theodore Jennings wrote, “People learn to be atheists not from too much contact with the world, but from too much contact with the church. No number of closely reasoned proofs for the existence of God will ever overcome the impression gained Sunday after Sunday that our prayers are addressed to ourselves.” Peter encouraged the seriousness of our prayer by writing, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers” (I Peter 4:7). If we really believed, and lived as though the end was at hand, what difference would it make in our prayers?
Comments
Dan - great thoughts. I've often thought very similar things. How often do we say something like "I pray that you would..." instead of simply asking God to do what we're praying for? In how many "normal" conversations does a phrase like that show up? We multiply words in prayer because we're praying on auto-pilot.
I learned much about more direct prayer to God from praying with my former pastor, Wayne Alguire. I don't recall him ever using the word "I" in a prayer. He never said things like "I pray that you would". His total focus was on God, and he never prayed on auto-pilot. His intercessions were simple, direct, pleas - like "Father, please provide for the victims of Hurricane Katrina", etc.
Along the same lines, how often are our prayers something we're actually asking of others rather than of God? "Father, I pray that your people will..." WHAT?? If we want the people to do something, we need to talk to the people. If we need God to do a work in people's hearts to give them a concern for something, then that's what we need to ask of him. "Lord, please give your people passion for the unborn", etc. When the subject of our prayer verbs is anything but God, we're not asking of him - we're asking of others. And our focus is directed to the horizontal, not the vertical.
It can sound mechanical to think about things like this in prayer - and it can be, at first. But the more I've learned to pray this way, the closer I've felt to God. Multiplying words tends to distance us from God (at least, in my experience), where direct, humble please draw us near. Focusing on the horizontal - what others need to do or how they need to change - distances us from God; whereas focusing on his work and his honor draws us near.
Like all disciplines, structuring our thinking in prayer takes some time and some conscious effort - but my experience is that it's been well worth it!!
Again, Dan - thanks for this post! You really hit me where I live.