Prayer
Christians are praying less and less. Some estimate the length of time dedicated to personal prayer by the average church attender to be as little as 3-5 minutes a day, the duration of a TV commercial break at the top of the hour. Clergy fare only slightly better, averaging 10-15 minutes or a coffee breaks worth. It's also been noted you can judge how popular a church is by the number attending Sunday services and how popular the pastor is by those attending mid week. If you want to see how popular God is count those attending a weekly prayer meeting. Today's average is 1% of the congregation if there is one at all...
Art of Prayer
Prayer, like faith, comes in various forms and serves a variety of purposes. Prayer is perhaps the foremost way we communicate with God. While we can and should do far more than pray, we can and will be far more successful in seeking and serving God as we begin to master the art.
As in many if not all aspects of life, our experiences in the physical world provides insight into the spiritual. For the Christian, prayer has been likened to breathing. From this metaphor one can see the important role prayer plays and understand the Apostle Paul's admonition to "pray without ceasing."
Like a newborn taking it's first breath, prayer births us into the Kingdom. Here, as in delivery rooms, some babies breath naturally while others are "slapped" into taking their first breath and none to happy about it. Either way, most quickly get the hang of it, snuggling down to enjoy their mother's comfort and care.
As the months and years pass, children learn to speak by hearing the sound of their parents' voice. Infant's cooing gives way to the babbling of toddlers. Once children master even a small vocabulary the fun begins. Questions and comments fly fast and loud, filling the air at the home and in the car, playground and shopping mall. Inquisitive and playful, day and night they give parents and siblings an earful. In return they grow in understanding and love.
So it should be with us and our Father in Heaven. Maturing into adulthood we should grow familiar with all seven forms of prayer. We should become adapt at approaching God. We should develop understanding of the magnificence of scripture and use the Bible as our guide to teach us how to bridge the apparent silence and distance of God.
As in the case of language, a certain level of expertise should be expected. Imagine a child who, while able to speak, for the most part refused to. What acceptable excuse could a kid give for refusing to speak or listen to it's parents? Yet how few among the billions invest much effort in serious prayer. Stubbornly refusing to "breathe" has left hundreds of millions "blue in the face" or even worse. Being unwilling to dedicate the time and effort necessary to learn to speak with and listen to God through prayer has resulted only in making matters worse.
Unanswered prayer is far and away the leading cause of prayerlessness. Simply put, if prayer could be counted on to work regularly you couldn't get people of their knees.
Ignorance concerning who can pray so God will hear is the number one reason for unanswered prayer. Yet the Bible offers countless passages concerning the conditions under which God can be relied upon to answer prayer. Ironically, undeveloped or lost faith on account of lack of answers to prayer prevents most from studying the scriptures on the subject.
Discussions on the topic of unanswered prayer are even rarer than prayer meetings, themselves few and far between. Rather than admit our need for an unprecedented revival of the power, provision and protection of God, and our responsibility to seek it through repentance, most prefer to pretend prayer works just fine or except the time for miracles is past. While both positions seem easier than facing our desperate situation head on, they are Biblically inaccurate.
Spirit and Truth
God the Father "seeks such to worship Him in spirit and truth." Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life." The Holy Spirit, also known as the "Spirit of truth" is promised to guide us "into all truth." Honesty is an essential part of truth. Facing the facts concerning our situation is hard work most refuse to do yet without doing so we wont get far is seeking God. We must come to Him on His terms. We should let the whole of scripture tutor us as to how He would have us approach. We aught to remember Christ's declaration in Earth's greatest spiritual battle, "man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
Prayer is only the second of many stages on the path to acceptably worshipping God and enjoying Him forever. Though the challenges and risk before us are great, so are the opportunities and rewards. Here's were the rubber of faith begins meeting the road. It's hard admitting our condition yet what could be easier than telling God about it? Is our faith in God to weak to believe seeking Him diligently through daily and corporate prayer is worth the effort? If so, what hope do we have that either we or our loved ones will complete the "endure to the end" and be saved?
How to Pray
For those interested in engaging in series prayer there are several ways to do so. We've identified several methods or modes of prayer. These include:
- The Prayer of Silence: Designed to clear the mind and acclimatize our souls to the importance and practice of serious prayer.
- The Prayer of Repentance: Clearly a key part of approaching God at a time when the quantity and quality of personal and corporate sin is at an all time high.
- Conversational Prayer: The most common for of prayer taken to a whole new level.
- Contemplative Thanksgiving: Taking the time to thoughtfully give thanks and stop and smell the roses along the way.
- Prayer of Petition: A new look at a old favorite. How and why to ask and keep asking as well as how develop an extensive prayer list.
- Prayer of Complaint: Wrestling with God and refusing to take no for an answer. Humbly yet boldly approaching God when life and/or answers to prayer leave much to be desired. Desperation enough to ask, seek and knock until insight is given.
- Prayer of Stillness: What to do when every mode has failed to bring the answers we desperately need.
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Seven Prayer Modes
- Mode 1: Prayer of Silence
- Mode 2: Prayer of Repentance
- Mode 3: Conversational Prayer
- Mode 4: Contemplative Thanksgiving
- Mode 5: Prayer of Petition
- Mode 6: Prayer of Complaint
More Resources
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