TEACH ME TO PRAY
We teach our children to pray by having them memorize "Now I lay me down to sleep" or some similar child's prayer. What a thrill when they begin to compose their own prayers. Mike was such a spiritual child; he loved to pray. Or was it that he wanted to put off going to bed? "Thank you for mother, thank you for daddy, thank you for Cheryl, thank you for Cindy, thank you for grandma and grandpa, thank you for my friends, thank you for our church, thank you for the trees, thank you for the frogs ..." How do you tell a child he has prayed long enough, or even too long?
Cindy was two years old when she composed her first prayer. Her usual table prayer was, "Thank you, Jesus, for the food." But this was Easter and she had just received a big chocolate duck. She bowed her head and said, "Dear Lord, I got a duck. Amen."
That's praying. Tell Jesus what's on your heart. Too often we pray by rote; we pray "by heart" rather than from the heart. I think He was glad she told Him about the duck. Nothing is too small, too intimate to share with our Lord. He wants to share our sorrows, our joys, our needs, and our thanksgiving. Most of all, He wants us to "let Him in". He wants to be a part of our everyday life.
The children still pray. They not only pray, they ask us to pray with them and for them. They seem to have confidence in Gerald's prayers. It's not unusual to receive a phone call, sometimes long distance, requesting that "Gramps get on the hotline".
Often the prayers have been answered. Was it because Gramps prayed, or because the children themselves exercised their faith and prayed? God knew all the time what the need was, but for some reason He wants us to unite our hearts, to recognize and voice the need. He is a prayer-answering God. He is also a faith-giving, reminding-us-to-pray God. He reminds us to pray for the need He wants to supply. He gives the faith, the prayer and the answer. What a wonderful God!
My niece, Harmony, is seven years old and has twice faced significant medical problems requiring surgery. She has attended Christian preschool in the past and now attends a private Christian school where she is in the first grade. God is real to her, and praying is as natural for her as asking for a drink of water when she is thirsty. My parents and I often take her to church with us.
One day before her most recent surgery, Harmony asked my sister to pray. My sister does not currently attend church, and when I heard this story I wondered if Harmony's request "put her on the spot". But she prayed anyway.
The pain did not go away, and Harmony kept pressing the issue. Finally, Harmony prayed herself, and the pain became tolerable.
Does God still heal? Does He answer our prayers? These are not easy questions to ask, and. I have struggled with them for much of my life. I think that Harmony was searching for the answers in her own way, even though she is too young right now to know how to put them into words. The pain didn't go away, Mom. Pray again. ... All right... I'll pray. Surely God is listening. That's what I've been told...
My struggles are different at the surface. I am blind. God has not completely healed me. He has intervened supernaturally in my life, and I believe that His intervention is the reason I still have some usable vision today. If He had not intervened in this way, would it make Him less real? No. And He did not intervene so that I would believe. He intervened because He recognized my sincere cry for validation of my tiny bit of faith. "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief." His intervention spoke to me. "My child, I am."
My grandmother shared in these struggles and wrote about them in 1991, leaving her thoughts in a file for one of us to stumble upon someday...
GOD DOES ANSWER PRAYER
We KNOW that God answers prayer. Why is it so difficult, sometimes, to believe that He will answer ME? He has worked miracles in our family, yet I must learn over and over again that I can really rely on Him!
When I learned that my breast cancer had metastasized to the lungs, I accepted it as fact and thought of the things I must do while there is still time. I must clean out the closets because, you know, people will be coming in. And I don't want the kids to have to go through all that stuff when I'm gone; it would be too painful for them. We must get rid of anything that's not really used so there won't be any unnecessary work around here. I thought of praying for healing but, after all, I'm seventy years old and we all have to go sometime. I can't complain if it came a little sooner than I expected. But healing would be nice--if it's God's will.
How can I know if it's God's will? He healed all kinds of illnesses when He was on this earth, why not now? Well, if He tells me it's His will, I certainly will then have the faith for healing.
So I put out a fleece. Not just any old fleece. If God brings this to pass, I'll know without a doubt that it's His will.
One day as I was praying, "God, show me if it's your will to heal me", He said, "I have told you over and over in my word. Why can't you believe the promises I've already given you?" Gradually my thinking changed, my prayers changed. I quit worrying about the fleece. And one day I said, "I'm ready." Again and again I read James 5:14-15. "Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up." We began watching Benny Hinn on TV. His ways are different from ours. I've never seen anyone "slain in the Spirit" or heard anyone speak in tongues. But the people in his services do seem to be healed. Maybe we should go to one of his services; he's coming to Dallas.
No. I want to be healed in my own church. If I'm to be healed, I want it to happen among my family and friends, that their faith might increase. I'm sure many of our church folk have never seen a real miraculous healing, something big. Since I am having x-rays in two weeks, and I want a verifiable healing, it is time. I'm ready. I believe.
Last Sunday I was anointed in our church, surrounded by my family and friends. The pastor read James 5:14-15 and prayed for my healing. I wasn't quite sure who he meant when he prayed for "this dear saint of the church". That's a term usually used in reference to old people in the church. It's very humbling to be called a saint. I did not fall to the floor or feel a tingling from head to toe. But I believe that when I have new x-rays taken in two weeks, THERE WILL BE A DIFFERENCE. THERE WILL BE A VERIFIABLE HEALING. Thank you, God.
Did God intervene? I do not know. The x-rays did not change. The cancer slowly grew and spread throughout Granny's body. She died a physical death on April 19, 1992. She was blessed with time to minister to her family, and this she did even in her weakness. In everything she did, she gave glory to God the Father. She never lost hope in His love and grace, even when God did not answer her prayer in the way she had hoped He would.
With our prayers we touch God's heart. The Bible is full of examples in which He heard prayers and answered and instruction to believers to pray, being so bold as to believe that we will receive whatever we ask for--believing, in fact, that we already have received it!
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Philippians 4:6)
"... the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (James 5:16)
Yet prayer is not a magic wand. We cannot move the hand of God so that our will is done. When we become followers of Jesus Christ, we submit ourselves to the will of the Father, God. He is compassionate and merciful; yet He has a divine will, and it is His will which must be done and He who must receive glory and honor. All that we ask which will give glory and honor to Him will be accomplished. If we ask selfishly, even if our selfishness is disguised by all the right words, we ask wrongly; and God does not honor these prayers. C. S. Lewis gives this concept much attention in his book, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, in a lengthy discussion of the prayer of Jesus in the garden in Gethsemane.
Lewis also discusses the use of others' prayers as recitation. There is nothing magical about certain words. As Lewis points out, "we will continually pour into them our own meaning." Yet we are always looking for "prayer formulas". The Harpazo Network's commentary on The Prayer of Jabez illustrates the dangers of this practice. These dangers may not indicate that recitation of prayers should be avoided altogether. Andrew Meeks explores the topic further in his article,
Prayer of the Faithful and Spiritual Development.
How then shall we pray? Jesus' disciples asked this question of him as he taught them in his sermon on the Mount.
Jesus answered by providing a new prayer. Sadly, this prayer is often used as a recitation, just like all the others. How often have we spoken it without understanding its meaning? In doing so, are we maintaining a form of godliness while denying the power? May God forgive us!
The prayer which Jesus taught his disciples is a model. It dictates how we shall relate to God: as a Father whose name is holy. We are to acknowledge the holiness of his name with our lips and our hearts. Read more.
It dictates what we are to desire from God: the supplying of what we need today, and forgiveness for our sins (also known as debts or tresspasses). But we also must not take this forgiveness selfishly. Forgive me as I forgive. What does this mean. Give unto me the measure which I give. The will of God is reconciliation of people to Himself and to one another.
In this prayer we acknowledge our need for God's guidance and protection. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." And if we ask Him to lead, shouldn't we act to follow that leading?
Finally, the prayer defines our focus. "Yours is the kingdom (authority), the power (strength), and the glory (honor) forever (in this moment, in the next, tomorrow, throughout my life).
Amen. The end of the prayer? Certainly not! Amen! So be it! "Amen!" is a declaration, a commitment. God's "Amen!" to us is, "Thus saith the Lord," a promise, a covenant.
More study materials regarding how to pray are available from Blessed Hope. John Chopores has also put together a study page about the Lord's prayer which examines the phrases in more detail with Scripture references. The devotional, In His Name, available from Prayer Central, provides a further look at the names of God, helping readers to recognize His name as hallowed.
So prayer becomes not a spoken set of words but a state of the heart, and God responds according to the state of our hearts. When our faith is weak and we desire for it to be strengthened, He moves to encourage us. When we ask, He answers--and His answers are never wrong!
But what if my heart is full of fear and shame and selfish desires? What if what I really want is to throw a tantrum in front of my Father because I think He doesn't care what I need or want?
Do not hide your heart from God. David prayed for God to destroy his enemies. That doesn't sound much like loving and praying for those who persecute! He cried out in anguish, feeling that God was ignoring him. And he recognized the state of his heart and prayed, "Create in me a clean heart ... and renew a right spirit in me." Of course, God answered, and David's prayers always brought him closer to God.
Have you ever heard of praying the Word of God? It sounded like a good buzz word to me until I realized that I had seen it done many years before and remembered how powerful the experience was. Praying the Word of God is an application of the Word to one's own life. It is recognizing the timelessness of the concepts and the power of God and His ability and willingness to be present for us in a personal way.
That first experience which I spoke of occurred via email. My friend and sister in Christ, Vicki, sat alone in a motel room, having separated herself from an abusive husband and hoping that he would seek help and that their marriage could be restored. Through her pain, she composed a prayer based on Psalm 23.
Vicki's time on earth was finished just eight months later. The circumstances of her death pained me greatly; but the truth remains that her life was and continues to be a testimony of childlike faith in God. She devoted herself to the ministry of prayer and to sharing the truth about Jesus Christ with others. In keeping with her ministry, I have posted her prayer on this site. I pray not only that her faith encourages all who read it but also that God will use it to draw them into a deep, personal relationship with Him through interactive prayer and study of His Word.
More suggestions for ways to pray can be found at Prayer Central.
Intercession is the act of holding up another person and/or the work of the Lord in prayer. The Prayer Page (not a part of this site) has an excellent outline for studying the topic of intercession. If you feel a strong burden or heaviness of heart and don't understand why, God may be tugging at your heart, calling you to intercede. Ask for His guidance. Ask Him to give you the burdens of your heart so that you may pray for His will. He will do it!
If you are called to the ministry of intercession, others may wish to join with you. Wayne Tow's suggestions for starting a prayer ministry may be helpful. Prayer groups can open doors for God to work in mighty ways; however, it is vital that the group agree and be aware of things which can hinder prayer.
Wanda Schwant's site, Intimate Prayer, offers articles, book reviews, and material for use in prayer groups.
Pursuing Intimacy with God is an in-depth Bible study designed to help people build deep, interactive relationships with God.
Michael Fackerell provides free teaching and study materials on prayer and fasting.
Peter Taylor Forsyth's page about the spirit of prayer encourages readers to take an honest look at their hearts and experience the love of God in Christ, which provides the acceptance necessary for finding the courage to examine areas of self-deceit which hinder our prayers.
The links from Prayer Central used in the context of this page are only a sampling of what is available. I encourage readers to look further into this site, especially the teachings page.
May I pray for you? I welcome mail with prayer requests--and I hope you'll not forget to tell me how God answers! Email me with your requests.