The Experience of Studying Hebrew as a Student Who is Blind
Sarah Blake is a licensed minister with the Church of God (Anderson, IN). She is available to provide biblical teaching, ministry seminars, or music ministry for your church. Hear samples from some of her presentations and contact her for booking information.
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With our prayers we touch God's heart. The Bible is full of examples in which He heard prayers and answered. Jesus told his disciples 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.
This prayer guides us in 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.
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.
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!
My maternal grandparents lived nearby when I was a child and attended church with my family. My grandmother died at the end of my second year of college. During the year before her death, she spent time typing up journal entries on my mother's computer.. I discovered them during one of my trips home from college during her final weeks of life. Reading her words about prayer encouraged me and helped me as I formed my own thoughts, many of which are reflected in the words above. She wrote:
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!
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.
Sarah J. Blake