On Prayer
December 25, 2024
Prayer has always been something of a mystery to me.
As a child I started with those typical, "Now I lay me down to sleep"-type-prayers. We always prayed as a family before meals (holding hands), and of course in church, and before classes in school (I attended a Christian school.) Prayer was just something that you did, and I guess I didn't think about it very much.
But as I grew up and left home and joined more charismatic-type churches, I began to hear more and more about the power of prayer, and my view of it started to change. It went from being kind of a side-bar thing to being more central. In my desire for an intimate relationship with Christ, prayer became the ultimate act of communion, the place where I could bare my soul and truly connect. The power to move mountains was found in my great faith, manifested in the emotional, moving prayers coming from the depths of my heart.
Most of them were ex corde - literally "from the heart" or spontaneous - made up on the spot - and not rote. These seemed to be more authentic and more powerful than ones that were read, because we really "meant" them. What good was there in praying someone else's written prayer? Wasn't it kind of fake to give to God someone else's words rather than your own?
There's a movie called "War Room", and that depicted pretty clearly what my beliefs about prayer - and it's meaning and purpose - ultimately became. God is all powerful, yes, but it is up to us to access that power through the means he has given us: prayer. We pray, and he responds by doing miraculous things. Thus we need to be proactive about it, be bold and audacious in our prayers, devote plenty of time to the practice, and be intentional about making it happen.
Now, I never created a "prayer closet", but I did spend time writing in prayer journals. At first I intended to just keep a record of who and what I prayed for - and I did some of that early on - but eventually I just started writing in my journal in the form of a prayer. (While most of my old journals have long since been placed in the circular file, some of those remain, as a window into a former time in my life.)
For a while I would come early to church to attend the pre-service prayer meeting. We would spend an extended period of time crying out to God, asking Him to move mightily in the service. Based on stories about the power of prayer - books like Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala or Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick, or tales of "Praying Hyde" or Father Nash - I came to believe that the power of God was found, not primarily in the Word being preached, or even necessarily in the praise and worship music, but it was found in our prayers.
Aside from being a power-source, prayer was viewed as a two-way conversation. It makes sense, in the relationship paradigm. When we talk with people, it's not just a monologue - or, it shouldn't be. Rather, there is a give and take. We speak, and then we listen. I would speak, and then sit and listen for that "still, small voice" - some inner prompting that I would take to be the voice of God. (That idea is taken from one verse twisted out of it's context, by the way.)
And if no answer came? Maybe he didn't hear. I probably wasn't [genuine enough, emotional enough, honest enough, holy enough, etc.]
When I was a kid, we had an embroidered version of the Lord's Prayer hanging on the wall in our house at the bottom of the stairs, and one day I decided to memorize it. I don't remember why, I think I was just bored. Over the years I heard plenty of sermons on that text, and on several occasions pastors would do a sermon series on prayer, using it as a guide - a framework of sorts. But the number of times we prayed it together that I remember, I could probably count on two hands, maybe just one. Jesus didn't mean for us to pray it EXACTLY, it was rather just a general outline to follow.
Now, it certainly is that, but we Lutherans take a bit of a different stance. He says, "When you pray, SAY...", which with a clear, basic reading of the text certainly sounds like He's giving us actual words to speak. And so we do so, together, in unison, every week in the Divine Service, and plenty of times elsewhere too. We say it at home, we say it when we rise and when we go to bed, we say it whenever the desire to pray strikes but we don't know what to say. Because these are Jesus' own Words, we know that He is pleased with them, and they are according to His will.
There are other prayers that we pray, and most of them - in the service at least - are pre-written, many of which have been handed down for generations. One of the oldest is the Kyrie Eleison: originally in Greek, the English translation is simply, "Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy." It hearkens back to the tax collector's prayer, as well as others (the Caananite woman, blind men crying out to Jesus, etc.) This one is always appropriate.
And then there are the Psalms, the Bible's own prayer book. In them God gives us words to pray back to Him, words which were sung by the Israelites (in which Jesus Himself would have participated - and, indeed, prayed from the cross), and which give voice to some of the deepest cries of our hearts. Some of them convey such anger and anguish and lament that, of our own understanding, we might blush to bring them before God...and yet we know that because He is the Author, it is ok. He sees our griefs and our pain; He will not be shocked, and He already knows.
It is wonderful that, when we don't know what to say or how to begin, we can turn to God's Word, and He puts the words in our mouths.
Of course, ex corde prayers are a very good thing, too. Being able to approach our Heavenly Father with our requests based on our particular worries and struggles and situations in life is very important. Even with those, though, we learn how to form them by looking to the Word.
I was so confused about prayer that when I became Lutheran and realized how much I was misunderstanding, I pretty much stuck to written prayers for a while. Even now they make up the majority of my prayers. They are just as meaningful - if often not more so - than those that I conjure up on the spot.
Ultimately, however, God hears, not because of how flowery my words are, or how much emotion I drum up - or how "authentic" they are - but because He is my Father, He invites me to pray, and most importantly, He has promised to hear. Prayer is communication - it is actual words, not just a "posture" or a feeling - and if we look in the Scriptures, we see that it is one-way. We bring our prayers to God, and He listens. When He speaks to us, He speaks through His Word, understood in its proper context.
Is there power in prayer? Yes, but not in the way that I originally thought. Prayer is not a mystical energy source, nor is it a way to prove to God how much faith I have, or a way to twist God's arm and bring about miracles. Faith clings to Christ and what He has done on the Cross. It holds God to His Word. And it is that Word - the very spoken Word that created the heavens and the earth - that is powerful, as the Holy Spirit works through it as He wills, with or without my prayer.
I still don't understand everything about prayer - nor will I, most likely, in this life. There is a mystery to it. It is both a command and a gift, a law and a gracious invitation. My prayers often falter, I do not pray as often as I should, and when I do pray I am not as sincere and attentive as I should be. But here's the other wonderful thing: Jesus prays for me. He not only taught us to pray, He took on flesh and prayed perfectly on my behalf, so that all of my prayers - and the prayers of all of the saints - rise before the Father as sweet smelling incense, pleasing to Him.
It's hard to improve upon Luther, so I'll leave you with what his Small Catechism teaches us about prayer - the Lord's Prayer, specifically:
Our Father who art in heaven.
What does this mean? With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.
Hallowed be Thy name.
What does this mean? God’s name is certainly holy in itself, but we pray in this petition that it may be kept holy among us also.
How is God’s name kept holy? God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this, heavenly Father.
Thy kingdom come.
What does this mean? The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also.
How does God’s kingdom come? God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
What does this mean? The good and gracious will of God is done even without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may be done among us also.
How is God’s will done? God’s will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God’s name or let His kingdom come; and when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die.
This is His good and gracious will.
Give us this day our daily bread.
What does this mean? God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.
What is meant by daily bread? Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
What does this mean? We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation.
What does this mean? God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory.
But deliver us from evil.
What does this mean? We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
What does this mean? This means that I should be certain that these petitions are pleasing to our Father in heaven, and are heard by Him; for He Himself has commanded us to pray in this way and has promised to hear us. Amen, amen means “yes, yes, it shall be so.”
-M
Amen.
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