Worth Green, Th. M., D. Min.
Prayer is arguably a human being’s first act of faith in God. According the Scripture, God addresses us constantly. In Romans 1 the apostle writes:
“Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.”
And in Psalm 19we read:
1 The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; 4 yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
Prayer is our response to God’s initiative. It turns monologue into dialogue.
I think it is impossible to be Christian without prayer. The Moravian hymnist James Montgomery got it right:
Prayer is the Christians vital breath,
The Christian’s native air,
His watchword at the gates of death,
He enters heaven with prayer.
He enters heaven (not someday but now) with (not “in,” but ”with” or “by means” of) prayer. By faith prayer sets us—and our concerns, before God.
I believe that learning to pray is like learning to breathe. We begin the process unconsciously. Then, at some point, we seek to improve our abilities. Those who want to breathe better do cardio, we walk, we run, we swim, etc. We get off the couch, turn off the TV, and get into the game. Those who want to pray better pray more often. We learn by doing.
I do not believe there is a single formula for prayer. What works for me may not work for you. What works for you may not work for me. God makes allowances for our differences. Let me demonstrate a lack of formula for prayer in just two points:
First, it is obvious from Scripture that some prayer should be private, and some prayer should be public, an act of community.
In Matthew 6:5-6, Jesus said to his disciples:
5 And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
The late Alma Owen took this command very seriously. She used the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. In the KJV, Jesus does not say “room,” but “closet.” Alma had in her house a small walk in-closet. She put a desk in it, and a chair, and her Bible, and a notebook. Each day she would enter her closet to pray. It must have worked. She taught a Bible study for many years that brought more than 100 people, young and old, into the Little Church on the Lane, many making first-time professions of faith.
This single statement by Jesus has often been used to suggest that prayer ought to be a purely private matter. Some think that no prayer is genuine unless it is secret prayer. I know people who will not pray in public because they think they do not have the words, but I know other who will not pray in public because they think that public prayer it is nothing but showing off, an act of hypocrisy.
Again, I think it is a mistake to say that private prayer is always right and public prayer is always wrong. According to Luke chapter 9, not long after Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them to a high mountain apart by themselves and there they prayed. It was in prayer that Jesus transfigured before his disciples. He was at a place in his ministry when he wanted his prayers confirmed in the community of his disciples. The transfiguration was not as much for him, as for them.
And what about table grace? We read that, at the last meal Jesus shared together with his disciples, Jesus took bread, and when he had blessed it, or prayed over it, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body.’” Then the cup, after supper saying, “This is the cup of the new covenant.” However you slice it, or break it, or share it, Jesus started the single most important ritual in the community of faith after a public prayer of blessing. And what about the night of his betrayal? According to the gospel record Jesus went to the Garden and took with him Peter, James, and John. Yes, he went off by himself to pray; but he was continually returning to them. He needed their support. He urged them to pray, too, that they may not enter into temptation.
There are times when prayer should be in secret and there are times when prayer ought to take place in a community of believers. In Matthew 18:19-20 Jesus says:
Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
There are times when disciples are drawn together for prayer, hoping to achieve in agreement what we cannot achieve alone.
Before leaving the subject of public and private prayer, I would mention that there are times when we ought to pray, and to seek God’s face in community. And sometimes we pray alone in the midst of community. According to Luke 9:18, just before Jesus asked his disciples who they though he was, “Jesus was praying alone the disciples were with him!” That it an odd grammatical construction. Scholars are not sure how to translate it. Was Jesus praying alone, or were his disciples praying with him? Perhaps he was praying alone in their midst? Suffice it to say that there are times when we are alone in a crowd, and our aloneness forces us toward prayer. We pray for those whom we are with. Soon we feel more comfortable being with them. We are there with a purpose.
That raises the issue of pastoral prayer. The purpose of pastoral prayer is to gather up the concerns of the congregation and place them before God. Yet, this too can be a solitary act. I recall reading a book of sermons by the early 20th Century Scottish Presbyterian preacher, Arthur John Gossip. In one of his sermons Gossip recalls how he once opened his eyes at the end of a pastoral prayer and was surprised to find himself in church. His prayer had so transported his thoughts God-ward that he had reckoned himself alone in his study.
Some prayers are solitary prayers, some prayers are prayers by a community, and some are a combination of the two.
Second, I would point out that some prayers are long and some prayers are short.
The length of a prayer sometimes depends upon the nature of the one who prays. Let me give you a simple example.
A picture is worth 1,000 words. Only 7 percent of communication between people is verbal, the rest is non-verbal, including everything from the tone of one’s voice, to the look on one’s face, to one’s body language. Some of us are able to convey our deepest feelings with a look, or groan, or a tear. In Romans 8, St. Paul says that sometimes, when we don’t know how to pray as we ought, “the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with sighs too deep for words.” But others love words, and they may require more time to talk something out, even in prayer.
Circumstances will differ, too. On a good day, our prayer time may be short. Some say that supreme example for prayer is the Lord’s Prayer or Disciple’s Prayer, found in Matthew and Luke. In Matthew Chapter 6 Jesus says to his disciples:
“7 And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread; 12 And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors; 13 And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.”
In Matthew, in the RSV, the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, is only 54 words long. It does not even close with the word “Amen.” . The KJV adds, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” Luke’s version of the prayer is shorter still, just 37 words.
Some genuine prayers are even shorter. In Luke 18:13 Jesus reports that the tax collector, simply beat upon his breast and cried, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” It was a good prayer. Jesus said, “He went away justified.” The tax collector’s seven words were enough. They reached heaven, and unloosed God’s grace and forgiveness. Likewise, most of the recorded prayers of Jesus are quite brief, some no more than a sentence, or a single plea, such as, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”, or “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Some prayers are long. Some circumstances of life require much prayer. According to the Luke 6: 12-13, before Jesus called together his disciples, and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles, he went into the hills to pray, and he “continued the whole night in prayer.”
How did Jesus spend that night? Exegesis is to read out of scripture what is there. Isogesis is to read into scripture what may or may not be there. This is purely isogesis, but as for myself, I imagine Jesus, alone on the side of the mountain, carefully considering his experience with each of those who had left work, and home, and family to follow him, finally choosing the twelve he thought that God would have him to choose, even though he expected one of them would turn out to be not just a false friend, but a devil. Jesus wanted something from his “whole night in prayer.” He wanted God’s guidance.
Occasionally, people mention to me that they, too, have passed a night in prayer. I remember my father one morning at breakfast telling my mother that he had prayed through the night. I suppose I myself have prayed through the night, not intentionally, but unintentionally. It often goes like this. Sometimes my life becomes so busy I cannot sleep. My mind races along at 10,000 miles an hour and nothing can slow it down. When that happens, I cannot help but lie awake. Initially, I always fight my restless, trying to sleep. I read. I count sheep. I put on soft music. I have even been known to listen to Zamfir, and his pan flute. If none of that works, I simply acknowledge God’s presence in the night, and the fact that the LORD God, who “watches over Israel” (And the Church!), “neither slumbers nor sleeps.” Then, Like Martin Luther, I begin searching out myself before God, and God before my self. Like E. Stanley Jones, I turn my bed into a listening post, and try to discern what God is saying to me through my restlessness. Failing that, I often pray for you, and for my family, and for my friends. Jesus says that we ought to pray for our enemies, too.
Often, as a result of a long and sleepless night, I have added some new discipline or routine to my life. On other occasions, I have realized it is time to let something go. For example, when I was younger I used to boast that I liked to work hard and play hard. Some years ago, I started playing less hard, and now I find myself worrying that I can no longer work as hard, or as long as I once could. Now I have to work smarter.”
Let me say again, prayer may be long, and prayer may be short. In his book The Prayers of Jesus, the late Dr. Elton Trueblood, points out that true devotion is not about the length of our prayers, long or short, but about a life dedicating itself and aligning itself to God.
“Prayer,” said P.T. Forsyth, “is the great two handed engine at our door. “ When I read that I think of Albrecht Dürer’s “Praying Hands.” By prayer we enter heaven. By prayer we claim God’s promises, and lay hold of God’s provisions. By prayer we move the earth. More things are accomplished in prayer than we can imagine. “Prayer changes things,” said the late Dr. J.C. McPheeters, first President of Asbury Theological Seminary, “prayer changes the pray-er.” Prayer changes me. Prayer changes you.
Jesus did not say, “If you pray, say…” He said, “When you pray, say…’
If we are not praying, and praying regularly, our lives are impoverished by it.
Finis