Lord, Teach Us to Pray (Part 2)
By Quintin Morrow
Most of us are familiar with the old saw which declares that one longs to soar with the eagles but is surrounded (and grounded) instead with the turkeys. In as much as this sentiment corresponds to our prayer life as Christians, we intuit that we ought to have the confident and mountain-moving prayer life of the great saints of the past, but instead find ourselves congregating regularly with seemingly average believers who share the same insecurity about the efficacy of their prayers as we, and are ourselves slaves to the unrealistic demands of our modern culture. In short, we long to pray like St. Paul but find few pray-ers like the Apostle in our local church and are too busy to pray like them even if we could identify them.
Francis of Assisi, it is reported, spent all day every Friday in prayer, accompanied with a complete abstinence from food or drink. Adoniram Judson, the great 19th century American Baptist missionary who labored for forty years preaching the Gospel in Burma, was said to have punctuated every day's activities with 7 trips to his tent to pray-most times for at least an hour at a time. John Wesley, George Whitefield and Jonathon Edwards, all fearless and tireless Gospel preachers who brought spiritual revival to both England and America , prayed daily into the wee hours of the morning. The 16th century Protestant reformer Martin Luther once said that he could get nothing meaningful done unless he spent at least 3 hours a day in prayer. The number of prayer warriors in the past is, of course, myriad. But we ponder our litany of daily obligations and wonder how we could get anything done - meaningful or not - were we to spend an equivalent amount of time each day in prayer.
But perhaps therein lies the real point. For whatever reason we have allowed Satan to so clutter our lives with seemingly obligatory minutiae that we have forgotten the priority of prayer. If you wish a baby to cease a tantrum you only need distract her momentarily and move her attention to something else. Likewise, our Enemy has not attempted to convince us that prayer is unimportant. He has simply diverted our attention from it and ushered us comfortably into an environment of excessive temporal concerns. To reverse the familiar Christian aphorism about believers who are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good, we have become exactly the opposite. The Adversary has persuaded us that prayer prepares us for spiritual warfare when in fact prayer is the warfare.
Finally, however, prayer is a dynamic communicative relationship with the living God. This means at the very least that it must spring from a desire to speak to and hear from God and flower into full bloom as we place a priority on prayer, we become convinced that prayer matters, and as we discipline ourselves to begin praying.
As we begin to get serious about our own prayer lives, allow me to suggest a few things to aid us on our journey to intimacy with the Almighty.
For a start, know that you are not praying alone . Paul reminds us in his Roman epistle that the Holy Spirit is our helper, interceding for us with unspoken groanings (8:26). Moreover, we are surrounded by what the author to the Hebrews calls "a great cloud of witnesses," believers past and present who join their prayers to ours (12:1).
Next, set aside a regular time to pray everyday . If you are at your most attentive in the morning, schedule some time to be with the Lord before the daytime activities begin. If you are a "night person," schedule that time in the evening when the day's obligations are done, the kids are in bed, and the house is quiet. Do not be discouraged if you get drowsy during your prayer time; it does not signify a lack of desire or diligence. Remember, Jesus' disciples fell asleep whilst He prayed fervently the evening before His own death. "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak," the Master knew (and knows). Just pick up where you left off and continue praying.
Further, Be honest with God . We can-and often do-attempt to hide our sins, hurts, and disappointments behind a laundry list of others' needs, or "stained glass" religious jargon. The irony of this, of course, is that God already knows what we need and who we are before we utter our first syllable of prayer (Matthew 6:8). We aren't and can't hide anything from God. I suspect that many believers lose confidence in the power of prayer because it is difficult to believe that our seemingly puny petitions could change the course of a life-or a nation, for that matter. But prayer changes us more than it changes God, I think. As we speak and listen to Him, and as we become more submissive and obedient to His Word, we slowly but most certainly begin praying along with what God is already doing for the salvation of the cosmos. "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven," Jesus commanded us to pray. Prayer is reality therapy, and a wonderful catharsis, if we would only open ourselves up to God's enfolding and limitless love.
Moreover, Imitate those you know to be powerful pray-ers . I use a prayer book that contains prayers from holy men and women of the past as well as Scripture passages to initiate my own prayer time. Some follow the pattern of the acronym A.C.T.S ( Adoration, Confession of sin, Thanksgiving, Supplication ) to form the basis of their prayers. Most certainly, every one of us is familiar with at least one mighty pray-er in our own local church. Often this is an elderly saint who has many years of prayer and wisdom available to share if only we would ask them. Ideally, we should join them in prayer.
Finally, Be patient and consistent . Powerful prayer is like a marathon and not a sprint. It is sheer dogged determination that wins God's notice; the parable of the unjust judge and the pestering widow is clear enough about this truth (see Luke 18:1-8). Pray about a matter until God commands you to stop or you have an answer. One important kingdom principle is that nothing worthwhile ever comes easy or without cost. Be patient with yourself, for learning to pray takes time. As Max Anders puts it, "When God wants to make a squash, He can do it in six weeks. When He wants to make a great oak, it takes a decade."
We cannot all argue, but we can all pray; we cannot all be leaders, but we can all be pleaders; we cannot all be mighty in rhetoric, but we can all be prevalent in prayer. I would sooner see you eloquent with God than with men.
--Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Quintin Morrow is an ordained minister in the Anglican Church. He has pastored churches for 10 years, and has been published in The Evangelical Catholic , New Directions , and The Anglican Digest .
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