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Prayer Articles: Scroll down the page to the article of your choice.
- Why Do You Want To Pray?
- What Is Your Experience Of Prayer?
- When Do You Pray?
- How To Enrich Your Prayer Life in Three Easy Steps
Article One: Why Do You Want To Pray?
Here's a big question. What is the purpose of your existence in God's great big plan? If you can answer that one, you would have, as I heard growing up, the world by the tail with a down hill pull. Over the course of a well-lived life the crest of the hill is reached and the pull does become easier. Figuring out why we pray adds to the simplicity and ease of grasping where we fit into the scheme of things overall.
Why do you want to pray? Before tackling that head on, let's start with the more accessible, why does anyone pray? “Because I said so,” just rang loud and clear through the universe and all time. Lots of people pray, not because they want to, but because someone told them they had to, or were supposed to. Their whole prayer life has been based on the word “should,” and they would be too mortified to quit now. What would people say? How would they let people know? This isn't like cigarette smoking – people applaud you for quitting that. Praying is supposed to be good for you, right?
There are also people who pray because they genuinely believe it's the right thing to do. The reasoning behind this philosophy is similar to cleaning your gutters and changing the oil in your car regularly. It's common sense, it needs to be done so just keep doing it. There is some benefit too. The world keeps revolving the way it's supposed to and there is some practical solace in that.
The next group are people who believe in the power of prayer because they have experienced it, directly or indirectly. Chances are they were once a member of group one or two from the above paragraphs, and they were utterly amazed when God heard and responded to the prayer offered. Chances are even better that they are not quite clear what happened or how, but they will tell you how an ordinary moment became extraordinary. That doesn't necessarily mean that their prayer habits changed, but their perceptions have.
Then there are the folks who pray out of intention, whether or not they can ever point to a life-changing moment brought about by prayer in their lives They know that prayer itself is the answer.
The nuances and variations among and between these four reasons why anyone prays are as numerous as people on the planet. But the four categories nudge us to make a choice for ourselves and to define the basis of reasoning out some more questions. Why do you pray? The answer may come slowly or like a bolt of lightening out of the blue, but chances are good at least some aspect of the answer will please you, as well as surprise and puzzle you.
Now, why do you want to pray? Simply, what is in it for you, in the best possible sense of that question? Do you receive social acceptance when you are seen praying or you tell people you pray? Do you feel you have met an obligation, experience a sense of relief when the commitment is clearly complete and you can move on to the next task? When you pray are you wondering, even a little, hoping perhaps, that you will see another small piece of God in another miracle? Do you pray simply because you want to, or because you must? Or do you want to pray for all of the above, and some reasons you haven't been able to name yet?
Have you got a good grip on that tail yet, or is it moving around a little too fast? Why you want to pray is your question to answer. The benefits of prayer to any one person and to the world are infinite. You are a part of that benefit if you choose to be.
Talking about prayer is one thing, and doing prayer is another. But without the conversation, with other people, with yourself or written down in a journal, the activity itself rarely develops beyond simplistic remembrances and repetitious renderings of prayers from the past. How fast can the people in your church say the Lord's Prayer? It's as if we are trying to set a land speed record, or perhaps keep it moving so we don't linger long enough over the words to hear them speak to us in our own voices.
Creating a vision of a prayer life takes care, patience and then, practice. If this is uncomfortable for you to think about or you like saying the Lord's Prayer faster each week, you would be best served to set this article down and move on with the rest of your life. What I am proposing here is a two part process that demands attention and thought and your own honesty with yourself. Two questions are the framework of this process: What components do you want to include in your prayer life? How do you see those components as a part of your life?
What components of prayer do you want to incorporate into your life? Your choices are limitless, so a good place to start is with what you like about prayer. Do you like the Psalms? Do you enjoy particular prayers you have discovered in a favorite novel or devotional or on a website you enjoy perusing? Do you find peace, creativity or forgiveness in silent prayer or meditation? Do you find your rhythm in the universe with prepared devotional materials from one source or a variety of sources? Do you like praying privately or in groups? Do you enjoy being the prayer leader at a meeting or as part of a study group? Is worship leadership, and the spoken prayers embodied in worship, a pleasure for you? Do you like to sing your prayers?
Lots of questions, all valid, as are your answers. As you read the above paragraph you probably made a mental checklist of what you like and don't like from your prayer experiences. It's important to know your own preferences because you are more likely to follow through on you commitment to this process if you find ways to do it that please you. But it's also important to challenge yourself with the unexpected and the unexplainable. If you aren't; sure about meditation, give it a whirl. You may come to love it, and love God in a new way. Really not excited about writing your own prayers and sharing them with people who may actually listen to them? Try writing your thoughts down in a private place and pick up the mantle of bravery by first reading them out loud to yourself.
Another thought: By making prayer a special part of your life, make the places you pray equally special in your heart and home. I will always love the feeling, scents and sounds of a church sanctuary. However, my front porch on a sunny morning or a rainy night manifests the magnitude and depth of creation's solitude too. My car and I, stranded in heavy traffic, welcome God's presence, most assuredly. The shores of Lake Michigan, as well as my kitchen table with a candle burning on the counter and a cat purring at my feet are also sacred prayer places. Yours will be different and belong to you. You will. discover new, vibrant places to pray all through you life. It's an exploratory process, evolving every day.
How do you see these components as a part of your life? Another way to phrase this question is to ask yourself, in a perfect world, when would you like to set aside time for prayer on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis? The flip of that is to see how you can fit the rest of your life around prayer time – and that puts you into full time professional contemplative status! As you look at your own life, recognize that balance between these two perspectives. In the first you can get stuck in trying to squeeze prayer in where it barely fits, like a size 71/2 foot into a size 61/2 shoe. In the latter,you may run out of clean clothes. Somewhere between your shoes will fit, and your clean socks will be abundant. And you will create time for an annual retreat, a monthly study group, weekly worship and daily prayer, or any other type of prayer life you want to shape.
How you want your prayer life to look is up to you. What components it contains, how you arrange them and where you practice them is also up to you. Most importantly, remember that this is an adventure, a delightful, ongoing one at that.
In opening to my devotions today, I rediscovered a familiar hymn verse, as well as its rich meaning in my memory. The following is that hymn verse from What a Friend We Have in Jesus.
Are you weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer! Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer! In his arms he'll take and shield you, you will find a solace there.
I've carried the tune and the words around with me through my day, and have felt closer to God, and God's work as a result. I feel as though I have spent the day with a trusted colleague and supervisor, and that what I have done has made a difference in the world.
The image of God as our friend, a friend who loves us deeply, is strong throughout the verses, but particularly this one, perhaps because we can all relate to being burdened with worry, having someone be upset with us or even betray us. Sometimes we just feel barraged from everything around us, completely overwhelmed with life. The image of God in this one verse is as a friend who loves us, but even more, we are presented with a God who we can also call on to be our refuge, our shield and our solace.
Friend, Refuge, Shield, Solace, all names for God held in the recesses of my memory that now make me wonder about other images of God. How else may I address God, and how will these images and ways of calling on God's presence impress my perception of God in the world and in my life?
I returned to the scriptures for the day for further images of God.
Many are saying to me, “There is no help for you in God.” But you, O Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.” Psalm 3:2,3
To this day I have had help from God, and so i stand here, testifying to both small and great.” Acts 26:22
Both passages contain more images of God, more ways to call out God as a part of life. In the passage from the Psalms, God is again called a shield, a guard all around the person who speaks here, someone who protects even when everybody is saying God won't help. God is also called this person's glory, and the one who lifts up their head to see the future again. The passage from Acts refers to God as a helper who gives strength for this person to stand, and to testify.
Considering these images and names for God, I have to sit back and really think of all the ways I have heard God addressed throughout my life. Father, Redeemer, Lord. Creator, Comforter, Guide, Companion. Holy One, Yahweh, Sustainer, Mother Hen. Holy Spirit, Savior, Wisdom, Bakerwoman. The list is endless, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. But as I rattle off all of these words and phrases in my mind, something quite wonderful happens: God becomes more. God becomes larger, deeper, stronger. God becomes more loving, compassionate, and more tender. Who God is becomes more tangibly rich to me and in turn, I feel myself grow into more of whom God calls me to be.
Recalling God as a gentle, compassionate caretaker reminds me to become more gentle, compassionate and caring with those in need who come into my life. Recognizing God as all powerful, stronger than mountains and more enduring than the seas, leads me to the part of myself that is able to be powerful, strong and enduring when opportunity calls for me to be so. Because God is, so I can be.
I sat back today and remembered something important: limiting my way of looking at God, addressing God in a few, familiar terms and phrases also limits my perception of God at work around me. What I have also realized is that I miss the opportunity to see God at work in me. When I expand my image of God, how I perceive God and address God, God becomes more, and so do I.
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Article Two: What Is Your Experience Of Prayer?
Remembering back as far as I can, prayer has always been a part of my life. At bedtime, the traditional, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I prayer the Lord my soul to keep. Thy love go with me through the night, and wake me with the morning light.” At meals, two different prayers of which only fragments are recallable. At church, an abundance of liturgies, historical creeds and the grace sung a cappella in four part harmony at every potuck, luncheon and Easter Morning breakfast: “Be present at our table Lord, be here and everywhere adored. From Thine all bounteous hand our food may we receive with gratitude.” My memory is filled with prayers, and the prayers themselves evoke even deeper remembrances and feelings.
The nighttime prayer, said among my sister, my dad and me after he had told us a story, tucked us in and turned out the light, made me feel safe and watched over in our night-noise filled house. The dinner prayers weren't referred to as “grace,:” probably because plain and simple language was more valuable out on the frontier of the Midwest. The 1880's seemed very close, tangible in 1960's Wisconsin. It was important to remember the source of our food, but warm, creative phrasing was not instilled with the gratitude. But the ritual remained.
Church was a prayer smorgasbord. Unison prayers, pastoral prayers, prayer circles, all kinds of different prayers, and many different people speaking them. Sometimes people, Sunday school teachers, our choir director or lay leaders created prayers in the moment. Silent prayer was an integral part of worship and church meetings.
As I retrace this trail of prayer in my memory there is also a clear assumption that everybody knew what prayer was and how to do it. There was also an assumption about the results. Prayer was about talking to God, God listening and then the waiting began. We were to be about waiting for God's response. And although we were faithful people who did believe that God worked in mysterious ways, these ways did not include direct, overt communication with an individual or the congregation as a whole. We apparently believed in a God who made us search for the answers being offered. Looking for signs of God's answer would be much too fate oriented for the people with whom I was raised. Paying attention to God with us is more accurate. There were lessons to be learned in asking God's guidance and continuing to seek it out.
Whenever I remember the past, particularly childhood, I reconnect with the matter-of-fact, down-to-earth practicality that is the Midwest. This straight forward atmosphere infused my prayer life as surely as every other aspect of my life. Prayer is prayer. You do it, you move on to the next task and you pay attention to God along the way so you don't miss the answer. I don't believe there was much room to question that philosophic process in the Northern European cultural background of the region. Either that, or its commonsense didn't require questioning.
My adult understanding of prayer hasn't changed much. Prayer is still an intensely practical and forthright conversation with God. As the years have gone by I've recognized new names for God in Biblical references and faithful experiences along the journey. These names have broadened my understanding of who God is and where to pay attention for new ways God is answering my prayers.
What is my prayer experience? It is personal, rich, real. It is also strongly connected to my community and culture. If I had grown up in another place or time my understanding of this dialogue with God might be very different. Or very much the same.
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Article Three: When Do You Pray?
When do you pray?
Prayer is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, the communication factor with God that opens us to grace, hope and the very love of God that transforms our lives.
So, when do you pray?
Think about that for a moment. Think about when you pray before you start reciting the endless list in your head about why you don't have the time to pray that you think you should, would or could have, if only. Take a deep breath, and ponder this for a moment.
Did you pray at church this week? Did you say grace with your meals today, spoken or unspoken? Did you make a green light, thereby getting to work in plenty of time, and say, "Thank you, God"? Did you admire the clouds in the sky while running an errand before you picked your kids up from school? Prayer happens throughout your day, in ways that are obvious, and many that are not so apparent.
A prayer for God's help and guidance nudged between two thoughts about when to pay bills and still produce what is required at work, or a bit of extra patience listening to a friend can both be strong prayers in simple, profound ways.
Our hopes and dreams are also prayers. Although not always verbalized, our thoughts convey our desires to God and are as viable as the prayers in which we participate at each Sunday worship service. Hebrews 11:1 states: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." In our hopes, we communicate our faith in God, to God.
Prayer communicates to God all that we want to share with God. Praise, adoration, gratitude, hope, fear, trust, petitions, frustrations, anything we want to share with God, and particularly those things we may not be able to share with anyone else are there for the giving. God listens, and God hears.
Take a moment, a pen and a piece of paper, and jot down when you prayed today, and what you prayed about and for. No judgements, just a consideration of your communication with God today.
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Article Four: How to Enrich Your Prayer Life in Three Easy Steps
It's 10:30 am. I am standing at my job, having mede it out of the house on time, maneuvered traffic successfully and found a fabulous parking space of which every person alive should be envious. I am afforded the luxury of a great view, and I am looking forward to a relaviely peaceful day. Days such as these offer time to consider life as a whole, and the components that contribute to that whole.
As a person of faith, I consider prayer to be one of those important components. I start my day with coffee and a devotional time that includes scriptures, prayer and journaling. The routine is companionable. Watever else happens I have acknowledged God as a part of the day. I have honored the meaning of the words on the bornze paque hangingl behind me on the kitchen wall: Bidden or not bidden God is present. Throughout the day I remember the gratitude I feel for my life and I thank God, or I chat with a friend who is in the muddle of a personal transition and I ask God to be present in a specific way with them. By the end of the day, God and I have shared a few moments on the run, but nothing like the time I would give a cherished friend.
Considering everything, I would like to spend more conscious time with God. Considering everything, I need to ask myself what keeps me from following through on this desire.What keeps me from choosing this deeper communication with God in a way that makes sense in my life? Three reasons come to mind: time constraints, figuring out what shape I want this prayer communication to take and being honest with myself about why I want to connect with God more fully. If I am going to pursue this new project, what do i want to gain from the effort? From these reasons come three questions to answer for myself: When will I create this time with God to pray? How will I format this prayer time? Why do I want to pray more?
Almost all of my friends are busy people with whom I quite literally have to set appointments to have consistent contact. It's not a bad arrangement, particularly with those who live out of town. We kepp up with each others' lives, we are privy to the special details that create warm memories with which to play with one another for years to come. We are also more comfortable with the silences that weave themselves through the years, born of struggles or sorrows. Appointments are simple structures that liberate us from the fears of disassociation or loss that can so easily happen over time if relationships born of choice are not tended regularly.
I have come to the conclusion that as friendships must be framed in intentionality to be maintained and nurtured, so must my prayer life be with God. God isn't a long distance companion, but it's still nice to treat time with God with the same level of respect and delight that I treat phone conversations and visits with friends.
So, when will I pray? When will I set my appointments with God for regular visits? As busy as I am I know that I can consciously choose a specific time or times throughout the day to make time for prayer. I don't pretend that I can get up fifteen minutes earlier, but I can stay up fifteen minutes later. I also don't have to watch the "Frasier" rerun every day at 5:30 pm. I could also spend my lunch hour with God , or at least part of it. God truly does know how much I love to have lunch with a good friend. I can make a choice to consider times I have already filled with other tasks or events and see how important they really are to me, compared with spending time with God in planned communication. Making a list of these appointments will help me know just how much time I intend to invest in continuing to develop my connection with God. I plan to continue the habit of two or three sentence "mini prayers" with God because nothing can replace those moments. But I also intend to carve out space, be it five, ten or thrity minutes a day to plan a conversation with God.
How can I plan a prayer visit? It feels as though format should be a big deal, and probably an equally large stumbling block to the whole process. But I suspect that God really isn't as adverse to lists and organization as we may have told ourselves. All the evidence in Genesis and nature points to God creating order out of chaos, and in what may have been record time, considering the detail work involved. My point is that making a plan ahead of the planned visit is just as liberating as planning the visit itself. The devotional time I mentioned earlier has been a planned part of my daily life for years, and I have missed this pleasure on very rare occasions over the years. It isn't everybody's plan, but it works for me because I chose it, and I continue to choose to make the appointment every day.
The same can be said for anything new in my schedule. If I choose the time, then map out with a list or some notes what I want to cover, it makes the meeting more tangile, and more likely I will follow through and show up. Not showing up by letting something else distract me doesn't work as easily when I've already planned to discuss my work, a relationship, a fear or a hope with God. God is always ready and willing, but I will be shortchanging myself if I am not completing my prep work and arriving on time.
The last question is general, but pointed if taken seriously. Why do I want to pray more? It is as simply answered as desiring to spend more time with God, beyond the belief that God is always hanging around anyway. God is always present, bidden or not bidden, but am I? My grandmother, who died before I was born, left a simple legacy in these words: Whether you know it or not, you live by what you believe. I am also reminded of a "Will and Grace" episode in which Grace is terrified she and Will might drift apart because there are no legal contracts or cultural conventions to hold them together. Will, sitting at the piano, starts to sing the old Captain and Tenille hit, "Love Will Keep Us Together."
And there is the truth of the matter. I would like the relationship God has promised to me to continue to deepen and become more creative and alive. I would like how I live to reflect my belief in God as a loving Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. I would like those around me to recognize that I welcome God into my life, that how I talk about God reflects that I actually talk with God. I'd like not to be seen as a name dropper as much as a person who enjoys sharing stories about a trusted friend. I want to do my part to express the belief that I love God, as well as believing that God loves me.
There are probably reasons you have not chosen to make time for a broader prayer time in your life. I know for myself that I have used time constraints, figuring out what to say or how to say it, and my personal motivations at any given time in my life as reasons to avoid planned communication with God. If you are at a point in your life at which you would like to reshape your communication with God, I invite you to ponder these questions as I have. When will you make time for intentional prayer? How will you format that time? Why do you want to pray now? What is the goal you envision as you plan to communicate more regularly, more fully with God?
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