Ok so I get it. If you’re not a person who does the whole churchy thing, then you probably don’t know if this post is for you. And if you’re a churchy person who does the whole prayer thing, then you probably think you’ve got this nailed. But I’d challenge both groups to a different understanding. Perhaps there’s something we all can learn if we just dig in a little bit to understand this concept.
I’m working from the perspective that everyone prays. We all might not pray the same way or to the same being or for the same purpose, but everyone prays. It’s just a natural thing. When something goes wrong we turn to some other being for help. When you make the touchdown, the reaction is to point upward like you’re giving credit to some higher power for the ability. So I truly believe that everyone prays in some manner of speaking.
But what is prayer?
So many of us look at prayer as the thing we do before a meal or right before bedtime or even that action we perform when life is spiraling out of control. If this is our view of prayer, then I believe we might be missing something pretty important. There is far more to prayer than pulling the handle on some cosmic slot machine and hoping against hope to get triples of anything! Prayer is far more than asking for a goodnight sleep or that you don’t choke to death on your hamburger.
Prayer isn’t just a thing we do, it’s a life we live.
I think we miss a few things when it comes to prayer. This post comes from a conversation I had recently with the men who serve as the board of elders at church. We were evaluating some key things in the life of the church and wondered about the overall spiritual health of the congregation. This was an eye opening and pretty deep conversation! The bulk of our time revolved around prayer and its place in the life of the follower of Jesus.
If you’ve ever asked someone to pray in a group, you’ve likely been met with a blank stare or two. Some people are just unable to pray in a group and I’ve often wondered why that is. Here are a couple of thoughts that came from our discussion. We’ll talk more about some of these in future posts and these will shape a future series we lead in worship. Perhaps something along the lines of dispelling spiritual myths?
Many see prayer as an intensely personal thing. Now there’s absolutely nothing wrong with prayer being an intensely personal expression of faith because it really is! I value those who think of prayer in such personal ways! I wish more people took prayer this seriously to be honest. But does holding prayer this tightly actually rob us of some of the benefits of prayer?
I don’t even know what to ask for so why should I pray? This is one that I’ve heard before and honestly think it’s kind of scary. If I don’t know what to say to my wife, that doesn’t mean we don’t talk. It just means we talk about stuff we already know! Same is true for prayer. You might not have anything you need to ask God to do or ask for from Him, but you can still share what’s going on in your life. Which really feeds the next reason some don’t pray.
If God already knows, why do I have to tell him? Indeed you don’t have to tell him anything. He most certainly already knows what’s going on in your life and what you’re up to. But what kind of a relationship is built with no communication? I know we all have that friend we can not see or talk to for long periods of time and then get together and not miss a beat. But what is that relationship missing? How much better would that relationship be if they were able to connect in communication on a regular basis?
I’m not sure it even really works. This one is a bit more scary of an answer. It shows not only a question about prayer but also raises a question about faith in general. Prayer is the number one way we can talk to God, and if we doubt that it is at all effective or beneficial then we are really calling into question what we believe about God and his ability.
There are likely several other reasons why some people don’t value prayer, but these are the tops in my experience. In some future posts here we’ll navigate these reasons and try to rationally examine them in a way that hopefully will help us better understand what God is up to in our prayer life.
