What is Prayer?

What is prayer? I need a decent answer to this question before I can go very far forward with my studies. I usually try to start with someone’s more formal definition. So, I went to my Vines and a Bible dictionary I have. Vines lists at least four different Greek verbs for “pray”, and a similar number for the noun “prayer” in the New Testament. Each has a different emphasis, such as petitions for needs, desires or wishes, aid, and intercession. There is no way to cover all this in one post, so I already have some topics to cover in the future. Already I can see prayer can be a complex topic.

I found this definition in The NIV Compact Dictionary of the Bible that provides a nice summary statement about prayer –

“The spiritual response (spoken and unspoken) to God. Prayer covers a wide spectrum of addressing and hearing God, interceding with and waiting for the Lord, and contemplating and petitioning our Father in heaven.”¹

There are several things worth noting in this definition. First, prayer is of a spiritual nature involving God. Prayer, in essence, is a conversation with God on a spiritual level. Prayer is how we connect with God. How to do this effectively is what I’m after. I also like how a “wide spectrum” implies that prayers take on many forms and styles. What works for me doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best form for you.

This definition also includes something we talked about in a discipleship class at church, that prayer is our response to God. God initiates the connection, we respond by choosing to or not to participate. God is continually available and inviting us to connect and respond to Him. However, He gives us the freedom to choose to respond. Once we do respond, we begin to know God more intimately.

Prayer can be spoken or unspoken, both have times when they are appropriate. I have found that is ok to talk aloud to God, even when I’m alone. In fact, doing so helps me keep my focus and stay on topic (unless I get on a rant). There is power is praying aloud, but that’s for another post.

I like the fact that the definition includes, hearing God, waiting for the Lord, and contemplating. These all point to the fact that an effective conversation is two way, and we can expect God to communicate with us, and we may have to wait for an answer. We can hear from the Lord through reading the Bible and hearing from other people, either through formal talks like sermons and classes, or casual conversations with friends. We have to take the time to contemplate and mediate on what we hear to determine how He wants us to respond. My best prayer times have been when I’ve allowed myself the time to be quiet and let my mind simply ponder over what I’ve read, discussed, and heard and to see if my thoughts are lining up with God’s character and Word.

So far this has been fairly basic information, but it gives me a standard to check back with as I study to make sure I’m still on target. It also has shown me some areas I want to make sure and look into further.

Before I close today, I have to share an interesting concept I saw as I looked at Vines. It’s seems obvious, but I’m not sure I’ve thought about it this way. “Prayer is properly addressed to God the Father and the Son, but in no instance in the NT is prayer addressed to the Holy Spirit distinctively.”²

This doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit doesn’t have a role in prayer. The Holy Spirit is a critical part of prayer and I found it fascinating that all of the Trinity have a role in prayer. We pray to the source of power, the Father in Heaven, seating on the throne, and to his Son seated at His right hand and given authority (1 Peter 3:22). We also pray in the Son’s name, Jesus. The Son presents prayers to the Father (Rom 8:34) and as such is the one giving authorization to our prayers. Our relationship with Jesus gives us the right to ask this of Him and our prayers must reflect the character of the Son and the will of the Father. The Holy Spirit is here with us on earth and acts as our helper, guiding our prayers, discerning our needs, and giving our prayers the power to move from earth into Heaven. Without the Holy Spirit our prayers will be ineffective and our connection to God limited. (There is probably a whole post just on this concept, but another time.)

So, one final point. The Holy Spirit is the means by which God makes His Power available to us, and prayer is one of the ways we tap into that power. Jesus restored our connection to Heaven with his death, burial, and resurrection, allowing us free and continual access to the Father as He reaches out to us through the Holy Spirit. When we pray with the power of the Holy Spirit, we are placing ourselves in a position to receive and access the power God desires to make available to us from heaven. It’s kind of like standing right under the shower head to come into contact with the most water. That makes prayer something I really want to do well. Imagine what can happen when I let God’s power loose in my life. What amazing things would I see?

There is one more concept about prayer I want to look at, but I’ve already gone on too long, so I’m going to have to save it until next time. Until then, Choose Joy!

1. J.D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, The NIV Compact Dictionary of the Bible, 1989 by The Zondervan Corporation. All rights reserved. Rel 03.17.03

2. W.E. Vine, Merrill F Unger, William White, Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1996, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, TN, page 481.

Another Look at Prayer

Prayer was one of the first areas God addressed as my faith began to grow after years of placing on the back burner. Prayer became a repeated theme in my reading and studying, and I became aware of a desire to improve my own prayers. Looking back, I realize I spent a significant block of time focusing primarily on prayer that I later came to think of as a season. Over the years I have been through many different seasons with different emphasis. However, lately I’ve been feeling the pull to come back and revisit the subject of prayer.

So why take another look at prayer? The reasons are the same now as they were way back then, a desire to keep an effective and fresh perspective on prayer. I still remember a Sunday School teacher talking about prayer with almost a feeling of defeat as they confessed that prayer was often boring. It seems to me that they shouldn’t be, especially since Jesus prayed so often, and He is not boring. So, I can’t imagine that we are supposed to settle for boring prayers.

I would also hear other people pray out loud in a way that would appeal to me and wasn’t boring. So, I began to try to figure out what it was that made their prayers appealing and to see if I could incorporate these things into my prayer life. I also wanted my prayers to be effective and in the same way I looked for prayers that were effective to examine.

I’ve been told people enjoy hearing me pray. I can assure you that it wasn’t always that way, and if it is true, it is only because of an effort to cooperate with God in learning to prayer in a genuine manner. It has taken practice and intentional effort to grow in this area.

This need for practice and intentional effort is why I believe it is time to take another long look at prayer. If I am not intentional in my efforts to improve, I will get comfortable and begin coasting, and coasting can lead to a stall in forward progress, and eventually sliding backwards, especially if I’ve stopped on a slippery slope. To be honest, I may already be coasting, so it’s definitely time to make some changes. I should never be willing to stop learning and for me, a sense of complacency that everything is “just fine” is usually a sign of the exact opposite, and I’ve begun to settle for less.

This time I’m going to blog as I study and meditate, and I hope you will consider joining my on my journey. I’m not promising any great theological revelations, but if anything I’m working through helps you as well, that’s great. So, most of my posts for the near future will probably be prayer oriented, and hopefully a little more frequent than I’ve been recently. I’d love to hear what you think.

Next time I’ll be reviewing the basics of the what prayer is. After that I have a few things to start looking at, but as in most journeys, there are often surprises waiting around the corner, so we’ll just have to see where the road leads. Until then, Choose Joy!

Receiving Peace

Our son graduated from high school last month.  For those whose children have already crossed this milestone, you understand when I say that the past year has been a hectic march of joy, celebrations, frustrations, aggravations and even disappointments.  One of my biggest struggles during all of these was holding on to some sense of peace.  With the luxury of 20/20 hindsight, I can see that there are times I had much more success than others.  So, I began to wonder why, and could I learn anything from my experiences?

I know I talk about joy a lot, but right next to it on the list of spiritual fruit, is peace.  Jesus told the disciples in John 14:27 that He would leave peace with them and give them His peace.  Note that Jesus claims ownership of peace, “my peace”, and also the ability to give it. In the prophecy found in Isaiah 6:9, Jesus the Messiah, is called “Prince of Peace” and “the government will be on his shoulders”.  The weight and responsibility of rule will rest on the Messiah’s shoulders.  He will rule.  One of the things He will be responsible for is peace, He will be its Prince. So, Jesus has rule and ownership over peace.  He is able to give peace to us and He has promised to do so.  When He is in control, there is peace.

One thing I see is that Jesus gives us peace.  He is offering it to us.  However, we have to accept the offer and receive it.  Like anything given to us, if we do not take hold of it, grasp it, and take it into our possession, we don’t actually have access to it.  So what prevents me from accepting His peace?  It seems to center around my need to hold onto something else instead of making room in my hand to grasp onto peace.  I like to be in control.

Sometimes my lack of peace comes from wanting to have my own way, or to be in charge. I try convince myself that what I already have hold of is somehow better than what is being offered.  I need things to be the way they are.  I am familiar with the way things are, even if the current circumstances inevitably let me down and contribute to my lack of peace.  The world will tell me that whatever I am doing to satisfy my needs has to be better than anything God would have to offer me.  Maybe I like what I’m holding onto and just don’t want to give it up, even though I know it isn’t good for me.  How could God fill the need I have better than I am already?  

That leads me to the other major reason I don’t accept God’s peace, fear. What if I don’t  like what is offered?  What if it means something bad has or will happen?  These questions lead me straight to anxiety and a complete lack of peace.  The strange think is that all my fear, worry and fretting over a situation doesn't correct the situation or guarantee that I can keep something bad from happening  I feel even more out of control as a result, and peace seems farther and farther away.

So how have I successfully received peace? I’ve found in either scenario that the answer lies in one question God is asking me, “Do you trust me?” Settling this issue has always helped me. Sometimes it takes some reminders to honestly and truthfully be able to answer with a “Yes”.  To do this I have to find my happy place.  This is where I remember God is always in control, has a plan for me, nothing happens to me without His permission, and it will always be for the kingdom, and therefore, my good.  This is hardest for me when the “bad” think looks like suffering or loss.  God does not guarantee He will stop the bad things from happening, but do I trust Him to take care of me even when they do happen? What if the bad things last a long time?  Is my love and trust in Him strong enough to know I will not be alone or forsaken even during the bad things? I only have to remember how He has always been there for me and come through for me, usually bigger and better than I could have even imagined.  His past faithfulness gives me the ability to trust in His future faithfulness.

Once I can truly say “Yes, Lord, I trust you”, I find letting go of my agenda becomes much easier and God’s real peace is found.  Once I experience it, I know it is good, and my hope is to experience more.

Choose Joy! (and receive peace!)