If Your Prayer Life is Good . . . You Don't Have to Read This

If Your Prayer Life is Good . . You Don’t Need To Read This!

If, however, like me, you struggle to start or sustain a life of prayer, the following thoughts might be worth considering.

1. Prayer and hope form a feedback loop with each other.

The practice of prayer strengthens hope; the practice of hope whets the desire for prayer. Maybe our problem is not with prayer but with the character of our hope!

-do we believe/know that God attends to and knows our prayers?
-do we believe/know that our input in prayer makes a difference to God?
-do we believe/know that God wants his best for us far more than we do?
-do we believe/know that God intends to use us in working out his purpose?
-in short, do we believe/know that God loves us, desires our friendship, and will keep all his promises to us?

2. We only learn to pray . . . by praying!

Put away all your books on prayer. Forget all the sermons you’ve heard on prayer. Put out of mind whatever formulas, patterns, or prescriptions on prayer you have learned. Prayer is simply talking to God and growing into a relationship, even a friendship, with him. So just start talking to God. Don’t be constrained by formality or form as you get started. Seek to develop your own pattern of conversation with God. When you’re struggling with prayer, the only wrong prayer is the one not spoken!

3. Spend some time reading and pondering Jesus’ great prayer for the church in John 17.

Did you know that Jesus prays for you specifically in this prayer? Do you see where he does this? See vv.20-24. Who is the “them” or “they” he prays for? What does he pray for “them”? Do you think the Father hears and answers Jesus’ prayers? What does that mean to you? Does that motivate you to want to talk to him?

4. Read, reflect on, and use the great prayers of the Bible.

Google “Prayers of the Bible” and I am sure you can find a list of them. Read them. How do they address God? What do they pray for? How do they integrate particular personal concerns with the larger concerns of God’s work in and for the world (see Hannah’s prayer in 1 Sam.2 in particular). What can we learn about praying for God’s people, the church, from Daniel’s great prayer for God’s people, Israel, in Dan.9? Paul’s prayers for his churches are rich in material to reflect on. Remember as you read them that they are his prayers for you here and now as well as for them then and there!

5. Use a Prayer Book or book of prayers by experienced and exemplary pray-ers.
There’s no particular virtue in spontaneous prayer. It may seem more “spiritual” than using the prayers of others or those prepared for us in prayer books. But that’s a false impression. In learning to pray or re-igniting our prayer life in particular, it is a mark of wisdom and humility (ever notice how often these two go together?) to apprentice ourselves to those who are better at it than we are. Prayer books typically use and contain many of the great prayers preserved for us through the history of the church. Most denominations have their own prayer books. The Episcopalian Book of Common Prayer is widely available and widely used by Christians of all traditions. The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle is also a great source for wonderful and classic prayers (it is available online at www.annarborvineyard.org/tdh/tdh.cfm).