Intimate Communication Series

If we had as many answers to prayer as we have books on prayer the

battle would be won. Unfortunately it is easier to write a book on

prayer than to pray effectively. It is easier to preach a sermon on

prayer than to pray. It is easier to give a lecture on prayer than to

pray. It is easier to do just about anything concerning prayer than to

actually pray well and wisely.

The reason this is so is because we have not taken Christ as our

guide to prayer, and have tried to follow men who claim to be experts,

but who have made the matter of such complexity that it is too

discouraging, and we lose our motivation. If we went into a library

and found a dozen volumes on how to order a hamburger, we would

probably figure it is too complicated, and never brother to order one.

So it is with prayer. There are books galore, and seminars, and

special retreats, and so many people trying to teach us how to pray,

that we automatically assume that it is in the same category with

learning brain surgery and international law. So we lose hope, and

just accept the role of being poor at prayer.

People who are good at saying prayers only confirm our despair.

We say, come Lord Jesus be our guest, let this daily food be blest.

They can give a lesson on Bible history, and give guidance to

government leaders, and a challenge for world missions, all in a

prayer of thanks for a hamburger. It makes the rest of us feel like we

are not even really thankful for our hamburger, and also feeling like

we just don't know how to pray.

The vast majority of Christians would list as one of the weaknesses

of their Christian life, their prayer life. We do not spend enough time

in prayer. We don't pray for enough people. We don't pray as

fervently as we ought, or as persistently as we ought. There is hardly

any aspect of prayer that we do as adequately as we ought. Christian

guilt feelings about this make them easy targets of manipulation. They

can be made to feel they need to go along with some prayer gimmicks

to get back into God's favor. Maybe it's an all night prayer meeting,

or some kind of prayer chain, or large group prayer service, as if the

length of your prayers or the quantity of them is the key to God's

reluctant heart.

All of this Jesus put into the category of paganism in Matt. 6, where

He said the pagans think they will be heard because of their many

words. Jesus taught that God already knows what we need, and so a

short and simple prayer is all that is necessary. He never told His

disciples to get a big crowd together, but said get alone in your own

room and close the door. He didn't give them a manuscript of hundreds

of prayers when they asked Him to teach them to pray. He

gave them a single prayer of about 50 words as an example.

My point is, the reason that prayer is so hard for Christians is

because they have made it hard. The Bible doesn't. Jesus didn't.

Christians have so complicated the simplicity of the Bible with pagan

ideas, they have put a satisfying life of prayer beyond the reach of the

average Christian. One Christian writer said she could visualize the

millions of prayers hurtling toward God at mealtime, and so she

decided to do her praying between meals when the prayer traffic was

not so thick. She also got up early to get her prayer in before the

heavy breakfast crowd. Of course, this is silly, but so is every aspect

of prayer that implies God is not omniscient. Jesus said in Matt. 6:8,

"Your father knows what you need before you ask Him."

If that is the case, then being eloquent is no big deal, for we do not

have to persuade God. It is not as if we have to be intellects, and be

able to speak with great logic to get through to God. Neither the

quantity nor the quality of our prayers are the issue, for God already

knows what we seek to communicate. This puts all God's children on

the same level. So what if we can go on for a half hour with flowery

words of oratory, and another can only say thank you Lord for today,

give me guidance for tomorrow?

The Pharisee in the temple was no doubt better at prayer than the

publican. If we took a vote among men after hearing them both pray,

the Pharisee would win on both length and eloquence, but Jesus said