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 the publican went away justified, not the Pharisee. "God be merciful to me a sinner," was