A priest, a minister and a guru were discussing the best positions for prayer while a telephone repairman worked nearby. "Kneeling is definitely the best way to pray," the priest said. "No," the minister said, "I get the best results standing with my hands outstretched to Heaven." "You're both wrong," the guru said. "The most effective prayer position is lying down on the floor." The repairman could contain himself no longer. "Hey, fellas," he interrupted, "The best praying I ever did was when I was hanging upside down from a telephone pole."
Several years ago, Mother Teresa appeared on the Hour of Power television program. The host, Pastor Robert Schuller, reminded her that the show was being broadcast all over America and in 22 foreign countries, including her native Yugoslavia. He asked her if there was one message she would like to convey to all those viewers. Her response was, "Yes, tell them to pray. And tell them to teach their children to pray."
In today's Gospel reading, Jesus and the disciples were following Mother Teresa's message. Jesus told them to pray, and taught them to pray. The lesson he gave them became the pattern for the prayer we all know-namely, the Lord's Prayer. The outline He gave is threefold:
1. The promise of prayer
2. The reality of prayer
3. The practice of prayer
Jesus intended the words of the Lord's Prayer to portray the spirit of our prayers instead of specified words. For Jesus, prayer was not just a form, but a force, a power. Prayer was vital and influential in His life. It can be the same for us. Prayer can take many forms, but it is often difficult to find the time, energy or focus to engage in prayer. The disciples wanted to learn to pray, to integrate prayer into their lives, to understand and deepen their relationship with God, and find the words to offer. Jesus taught the disciples to make their prayer God-centered. The glory of God's name and the advancement of God's kingdom were to be their primary concerns of prayer. We also want and need to learn these same things.
We are to come before the throne of grace boldly. We are to live every moment knowing that a loving, heavenly Father is on our side. He understands the problems of our lives. People have given up hope and trust. Little in life seems worthwhile. Faith has petered out. This parable encourages us to keep stirring up God until He gives us His ear. Whenever we pray, God is on our side. He is ready to listen for the sake of bringing us the best possible blessing.
This reminds me of a story about a little girl who was kneeling bedside her bed one night. She said, "Dear God, if you're there and you hear my prayer, could you please just touch me?" Just then she felt a touch, and got so excited! She said, "Thank you, God, for touching me." Then she looked up, saw her older sister, and got a little suspicious. "Did you touch me?" The sister answered, "Yes, I did". "What did you do that for?" she asked. "God told me to" was the reply.
When we face life's problems we can do one of two things-faint, or pray. Jesus helps us and the disciples develop an attitude of dependence. He teaches them and us to come to God as our Father, and not as our employer. We are to make requests, not demand earnings. We are to realize our constant need for forgiveness, not to shout in pride, "See how great I'm doing." We are to request deliverance, not to promise, "I'll try harder". Jesus never met anyone he couldn't forgive. People he met were no better or no worse than the people we meet every day. Some were strong, some were weak. Some were fortunate, some had experienced bad break after bad break. He loved them all. He came into the world not to condemn people, but to save them. God is the same. He hears the prayers of ALL the world's people, regardless of age, wealth or other social limitations. No one is too insignificant to be beyond His concern.
Prayer is a privilege for the robust who come into the presence of God and approach the throne of grace with confidence, knowing what they want of Divine providence. Does that mean that everything we ask for in prayer will be granted, or even granted right away? No. Sometimes God says "Yes", sometimes He says "No", sometimes He says "Not now", and sometimes He says, "No, I have something even better in mind for you". God is the one who can and will provide us with what we truly need to live the life Jesus calls us to live.
The activist attitude that Jesus taught is based on the idea that we can do something for God. The disciples' attitude was based on awareness that God can do something in us. Doing God's will on earth means the putting down of evil and the putting up of good. Prayer is not a five-minute exercise in devotion time. It means you have the desire for God's will in your life. God wants to live in us here and now on earth, even though He is holy. His eagerness is found in both the gift of His Son and the words of the Lord's Prayer. "Our Father, who are in heaven" represents the joining of heaven and earth. "Your kingdom come, your will be done" models surrender to God's will, as does Jesus' instructions. "Everyone that is indebted to us" refers to offenses similar to those we have committed against God and for which we ask forgiveness.
We must pray this prayer from a believing heart that is sincere and submitted to God's will. True prayer involves responsibilities-honoring God's kingdom and doing God's will. The purpose of prayer is not to get man's will done in heaven, but to get God's will done on earth. I am reminded of the story of the woman who was so desperate for a husband that she knelt before a statue of the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus and prayed, "Blessed lady, please send me a man. I'm so desperate and lonely". An altar boy who was standing in the shadows heard the prayer and decided to have a little fun. He imitated the voice of the Baby Jesus and said, "No, you can't have a man!". The woman replied, "You shut up, you young pup. I'm talking to your mother!" .
Prayer affirms that we are not alone. God said, "I will never leave you or forsake you".
We must be secure in our relationship with God before we can bring our requests to Him. Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance; it is laying hold of His highest willingness. Because He knows and loves us, we need never be afraid of the answers that He gives. Jesus is at God's right hand making intercessions for us. Only Christ can teach us, by His word and spirit, how to pray. God helps us to be people of prayer. We must ask for the Holy Spirit, as all spiritual blessings are included in the Holy Spirit. Prayer is a powerful force that is available to us. It is an inner openness to God which allows his divine power to be released in us. The power of prayer is God's success in changing us.
When a man believes and does his best to get right with God, with his fellow believers and with himself, death is nothing to be afraid of. God is a loving parent. He knows our real needs and will grant us anything in this world that is in our best interests. He knows what will make us stronger and what will ultimately weaken us. He knows our potential and our breaking points. He knows what it will take to fit our souls for His kingdom. A good father will only give his children what is good for them. God is more inclined to give us what we need than the best human father is.
Our prayers must be chiefly prayers of thanksgiving, but they must also contain an element of confession. We are not all God means for us to be. We need His mercy, compassion, and amazing grace. Sometimes we pray for forgiveness, and sometimes we pray for the ability to forgive. We need God's guidance in this world, and we must pray daily for His guidance. The disciples discovered that through prayer, God gave them great power to help others-the same power He gives us. When we pray, God often answers our prayers in ways we never realize. More important, though, is that when we pray, God influences us to show the love of Christ to others, just as the Samaritan did for the beaten man in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus' ministry demonstrated what a Spirit-filled and Spirit-directed life looks like. Jesus promises this same Spirit to his disciples, and the Acts of the Apostles shows that when the Spirit descends on the community, they begin to live the Spirit-filled life Jesus lived. The poor were cared for, the dead were raised, the blind and lame were healed, the crippled walked and three times, when the disciples were imprisoned, God opened their prison doors and set them free.
We live in a generation where there is little hope in our secular world. Today's Gospel reading is about trust. It is about letting go of our resentments, our doubts and our fears. It is about believing that there is never a storm so tumultuous that He cannot bring us safely through. That there is no night so dark that His light cannot penetrate it. That nothing is going to happen to us that by His grace we cannot handle. To the unbeliever prayer is an exercise in futility. But to the believer, prayer is the most powerful and the most reliable force in the world today. God has promised to hear our prayers. They will not go unanswered. Even though it sometimes seems that no one is listening, God is listening. He will answer our prayers in His own time and in His own way. He is not bound by human constraints. Our ways are not His ways. Our task is to trust that what we receive from God is for our best interest. Other people see the way we live our lives, and if we are sloppy and sinful, we can hardly hope to make others see the benefits of being Christian.
Do we know how to pray as we should? Do we speak to ourselves, or are we speaking to God? Do we merely ask for something, or do we ask to be transformed? Can we say the words I once saw on a bumper sticker-namely, "Christ changed my life"? The problem with our prayers is that we are not earnest enough. Jesus said that there is only one kind of prayer-deep, earnest, heartfelt prayer.
The Holy Spirit is God's supreme gift to us. It prompts us to continually pray to God. Jesus taught from the very beginning that a huge key to effective prayer is persistence, devotion to prayer over time. The disciples were continually devoting themselves to prayer, as mentioned in Acts 2:42, and the apostles were very careful to practice what Jesus taught them. Persistent prayer is virtuous not when it honours our own prejudices and frustrations, but when it yields and seeks the mind and heart and spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit also directs our energies in the direction of our prayers. It keeps us sensitive to God's signs to change direction and ideas. It keeps us assured of God's love. God's gift comes to us because we are persistent. He gives to us out of His love, and he gives to us knowing what is in our best interest. We are to ask God to help us keep His name holy in our hearts and on our lips, to help us provide for our daily needs, to see the wisdom and necessity of forgiveness and to help us lead a life that is pleasing to Him by strengthening us against temptation. In his commentary on the Lord's Prayer, Martin Luther said that at times of distress our only help or comfort is to take refuge in the Lord's Prayer and appeal to God from our hearts. If we attempt to help ourselves by our own thoughts and counsels, we will only make matters worse.
A Christian man was once offered drugs and urged to do his own thing. He replied, "You don't understand. My thing is not doing your own thing, but God's thing". When Christians pray, "May your kingdom come," they are praying "Lord, I want to do your thing!" You see, a triumphant faith is more than occasional chill bumps in the church. It is more than singing "How Great Thou Art" on Sunday. It is doing the will of God in daily living. To abide in Christ requires faith and commitment. We must not sit passively by, waiting for answers. We must be busy doing God's will while we are waiting. Yielding our will means accepting His answers to our prayers. Prayer is the most powerful weapon for combat against our corrupt, secular world. We can't survive without prayer. The best way to honour God is to pay attention and be careful how we live our lives. We are to live our lives in community, hand-in-hand, heart-in-heart with one another. How we get along with each other says a great deal about how we love God and the kind of people we want to be.
