Missional Discipleship Practices, 5: Prayer

We make prayer so difficult. It isn’t. Really.

But, first, we have to get past the idea that proper prayer means saying the proper words in the proper way at the proper time, otherwise God won’t listen. Prayer, at its most basic, is simply talking and listening to God, no more, no less.

Consider this: a God who, by definition, is all-knowing, already knows what’s in our hearts and minds. We don’t have to give voice to our prayers for God to hear them. Which means that “proper” doesn’t enter into it: God will hear our prayers however, wherever, whenever they’re said. I’d even go so far as to say that prayer is less important for what we say and how we say it than it is for what the act of praying says about our faith—that we acknowledge God as the source of our help and salvation, that we turn to and trust in God above all others (including ourselves), that we recognize a God still active in the world is, through the work and power of the Holy Spirit, active in our lives, using for good whatever befalls us.

None of which is to say that we should pray carelessly or only to further our own agendas. The fact “proper” doesn’t enter into it doesn’t mean we can talk to God the way we would a telemarketer…or an employee. We can certainly be angry at God, praying angry prayers…and we can pray frightened prayers and lonely prayers and how-dare-you prayers. The Psalms—Scripture’s prayer book—is full of such prayers. As it is joyful prayers, worshipful prayers, prayers of thanksgiving and outright awe…also appropriate prayers to pray. However we pray, God is big enough to take it.

But prayer, equally, is about listening. If you’re like me, the biggest challenge in praying is to stop talking. I tend to treat God like God’s taking dictation: I speak my laundry list of concerns, God makes notes, then gets to work on my behalf. If, however, God knows what’s in my heart before I say it, my words are far less important than God’s answer. Which means listening, but listening not just with my ears. I may talk but God frequently answers my prayers in ways that don’t involve words at all: they involve other people, they involve experiences, they involve feelings. Understand “listening,” then, as “openness”…openness to all that is around you because God will answer your prayers as God chooses, how God chooses, when and where God chooses.

So, prayer in the life of a Jesus follower—not about “proper” but about this: faith that God alone is the answer…trust that God will answer…openness to how God will answer…patience for when God will answer…conviction to embrace and live out God’s answer.

Some Scripture: Psalm 5
                            Matthew 6:5-15
                            Romans 8:26-27