I've been thinking more about prayer since I wrote about it last ("Where two are gathered in My Name", 2011/Dec/22), largely because our church has really been zeroing in on prayer as a church.
My approach to prayer is not lax, really, but it's hard to identify. I see living life with God in mind as a sort of prayer on its own; explicit prayer is not something I really do all that often.
At least, not normally; I find that I, like so many others, pray explicitly when I, well, in the words of one of my pastors, want to "get stuff." If I'm willing to pray like everyone else when I want something from God, well, that makes my whole "prayer-as-living" thing a little less valuable. I need to put my money and my time where my mouth is.
I've certainly been trying to, and I think God is answering that.
Sunday was a day focused very much on prayer at my church. The pastor preached on the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11 (as opposed to the more "popular" one in Matthew), using the relationship of a loving Father as the basis for the sermon.
It went something like this:
Why do we pray? Typically, just to get stuff. We ask for stuff all the time; we pray harder when we want something from God. The error we typically have is that we pray with a "give me what I want" attitude instead of a "give me what I need" attitude. Praying to receive is fine; what we ask for should be what God wants us to have, not what we want to have.
When do we pray? Continually. I know I do see prayer as a continuous thing, but I take special time to pray when I have a need; this is what makes me think I'm being inconsistent somewhat.
Who should pray? All of us.
The summarizing statement - the payload, if you will - was this: "All of us need to pray specifically and continually, knowing that our loving Father will give us just what we need."
That was just the sermon. In our Sunday school class, the teacher - who'd just gotten back from a missions trip to El Salvador - talked about Philippians 4:4-7, with a particular focus on prayer and how the trip challenged and changed him.
One of the things he said that stood out for me - because apparently it's very common and naturally I'd never heard it before - was this:
There's an acronym that guides us through what a prayer should look like, although not every prayer could or should fit such a mold. It's "ACTS," and here's what it stands for:
- A stands for "adoration." This is the praise of God.
- C stands for "confession." This is the frank admittance to God of our failures before Him and others, and repentance.
- T stands for "thanksgiving." This is the remembrance of God's gifts to and through us.
- S stands for "supplication," where we make express requests and needs to God. He knows them already, of course, better than we do, but we are still wired to ask and commanded to ask (Philippians 4:6, for example).
As an aside, I'd like to point out that the teacher came back on fire for God. It was good to see, and I was glad to hear that their trip went well - I'd been praying for it, explicitly, and this was confirmation of my answered prayer for the trip and its members.
So something that's been highlighted for me lately is not only prayer, because the church has been focused on it so much, but the nature of prayer, and how much needs prayer.
Last week I think I started with around twenty things to pray about, although that's an estimate and probably wrong. Through the week, I added another dozen... and got answered on maybe two.
It's overwhelming.
I know it's partly my own impatience, because I want to knock that list down to something manageable, and my own lack of vision, because I have a feeling God's answered more of my prayer but without me being as aware as I need to be.
However, there're a few takeaways.
One is that the existence of these things has really increased my vision. I am trying to talk to people in my church more than I did, because I'm trying to pray for the needs of people in my church.
Yesterday? I talked to three people specifically for the purposes of telling them I'd been praying for them, and finding out how they were doing.
Maybe that's unusual; it certainly seems normal for everyone else, but for someone as reclusive as I am, it's a huge challenge and a major difference. I can go to church for weeks without saying a real word to anyone.
For me to seek out three people just to talk to them? That's the power of God, friends and neighbors.
Another thing to consider about my growing list of things to pray over is that this is nothing new - there's a great need for specific prayer. People need to not only be prayed for, but they need to be aware that they're being prayed for. With that knowledge, they too will pray for others and themselves, creating a great wave of prayer for the purposes of God's will, and God says that He will answer the prayers of the faithful.
A wave of prayer to God for His Will to be done on earth - what a wonderful thing that would be, to see it answered and acted upon.
Shalom.
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