MATURITY IN PRAYER

Maturity in Prayer                                                              July 11, 2003

Today as I was driving and listening to a local Christian radio station,
I gained new insight (new to me) into prayer and the development of  
the prayer habits of  the Children of God.  A caller  to Dr. James Dob-
son's Focus on the Family  program was experiencing problems teac-
hing a  four year-old to pray.  The youngster’s attention span seemed  
inadequate.  When  she attempted  to pray with  her son,  the mother 
was frustrated with his inability to remain serious throughout prayer 
time. The child would begin praying for things unimportant to adults,  
then move from that,  to  making  attempts at  humor  during  prayer.  
An  adult spending time with a  four year old  must admit a  four year-
old's  jokes are rarely funny and  for  the most part do not make sense.  
We  have more than a factor  working  against  successful  prayer time 
with a child.  First, children do not place value according to adult val-
uess.  Secondly, children have short attention spans, and  finally;  the 
world is limited only by their imaginations.

     Let’s look at this factor in  “mature adults.”  Do  you  think we, as 
children of God are always on the same page as the Lord with respect 
to the things we value?  Is it possible His adult children at times, bring 
things before the Throne of Grace that matter not in the least, to Holy
God?  (I know the old adage;  “there is nothing outside the interest of  
our Heavenly Father relating to His children.”)  You and I must admit  
we bring trivial things to our Lord. At times repeating ourselves, make 
nonsensical  requests and lose our focus as we pray.  Is it possible we 
drift into patterns of  prayer fueled  more by imagination than  careful 
study of God’s Word?  There is also this...  One of  my concerns is the 
use of pattern speech when in prayer, similar or exactly matching  the 
way other's  pray.  Examples of  these  phrases are;  "each and every 
one" and "lead guide and direct."
   
       As we consider the person we address as we pray, we must 
       admit He is so far above us, we must seem quite  immature  
       to  Him.  When we come before the Throne of  Grace,  our 
       petitions may seem petty.  

There are ways  for  us to avoid these  pitfalls  as we  pray, but it 
is not simple.  I have come to the conclusion that God’s "simple plan 
of  salvation,” is  a myth, since every time simple or  a man of simple 
thought  is mentioned  in God’s Word it is  in a negative connotation.  
(I  must  interject on  this  subject;  God's  plan  of  salvation is  plain,  
not simple.)  The key to an "effectual fervent" prayer must be a com-
prehensive  grasp of  the Word of  God.  God  reveals His will  to His 
Children in  His Word and  apart  from the Word,  we are  at a loss to 
to know Him or His will.  It is plainly stated in 1 John 5: 14-15,  when  
one prays expecting an answer, he prays according to the will of God.  
Any prayer outside the  will of  God  will not be answered  in the affir-
 mative.  

    (14."And this is the confidence that we have  in him, that,  if we ask 
    anything  according to his will,  he heareth us;  15. And  if we  know 
    that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the peti-
    tions that we desired of him.")  kjv

     Another thought train we might board as we consider the subject of
mortal man in communication with Holy,  Eternal God.  The prayer of
a new  believer may seem to lack depth of  the prayer of a senior saint 
but as we remember how sweet the prayers of  our children  were and 
are, it is probable that our Lord regards such prayer with delight. Just 
as we took/take pleasure in watching our children grow and  develop,  
God must also  take pleasure in the sanctification  process of His chil-
dren.  So,  the plain  prayer of a  babe in  Christ  may be quite as  pala-
table to our Lord as the  prayer of  a "mature" saint of many years.

  Now comes the troublesome aspect of  prayer as it is practiced today. 
Since we are speaking generally, there are some comments to be made 
that could not be used in a direct conversation;  
   First, we must deplore the practice of beginning  prayer in  public 
   addressing Deity, then getting sidetracked into a sermon to  local 
   hearers.  As sure as  I am this is  thoughtlessness,  it must surely 
   be repugnant to our Heavenly Father.  In evangelical circles,  the
   prayer read from a manuscript is rare  indeed;  however, a prayer 
   thoughtfully uttered  shows  the one who is  praying to have given  
   thoughtful  consideration to  it, and is welcome in a public setting.  
   (When we consider Matthew 6: 5-15;  we must give careful consi-
   deration before praying  in any public setting.  Otherwise, we may
   do damage to our eternal souls.)  

       When we consider to whom prayer is made, we must be highly 
 motivated to petition  Him in an orderly manner using the Model  
Prayer of Christ as our guide.  There may even be some similari-
ties between an audience with the most powerful political figure in 
the world and our petition to the most powerful person in the uni-
verse.  We would not consider entering an appointment with, say, 
the  president of  the United States or any world leader without a 
thorough preparation, pertinent data and careful consideration of   
the persons time.  There is a vast difference in the importance of 
the principals,  but there are also important  distinctives:  
While the creator of the universe is more  powerful,  more impor-
tant, and the knowledge gap, the holiness gap and any other gap 
we may  recognize, is far greater, our relationship with God is a 
personal relationship, because of His Son.  He is more interested 
in our welfare than any other is, and is not limited by time. Taking  
up  His time is not an issue,  and we cannot use up His resources.
He is infinitely  more  concerned with our  welfare than  any mere 
man could be. (There are occasions when the word "man" is used 
genericaly and might apply to male/female.)

     Personal, private prayer is where power to live a Christ centered
life is sourced.  Without the consistent practice of thoughtful private 
prayer, we will never have power with God nor man. There is reward 
for  “closet”  prayer,  as well as  warnings in  Scripture about  public  
prayer.  The earlier  allusion to sermonizing during prayer is  the tip 
of the proverbial  iceberg.  There is  also the danger of  being aware 
of the local audience and letting that affect the “prayer.”  The quota-
tion marks were used to  indicate the fact  that audience  awareness 
reduces prayer to something else.  As our Lord in Matthew gives us 
warning of praying to be heard or seen of men, Take  heed! We must 
enter  into public  prayer  with  trepidation  lest our  practice of  true 
religion become a travesty and our Lord held up to a public reproach.  
I would prefer to never again utter a prayer in public than risk  possi-
bility of bringing the practice of true religion into contempt, scarring 
 my soul, damaging the hearers and offending my God in the process.  
Prayer is risky business when we address the Almighty with less awe 
and respect  than we might  have for a mere human being,  no matter 
his station.

       Finally, we come to a most common failing of modern day saints 
with regard to prayer.  From everything I hear and see, that failure is 
prayerlessness.  We rarely go more  than a day without  communica-
tion with close friends and family.  At times we may go out of our way 
in order  to see and  talk with  friend,  family or love interest several 
times per week.  How often do we make a special  effort to communi-
cate with our Lord and Savior who happens to be the creator and con-
troller of this universe?   If what I hear and experience is typical, we 
have a serious dearth of private prayer on the part of most Christians.  
If there is lack of prayer, it’s no wonder the power is also lacking.  
Apart from consistent, private communication with our Lord on the 
part of His Children,  we will  never see the  state of  pure religion 
reach the point of revival in this land..  "Pure religion and undefiled 
before God and the Father is this.  To visit the widows and fatherless 
in their affliction and to  keep himself  (oneself)  unspotted from  the 
world."                                                                             ( James 1:27)
(The "oneself" in parenthesis above is from the Scofield Study Bible.) 

     There have been times when one questions just what would be the 
   best use of his time and resources in respect to Kingdom endeavors.  
  The passage from  James 1:27, above, settles the question for me.                                                                
                                  ed. 3.10.17                         donporter, sr.   8.27.12