Prayer, Heart to Heart with God Luke 11
Why is prayer so difficult? It seems prayer ought to be the most
enjoyable time of our lives. . Why do we pray so infrequently? Why
do we not favor prayer over mundane wastes of time? Why does it
seem like work? The dictionary definition of prayer just might be a
clue to such perplexing questions. Webster gives the following defi-
nition of “pray:” “to ask earnestly; address or petition; ask with
humility or reverence; supplicate.” One synonym is “plead.” In
order to pray we must submit our wills to the will of another, subor-
dinate ourselves to Him and admit we are unable to handle the situa-
tion at hand. For mankind this is quite a difficult posture to assume.
It is a fact of life that most do not pray when life is going well and
pray infrequently unless life hands us a difficult situation or catastro-
phe. To be honest, we do not exercise the privilege of communication
with our creator unless there is no other way of solving the problem
besetting us. There are two more considerations here. As we come
to the "end of our rope," we are ashamed to enlist the aid of the crea-
tor. He has been there for us at all times, but we have failed to exer-
cise this option we know He desires for us. Finally, the biggie; "In
order to pray we feel we must be able to present ourselves before the
Lord in a pristine, or guiltless state, calling on our Lord with clean
hands and pure hearts." Nothing could be further from the truth. In
God’s word we find; in order to receive cleansing from guilt, we must
“call on the name of the Lord.” What is calling on the name of the
Lord, but prayer? (Romans 5: 1-2, 10: 8-13, 1 John 1:9)
When should the child of God pray? There is some light on this
question in the First Epistle to Thessalonians 5: 14-22 where in
verse 17, contained in a list of things to do, it states, “Pray with-
out ceasing.” I disagree with those who would tell me and have,
that this means we should be in an attitude of prayer at all times.
This may be a possibility, but it reads like, “do not stop praying”
as you would tell one who is exercising regularly, not to quit.
When do we pray? Daniel, in the Old Testament, prayed three
times a day, at morning, noon and evening. Jesus prayed early in
the morning and at evening. There is no way to go wrong when
we follow the example of Christ and begin the day with prayer and
end the day with prayer with interludes of this discipline at other
times as needed. The more we pray, or communicate soul to soul
with our maker, the more we are apt to pray. Prayer is a living and
breathing thing that not only petitions the Father, but changes the
heart of the one praying, and as we intercede for other needy souls,
it changes the hearts and minds of those for whom we pray.
How do we learn to pray? The book of Luke, Chapter 11:1-4
gives the prototype prayer. When one of Christ’s disciples asked,
“Lord, teach us to pray...” He responded with the “Model Prayer,”
also recorded in Matthew 6. This is a simple example of prayer,
not words for us to repeat, but a template on which to construct our
own prayers under the leadership of the Spirit of God. We do not
know how to pray unless we are familiar with God’s will as revealed
in the Word of God. The outline for prayer goes like this: First, we
address the Father of all creation with due reverence, acknowledging
Him as “Our Father.” We go from there with our desire for Kingdom
prosperity, His will being done and petition for daily needed provision.
We acknowledge our need of cleansing of sin and our need to forgive
those who have wronged us. Finally, we ask for divine direction for
life, deliverance from the evil one and offer God glory and praise,
acknowledging Him to be eternal. Although this is a short and plain
outline, it has all the elements we need in prayer. We then learn to
pray with much, consistent practice, pouring out our souls to our God.
What is the posture of prayer? The patriarchs of the Old
Testament, the prophets and the saints in the New Testament
all prayed prone, standing, hiding in closets and on their beds.
There is no set physical posture. There is, however; the pos-
ture of the soul as one prays and that is standing, kneeling,
prostrate, etc. before the “Mercy Seat,” with the attitude of a
disciple. A disciple, as we know, is one asking direction and
assistance from one who is superior, able and willing to give
that direction and assistance. The petitioner also comes with
expectation or hope in His Lord. (Hope is, confident expecta-
tion of future good.) In prayer we acknowledg e He is all of
the hope we need. As in every element of a believer's life,
"without faith, it is impossible to please Him..."
Hebrews 11:6a
If we look into the epistle of James 1: 5-8, we find the key to a
successful prayer life. It is faith, not in prayer, but in the person
we petition. If we have absolute faith in our God and know His will
as recorded in His Word, we will have the petition we raised to Him.
Of course we have to reckon on His timing and wait on the Lord. If
we ask with doubt we have lost our integrity, are wavering and can-
not expect our Lord to honor the request. This agrees with 1 John 5:
14-15 where it is clear we can know God’s will if we seek it and that
God answers the prayers of an earnest, informed seeker who prays
according to His will. "Now this is the confidence that we have in him,
that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us, and if we
know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the
petitions that we have asked of Him."
Finally, pray with fervency, knowledge and hope. As often as is
possible, follow the injunction of closet prayer and pray aloud as able.
If you must pray in public keep it simple, without colorful phrasing
and never pray in public considering just how it might “play” to the
human audience. The final thing to remember in prayer is, that God
does not hear or answer selfish prayer. He knows our personal needs
before we ask. He will meet them according to His riches in Glory.
We are to be like the Savior who is continually before the Father,
making intercession for us, His adopted brothers and sisters. We
must adopt, as our own, the lost, hopeless and misguided children of
this world; without condemnation bring them to the Savior through
every avenue open to us, just as He did when he was seeking us.
So, what is prayer? Prayer is the way we become one with Christ,
have the mind of Christ and after working out our own salvation with
fear and trembling, intercede for the children of this world who have
yet to come to the savior. Years ago it was stated as one of *“Four
Spiritual Laws;” "God has a plan for each life." In order to learn
that plan and get about it, we must bring our petitions before the One
with the plan and receive our marching orders.
(*Dr. Bill Bright, Campus Crusade for Christ)
{This discipline of Prayer is something requiring a lifetime of effort,
practice and study to get right. This author does not claim to even
approach the hem of the garment of effectual, fervent prayer. This
is an ongoing process. This effort to show the importance and pro-
cess of prayer has been derived from the study of God's Word.
donporter 10.02.12 edited 3.20.17
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