I’m reading a book on prayer called Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? by Philip Yancy. After hearing the buzz from the CORE class that we recently offered based on this book, I decided to pick it up since I don’t get the opportunity to attend CORE. I heard comments like, “This class has changed the way I pray.” That’s a bold statement…and if there’s anything I need to change, it’s the way I pray. I’m finding that my prayers are mostly about one thing…me! “Lord, help me ______; Lord, give me_______.” Does that sound familiar? And don’t get me wrong...the things I’m asking for are legitimate…peace, patience, strength, wisdom. Those are good things to pray for. But, while God is interested in those things, I think He longs for our prayers to become a little more about Him and His agenda and a little less about me and my agenda. Most of the prayers in the New Testament were Kingdom prayers offered to God on behalf of someone else. How about this one from Ephesians 3:14-21:
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family n heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
When’s the last time you kneeled before God and prayed passionately for Him to strengthen someone other than yourself? When’s the last time you prayed that someone would earnestly know the depth of Christ’s love and that His power would be made known in them? When’s the last time you prayed for 15 minutes without going through your “To-Do” list more than 3 times? Better yet, when’s the last time you prayed for 15 minutes, period?
I just started the book, but I’ve already been convicted in the first chapter. Yancy writes:
When I started exploring the subject of Christian prayer, I first went to the libraries and read accounts of some of the great pray-ers in history. George Muller began each day with several hours of prayer, imploring God to meet the practical needs of his orphanage. Bishop Lancelot Andrewes allotted five hours per day to prayer and Charles Simeon rose at 4:00 a.m. to begin his four-hour regimen…Martin Luther, who devoted two to three hours daily to prayer, said we should do it as naturally as a shoemaker makes a shoe and a tailor makes a coat…In the next step, I interviewed ordinary people about prayer…Many of those I talked to experienced prayer more as a burden than as a pleasure…What accounts for the disparity between Luther and Simeon on their knees for several hours and the modern pray-er fidgeting in a chair after ten minutes? Everywhere, I encountered the gap between prayer in theory and prayer in practice. In theory, prayer is the essential human act, a priceless point of contact with the God of the universe. In practice prayer is often confusing and fraught with frustration (p. 14-15).”
As Christians, we believe that prayer can heal wounds, cure addictions, strengthen marriages, and draw us closer to the Creator of the universe. We believe it can change circumstances. We believe it can change people. But if we really believe all of that, then why don’t we pray? Why do we struggle with it so much? Perhaps it’s as Yancy writes…we see prayer more as a burden than a privilege.
I long for the day when I pray “as naturally as a shoemaker makes shoes.” I’m on a prayer journey. Maybe you should join me. Maybe you should read the book. And above all, maybe you should pray. Strike that…you should definitely pray. It’s the greatest privilege we’re afforded as blood bought children of God.