Are You Praying?

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I've heard it a thousand times. "I will pray for you." I've said it a thousand times. I have to admit that most of the time, I either don't remember to pray, or in the selfish economy of my life, I don't really think that the item in question is really worth the time I would have to budget for it. "Please pray for my great aunt Ruthie in West Virginia. She's going in for surgery on her left foot next week." I answer, "I promise I will pray for her." Usually to assuage my conscience, as I'm walking away, I'll say a quick four word prayer like, "Dear God, help Ruthie." Whew! I took care of that one.

Honestly, along with reading the Bible, is there ANYTHING more important than prayer? The words "prayer", "pray" or "petition" show up in the Word 356 times. I have to believe that prayer is important to God. Unfortunately, in the busyness of life, I will tend to drop prayer somewhere down the list, maybe next to "help Chris with the dishes", which is something that I need to do, but not always with enthusiasm. I am confessing that I have not prioritized prayer. Most of the time when I do pray, my prayer is trite and brief. "Dear God, thank you for all the blessings that you have bestowed on me and my family. Please watch over my wife and children. Amen."

From the state of things in our country, and the state of Christian families, I would guess that I'm not alone in this sin. God sets forth several standards for prayer:

1) Pray continuously. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 "Pray without ceasing." This does not mean that you need to blow off every other pursuit in life and do nothing other than pray. Rather, it means that you should look at prayer as you would normal conversation with a close friend. Even if you are busy with the normal challenges of the day, you'd at least be in continuous, casual conversation throughout the day with that friend. God loves to hear from us.

2) Prayer requires steadfast attentiveness. Colossians 4:2 "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving." The Greek word for "devote", προσκαρτερέω means to persevere and not faint or to show one's self courageous for. Jesus spent many nights in prayer. He had to be exhausted just like any man, but in spite of the difficulty, He worked at it.

3) Pray for all men. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 "First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity." God asks us to pray for all men, but especially those in authority. That means that we need to pray for President Bush and Congress, no matter what our politics may be!

4) Prayer should never be for show. Matthew 6:5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." If you have the occasion to pray in public, make sure that you are praying to God and not so you can wax eloquent in front of your "audience".

5) Do not pray repetitive, trite prayers. Matthew 6:7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words." There are many religions that use canned or repetitive prayers that mean nothing to God. Even evangelicals can fall into this trap. Do all of your prayers start to sound the same?

6) Use the "Lord's Prayer" as a model not a mantra. Matthew 6:9-13 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Notice here that Jesus did NOT tell his disciples to pray this prayer, but to "Pray in this WAY." I have been in the presence of many who have prayed this prayer rote, in the hopes that it would bestow some supernatural blessing on them. God is not looking for ritual, He wants relationship.

I wrote today's blog with me in mind. Please pray for me.

His servant,

D. L. Culiver