Prayer

In a comment to a recent post about prayer, Hannah explained that when she prays she likes to think of God’s attributes: his awesome power, his goodness, his love, mercy, compassion, and so on. It is fitting to praise God in this fashion, and it does help us to understand him better. But if this is carried too far (and I do not intend to suggest at all that she carries it too far), we may eventually start to think of God in terms of these attributes. God cannot be reduced to an adjective list. He is a living being.

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In a recent post, I claimed that the only truly Christian prayer is the prayer of Christ.  This idea is difficult to grasp, and its implications are not entirely obvious.  Does this mean that I don’t have to pray?  Does it mean that my own efforts are futile?  If Jesus has already done it all, then what exactly is my role?

We tend to think of personal prayer as something we create by ourselves; it should just bubble up from within our souls.  So we begin by composing a prayer to God.  But we don’t hear anything back. We don’t feel much of anything.  We begin to think, “Something is wrong.  I guess I’m not praying hard enough. Gotta get more intense! Gotta get more sincere!” As we try to do better, we continue this process of self-evaluation.  The focus turns inward. Our prayer becomes introspection, a conversation with the self and about the self.

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After I posted an article on prayer last week, four young adults responded with comments that showed an unusual degree of honesty.  If you have not read their responses, I strongly urge you to do so.  Those responses, and conversations with other young people with whom I have spoken in recent days, have confirmed my suspicions that (a) members of this generation want to relate to God, and (b) they know that prayer must play a key role in this relationship, but (c) effective prayer is difficult and elusive.  When Christians are asked, “Is prayer essential?” the answer is a resounding, “Yes.”  But when it comes to the practice of prayer – how to actually do it – the evangelical community seems befuddled and bewildered.  It is not an exaggeration to say that Christian prayer is in a state of crisis.

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Yes, you guessed it. I’m talking about prayer.

Every Christian I know says that prayer is essential.  They pray every day.  At least they claim that they do. Or they admit that they should. Prayer is, after all, our lifeline to God. But how often are these people actually doing it? And when they do, what are they experiencing?  Are they worrying, daydreaming, or fantasizing? Rattling off long lists of requests?  Arguing with God?  Enjoying an ecstatic, out-of-body experience?  Groveling on an ash heap, filled with a sense of personal failure and shame?

When people pray, are they actually thinking about God?  About themselves?  People they love, people they hate, people they have never met?  Are they orbiting the globe, praying for the nations?  Are they praying in a very generic way, saying “God bless everyone and everything, Amen”?

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