Special Edition: Your Responses on the Dynamics of Prayer
My last blog post invited you to comment on various aspects of prayer, specifically:
· The relationship between praying without ceasing and falling into empty repetition
· The “quantity” of prayer
· The specificity of prayer
· The intensity with which we pray
That post generated lots of response with many wonderful insights. Submissions came in as comments on my web page and through various social media platforms. Thanks to all who contributed your ideas!
Instead if creating a new blog post with my own thoughts this week, I would rather spotlight your inspiring insights. You will be blessed if you take the time to read through them.
Two themes that several mentioned were:
Rather than being just “a thing,” we should view prayer as part of our relationship with God, something we live out.
We shouldn’t forget that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, advocating and “correcting” our prayers as necessary.
Hard to argue with either of these ideas!
Scroll down to my last my post, dated August 6 and click on the “comments” button at the bottom of my August 6 post.
And I have reproduced immediately below some excerpts from social media submissions. Keep reading.
Does God hear the long agonizing prayer of lament and distress more than the simple daily prayers uttered in my life? Do numbers and words really make a difference? I don’t know how it all works but I think persevering in prayer matters. Often I just wonder does it really matter….yet I find myself praying sometimes without even thinking….it’s like breathing. We can’t live without it.
Jennifer Williams
These years with (my daughter) Heidi’s cancer, bone marrow transplant and soon-to-be kidney transplant have had me in “ceaseless prayer” for her. Then there are all the folks praying that I update. I honestly see prayer as more and more of a mystery…Somehow God wants us to make our requests known to Him. Yet He will work according to His plan. We can pray as a single individual and as a community, baring our hearts and souls which I believe God will hear and respond to rightly.
Twinky Satterthwaite
What about enjoying getting to know The Father better by just conversing with Him! Not asking Him for things all the time, but just talking and listening to Him. Listening to the promptings of His Spirit.
Sonny Lallerstedt
There are 4 things that seem to characterize my Intense Prayers.
1. Shorter the better
2. Said out loud
3. Conversational
4. Alone
The HS fills in the blanks. . . . Said differently, we can’t mess up a prayer, even if it’s short in Specificity or Quantity.
Dennis Dixon
Ps. 37:4 . . . calls us to "delight" in the Lord. I know this verse is often misused, but when looked at in context, it shows that God desires our delighting in Him, not as a "get what we want" from a worldly sense, but from an eternal sense. The context shows that in spite of life's challenges, we are to want Him, and look forward to being with Him for eternity.
. . . .
Certainly empty repetition is not good, and I am often guilty of that. I try to be specific, but don't overdo it. I am aware that God certainly knows the need for which I'm praying, so it's not like I'm trying to fill Him in on the details. But I think specificity is more for us than for Him. It causes us to think about the need, and it also allows us to see how God responds to the need. But we can overdo it. I think about how we pray in ways that might not be in God's perfect will. I would have been one to pray that Joseph be released from prison. But that would have not been God's plan. Maybe better to pray that Joseph would experience God's blessing and that he persevere in faith.
. . .
I do like to think that if I get hung up about quantity, intensity, specificity, and language, I lose the most important aspects... relationship, trust, belief, dependence. It's about having a conversation with God who already knows what I and others need, but wants me to regard Him with the awe and intimacy that's involved in the most valuable relationship we have.
Steve Simpson
My prayers always have the same pattern and sometimes with different words or names and situations. I think if we get too caught up in trying to make our prayers unique, we might miss our mark on the “why” we’re talking to God in the first place.
Chris Ebert
One of my favorite lessons on prayer is Nehemiah 1 & 2 with emphasis on 2:1-6. Nehemiah prays with fervor and specificity when he learns of the condition of Jerusalem. The narrative intimates that others were also praying. And he demonstrates constancy when the king, perhaps unexpectedly, asks him to make a request. We may be sure that he did not spend ten minutes in prayer before responding. “He prayed to the Lord and answered the king” in one motion.
Jason Renier