Rhythms of Grace: Prayer

“Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the spiritual life…Real prayer is life creating and life-changing.”
— Richard Foster

These provocative statements are how Richard Foster starts his chapter on prayer in a well-known book called, Celebration of Discipline. One thing that is abundantly clear from scripture and throughout the history of spiritual practice is that prayer is an essential rhythm to a healthy and growing relationship with God. However, another reality that is also abundantly clear is that prayer is difficult. Yet, as Richard Foster rightly suggests, “real prayer is life creating and life-changing.”

As a Pastor, I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard it said,  “I don’t know what to say in prayer,” or “I don’t even know where to begin with prayer,” or “it seems like God is so distant when I pray.” Do you relate to these sentiments? I do. The good news is, so did the people who were closest to Jesus. 

In Luke 11 the disciples, after observing Jesus in a time of prayer, ask the question, “Jesus, can you teach us to pray?” Can I pause here and say to the disciples, on behalf of all humanity, thank you for asking this question! What Jesus gave as a response to this question serves as a road map for prayer - a place to begin that echos from the very heart of God. Jesus responded to this question by giving his disciples (and all of us) what is known as ‘The Lords Prayer.’ You can find it in Luke 11:1-4 or in Matthew 6:9-15.

If you are new to the faith the Lord’s prayer is a great place to begin your own journey in this essential spiritual practice. Yet, the Lord’s prayer is also a prayer of such depth and complexity that it can be a guiding force for a lifetime of deep and transforming communion with God. It encourages each of us to bring into our relationship with God the everyday ordinary details of life like the food we eat, while also encouraging us to rely on God for larger categories such as forgiveness, temptation, and the deliverance from evil. What a great prayer!

While the Lord’s prayer is full of depth and richness, I fully understand that learning how to pray can be frustrating, it can feel like God is distant and that it takes time and energy to develop this aspect of the spiritual life. Pete Greig in his book How to Pray encourages us all with these words:

There are definitely days I’d prefer a set of personal superpowers to slogging away at the slow, confusing business of prayer. God knows that we don’t always find it easy to string a sentence together in his presence. He understands that we sometimes get tongue-tied, distracted, overwhelmed, and confused. He doesn’t get insecure if we occasionally doubt his existence. He sees our bruised and broken hearts and accepts that prayer hasn’t always seemed to help. He isn’t in the least bit annoyed that we occasionally find talking to him a bit boring. But the thing is this: He likes us. A lot. God wants to spend time with us even more than we want to spend time with him. This is a mind-blowing truth. It means that whenever you make the effort to approach the Lord in prayer, he’s already waiting there for you with a smile.

My encouragement to you is to carve out some time each day, even if it is a few minutes, to spend time with the God who came into this world to find you! You don’t have to be a prayer expert to pray. Just start. Keep it simple, keep it real, and keep it up! Use the Lord’s prayer as you begin and open your heart to the love of Jesus. What you will find is a God who welcomes you into his presence waiting with a smile.

Take a few minutes to listen to our weekly discussion Podcast as Pastor Holly and I talk through the acronym P.R.A.Y (Pause, Rejoice, Ask, Yield) as another great pattern to use in prayer. Blessings on your week.