Yesterday continuing the study of Ephesians, Barb spoke on prayer (the last part of Chapter 3). This is where Paul prays for the church in Ephesus. Thing is, when Paul “prays” in these letters, it’s still part of his message or argument. The one thing that always leaves me wanting more information is — what did all these spiritual heroes we read about do when they prayed? Jesus went off by himself and prayed. Daniel took time off from his busy days running an empire to pray three times daily.
I’ve spent a lifetime praying, learning about prayer, learning from my praying–and I still wish that the Christian church taught how to pray instead of telling you that you should pray.
I’m not going to write an essay on how to pray here, but maybe it’s something I should work on. I just remember when I tried to teach a class on prayer. The students seemed to want only to read and discuss the book. When I tried to have silent time to work on an aspect of prayer, it was awkward. Perhaps that’s part of the answer. Prayer begins in silence. There’s nothing wrong with calling it prayer time when you flood over with requests for God to handle for you. But let’s go back to the source. What did Paul pray for the Ephesians to experience? It was the deep dwelling of God in the inner lives of the people. Richard Foster of Renovare calls it the “with-God” life. Paul in another place calls upon us to “pray without ceasing.” The Russian peasant detailed in a lovely little book called “The Way of the Pilgrim” tries to live out that admonishment of Paul’s.
First, we need to become comfortable in silence. This is perhaps more difficult for us in the twenty-first Century than at any other time in human history. In silence, you can hear God and converse with God. There are techniques to become silent. But these require work. Perhaps that’s it. Prayer is work. And often we take the easy way out to just demand things of God rather than living continually with Him. Are you “with God” right now? Do you need to work on that experience? I’ve done this for years and my answer to the second question is still “yes.”
Faith Venture 
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