Faith Venture

Monday’s post looked at how many people want to know things about prayer, but they do not want to learn and practice prayer itself.

My wife was raised in an independent Baptist church. She was taught that all prayers must come directly from the heart. She was disturbed when a pastor had written a prayer and read it as part of a service. It couldn’t have come from the heart because he read it. But, I would ask, wasn’t it in his heart when he wrote it (Baptist, had to be a “he”)? 

Similarly, she was trained to be derisive about “reciting” the Lord’s Prayer (the Our Father). If you are merely reciting words written 2,000 years ago, it obviously isn’t from your heart.

I would say that “praying” the Lord’s Prayer gave a structure to a prayer. It reminds me (us) of the different things we should be weighing on our heart. 

• Oh, yes, there is someone I need to forgive.
• Oh, yes, I can pray for something I need today.
• Oh, yes, I can ask for protection from something bad that may happen to me or others.
• I need to remember to acknowledge God as the power in my life as in others.

This Renovaré podcast conversation with Nate Foster (Richard J. Foster’s son) and Mon­i­ca and Jere­my Cham­bers about how they pray the Lord’s Prayer inspired me to go deeper into using this short and simple, yet deep and comprehensive, prayer template in my own daily meditations.

Here is a version translated by the ever thoughtful Dallas Willard:

Dear Father, Always near us,

May your name be treasured and loved,

May your will be done on earth in just the way it is done in heaven.

Give us today the things we need today,

And forgive us our sins and impositions on you

As we are forgiving all who in any way offend us.

Please don’t put us through trials,

But deliver us from everything bad.

Because you are in charge,

And you have all the power,

And the glory too is all yours—forever—

Which is just the way we want it!

Dallas Willard

I once tried teaching prayer. It would be a class at church.

My idea was to teach prayer—not about prayer, but how to pray with practice.

Several people accepted the challenge and signed up.

It turned out that they wanted to learn about prayer. You know, types of prayer—intercessory, confession, praise, contemplative. Like a seminary course. All in the head.

One of my guides to the inner life was Morton Kelsey (The Other Side of Silence). He talked about being suspect at seminary by other students and faculty when he and a small group of friends met regularly for prayer. I’ve read about John and Charles Wesley and a few friends who met regularly for prayer at seminary and were called, not warmly, “methodists” for meeting intentionally and methodically.

Living in our heads comes so easily to us. We seem to have a million thoughts per second. Yet, the two ways we need to go are hard and often ignored.

• To go deeply into the soul touching God.
• To go out into the world and act as if we really followed Jesus.

Oh, and how to pray? Kind of like the advertising slogan–Just Do It. Every day. Several times a day. With intention. Don’t forget to use part of the time to listen.

The disciples who followed Jesus around noticed that he often went away by himself to pray. They wondered, probably like I’ve always wondered, what did he say? How did he say it? Or was it listening in contemplation?

So, they asked him. Must be nice to go right to the source. (This is the way the story is told by Luke. Matthew records it as part of the Sermon on the Mount.)

And he gave them an example prayer—some call it the Lord’s Prayer and others call it the Our Father.

When you pray, this is what you can say.

This is a good template for certain kinds of our prayers. Jesus continues in Luke’s recording to teach on persistence. That is, don’t just sit and pray these words once. Make it a daily practice.

Are you like me? This prayer touches on essential things. Of course, when we pray, we most likely need to add personal examples.

But Jesus went off for hours. Surely he didn’t pray the Our Father continually for hours? I have sat often and prayed the Jesus Prayer for almost 30 minutes at a time (Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.) But for hours?

One thing I do know—more people seem to want to talk about prayer than will actually practice prayer.

If you ask me about how to pray when we’re alone, I’ll lead you into how to sit, stand or lie; breathe; focus; relax; listen. Don’t be like when Janis Joplin sang Kris Kristofferson’s words, “Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz? My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends…”

Strive to avoid praying against anyone in your prayer so that you do not destroy what you have been building up by making your prayer a defilement.

Evagrius, 4th Century Teacher

I had to pause at this chapter and consider. I don’t think of myself as one who bears grudges and puts myself against others. Oh, yes, there are many with whom I disagree theologically and politically. And, yes, I’ve been wronged many times. But I don’t dwell on these and pray for their destruction.

I think of poor Jonah, who took his God-given message of destruction to the people of Nineveh with great joy for their demise. Then they repented and God told Jonah, good job, they have come to me. And Jonah was bitterly disappointed.

Have I ever sat in prayer and wished bad to come to someone? Have I ever paused for a quick prayer of condemnation toward another human, another of God’s children? If so, I stand condemned.

We pray that we may more closely be with God and that others also will be and for their healing. Take a blessing from this teaching today.