Pastor's Pen: Prayer

Prayer is the single most important aspect of the Christian life and the area most neglected. Whether private or corporate we must come to appreciate its necessity if we are to move into greater connection with the Lord’s enabling power and strength.

Jesus knew the importance of prayer and we should look to His example. R. Paul Stevens, in “New Testament Spirituality” writes, “The most revealing statement by Jesus about his life of prayer is simply, ‘I and my Father are one’ (John 10:30). Prayer for Jesus was not primarily a ‘discipline’ but the daily meat and drink of fellowship with the Father. Prayer is like friendship. As in friendship, prayer is not for anything at all, not even for ‘answers’. It is for the relationship. It is for the communion. What we are speaking about is not the natural or instinctive turning to God in a crisis – good as it is – but turning in faith to God moment by moment with the actual details of our life, and so praying without ceasing. To do this we must know the character of the one to whom we pray..." (p57)

Stevens further adds, "Jesus reveals a Father-God who is more willing to give than we are to ask, a God who invites us to come boldly, persistently and honestly (Luke 11:1-13). Equally importantly Jesus reveals that what God wants from our prayers is not the substance but the relationship implied in our praying. So there are probably no ‘bad’ prayers, and if there are, praying them is probably better than not praying at all. It is my hunch that praying even inadequate prayers places us in a spiritual position where God can teach us more about prayer. We learn to pray by praying. Were we to wait to be proficient we might never start. So we have every reason to be spontaneous when we pray and not to worry what God or anyone else thinks about the form of our prayers. God looks at the heart not the words of our prayers.” (p57-58)

May we be challenged to lay aside whatever is holding us back in our prayer life and just get started. A vital relationship is waiting for us with the most powerful person in the universe, who desires to impact us and our community through us.