How’s your prayer time been lately?
That’s a rather blunt question, right? How often is it that we even consider this question, let alone ask it of someone else? Asking this question tends to put people in a position of defense. Prayer is essential to the Christian life and when we aren’t praying to God we might quickly realize that something isn’t right about that. Furthermore, when someone is bold enough to ask us how our prayer life is going do we feel that we can give a positive answer honestly?
This past Sunday we looked into the prayer of Paul in Ephesians 3:14-21 that was concerned with the spiritual growth of the church in Ephesus. His prayer seemed like a staircase of progression from having the Holy Spirit to being consumed with the Holy Spirit. I can imagine however that most of our prayers probably don’t sound like Paul’s though. I doubt that many of us have the same eloquence and if we do then I would imagine that not every prayer would look quite like that and perhaps it shouldn’t.
The truth is that most Christians struggle with prayer. We know that we should pray but we struggle with actually doing it for a number of reasons. Some of us struggle with not knowing what to say and others struggle with saying the same prayer over and over again. Most of us struggle not because we aren’t saved but because having a one way conversation for more than a minute or two leaves us not knowing what to say. What do you say to someone who already knows everything anyways?
Well, the answer that I’ve always heard is that we must simply rely on the Holy Spirit. That’s the short answer, right? I’m sure we’ve heard it before and probably been led to Romans 8:26,27 where Paul speaks of the Spirit’s intercession for us when we don’t know what to pray.
“26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
”
Surely this cannot mean that it’s okay not to pray because the Holy Spirit knows it all and is interceding on our behalf nor can it mean that the Holy Spirit will tell us word for word what we should say in prayer. No, it seems to be that when we are struggling and don’t know what to say we can be comforted by knowing that where we fail to pray as we should, the Holy Spirit will nonetheless intercede for us. This is comforting but it doesn’t excuse not praying in the everyday.
We must continue in prayer over all that we face and if we want to pray with the Holy Spirit, then why not let the Holy Spirit guide us in our prayer with the use of the scriptures?
This past week I read through a wonderful book that addressed some of these concerns. “Praying the Bible” by Donald Whitney encourages us to use scripture to prompt our prayers and keep us focused on God during the time that we commit to praying. Specifically he calls upon us to use the psalms, as they were intended as praise and worship to God. His suggestion is simple; read a verse and pray about whatever that brings to your mind. When you’re done praying over the first verse you read the second verse and pray about whatever that brings to your mind. This process is simple. All you have to do is read God’s word and pray and yet you will find that for someone who doesn’t know what to pray you will always have something to pray. For someone whose mind starts to wonder in your prayers you will find that this brings back your focus on the Lord. For someone who prays simply for themselves and rarely praises God with thanksgiving, you will find yourself praising God for what He has done.
If you’re struggling with your prayer life I would highly recommend this book, “Praying the Bible,” to help you refocus on what matters. This book does not suggest that one has to pray this way all the time but this method will help us refocus our prayers, bringing us to pray for things we might normally forget, and help us align our prayers with the will of God. Praying this way isn’t something we have to do but it’s a good practice to help us pray consistently and according to the bible. What better way to make sure your prayers are biblical than by literally lining them up with scripture?
I am planning to order a few copies of this book to have at the church this week but even if you’re not planning to read the book why not give praying like this a try? Open up to the psalms, read a verse, pray, read the next verse, pray, and continue on until you finish that psalm or just keep going.
Now, if there is anything that you need prayer for this week please let me know and I will be praying along with you.
- Pastor Kyle Horton