Join The "I Do Not Pray Enough" Fan Club
During college I did an internship at a church where the pastor was into a “get everyone to the church at 5am to pray for exactly one hour” kick. ***
I heard through the grapevine that some well-meaning person slipped him a book on prayer (I believe it was TV evangelist Larry Lea’s Could You Not Tarry With Me One Hour?) and that was all she wrote.
For 13 weeks straight I would get up at 3:45am, take a shower, get dressed, and then make the 55 minute commute to the church building just in time to hit my knees and join the faithful.
For 60 minutes of prayer.
On my knees.
Every flippin’ morning.
For 13 weeks.
I kid you not.
“The Koreans are doing it and their churches are growing like wildfire,” I remember him telling me.
“That’s great,” I said, “but can’t God hear us just the same at 9am? And does it need to be a whole hour? My knees start killing me after 20 minutes. After 30 minutes I’m getting butt cramps. And after 45 minutes, honestly, I’m contemplating converting to Zoroastrianism. Besides, is this really the way prayer works anyway?”
The cure was worse than the disease. Rather than helping everyone gain a greater sense of joy in their pray life, it accomplished the exact opposite: the more we prayed, the more we felt like we didn’t pray enough.
Ever felt that way?
When the topic of prayer comes up just about every Christian I talk to feels guilty. “I don’t pray enough.” “I wish I could pray more.” “I hear stories about people who have these amazing prayer lives and I feel guilty.”
What if we actually do pray enough?
In Matthew 6:9-13 Jesus tells us,
"This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
I’d like to challenge you to read that and time yourself with a stop-watch. How long does it take you to read that prayer at a normal pace? It takes me around twenty seconds.
What if Jesus meant it when he said, “This, then, is how you should pray?”
I do that. And I bet you do too. All throughout the day. Twenty second prayers here. Ten second prayers there. Forty second prayers for this person. Twenty-five second prayers for a struggle I’m having. It’s like we’re have this on-going connection with God all throughout the day. And we feel great about it, until we read a modern-day book on prayer.
What if all of these well-intentioned proponents of the supernatural octane-boosted marathon prayer world with all of their finely tuned strategies and outlines were wrong?
What if Jesus was absolutely cool with fifty-three words prayers?
***Just to set the record straight –butt cramps aside -- my internship that summer was incredible.
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Comments (12)
Brian Capaldi on Aug 6, 2009 10:22am
This post reminds me of an experience that I want to share. A few years ago I was privledged to be a part of a "Doctors Without Borders" trip to India. For ten of the longest, hottest days I've ever experienced I was part of an amazing group of doctors that got to see and treat over 6000 of the most gracious and thankful people I have ever met. When we arrived in India we were introduced to our personal translater that followed us around for the duration of our stay. They were an invaluable part of our interaction with the patients that we treated. They were all muslims, and part of their daily life was being called to prayer 5 times every day. I remember the first time I heard this booming voice delivered by what must be a giant megaphone blast into our clinic. I was in a west facing bathroom at the time and when I emerged from the bathroom, everyone was on their knees facing me. For the briefest of seconds I thought maybe they were finally aknowledgeing my superior skills as a doctor but, they were in fact praying. Not really sure what I was supposed to do I waited for them to finish and found my translater. I asked him if he got sick of doing that throughout the day. Or, did he blow it off if he was writing an important e-mail or watching a good show on TV. With wide eyes he looked at me and said, "Sick of talking to God??? No, never. It is the most important part of my day." So, sure enough for the rest of our stay at the clinic that voice boomed over the loud speaker and they all dropped down to their knees and prayed. Showing humility and respect for God. It made me think about the similarities in the way I pray. I pray frequently throughout the day and I keep it short and to the point. The only difference is I don't hit my knees but, after 15 years of playing rugby I don't think my knees could take it anyway. Prayer for me is a private moment, a moment where I get to talk to God and tell Him something that is important to me, something that I want Him to know about me and my life. Much I like would tell my own father. It is a very special part of my day.
Brian Jones on Aug 6, 2009 10:36am
Hi Brian,
Thanks for sharing that. Makes me appreciate even more sharing "this new life (Acts 5:20)" with others. Press on.
Anonymous on Aug 6, 2009 1:14pm
I like this idea. I also like to pray at night, as a kind of end of the day thing, but always run out of things to say or forget or fall asleep. My pastor the other day mentioned something in a sermon. He suggested that we walk back through our entire day with God. I'm able to thank him for making my drive to work tolerable and safe, and then remember to pray for various people that I've met during the day, etc. It's really helped my prayer life.
Tomcat on Aug 6, 2009 2:04pm
I'm certainly not good at the lengthy prayer thing - the multiple-twenty second prayer style suits me and my life, even as a Pastor. Where I feel deficient is in the listening end of things - it definitely takes me longer to rid my head of the "noise" of my life and see if, in fact, God would like to speak to ME.
Alex McLean on Aug 7, 2009 8:53am
Yup, love it. I think we often over/hyper-spiritualize things like prayer, when in all actuality, it's simply communing with the God of the Universe, who "time" really means nothing at all to. (I think). Then we make it out of reach to the common man. Then we create converts to Zoroaster.
On the other hand, I do think there is a time for us to go to our knees - but it should be out of desperation or joy, or wonder, or awe, or whatever - not by religious duty. I wish I went to my knees more, but that is a matter of the heart - not my knees.
Steve Thurston on Aug 7, 2009 10:07am
I love praying the Lord’s Prayer but I don’t think we need to always pray using those same exact words or just only pray those words all the time. The Lord’s Prayer is a pattern for us to follow, like a map guiding us to a wonderful treasure. It’s kind of like those fill in the blank books we used to have when we were children. An outline that provides all the necessary ingredients to the perfect prayer cake mix.
The Lord’s Prayer also has a certain priority of things to pray about: We first hold God Almighty as sacred and holy, the Kingdom is second and then our needs. Then the seeking of forgiveness of our sins. Too many have their priorities reversed and end up forever chasing after their needs first... and this is why they have difficulty flourishing that relationship and prayer doesn't become a meaningful connection with our Father.
In Matt 6:33 Jesus said, “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” That must be the order of priority – put the Kingdom of God first and God will provide for all our needs.
Jesus sees how people are so caught up with earning a living – What are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? What are we going to wear? – that we have forgotten how to live. And His message to us is that the Father will give us all that we need each day if we live for Him.
We need to make sure our priorities are right in relation to the things of God and then we can count on God to meet our every need. Trusting in Him. Trusting His ways. We have a Father who loves us and cares for us. He takes pleasure in providing for us and making sure that all our needs are met. We can go to Him and ask Him for all that we need. It’s that simple, really.
He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father…give us each day our daily bread…” Luke 11:2 NIV
It is very significant that immediately after teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus went on to stress the importance of praying with persistence and determination.
Too many times when we pray, we get discouraged when we don’t see quick answers. We turn away from seeking after God or we compromise and accept something that is less than what God says we can have.
Sometimes, for reasons we cannot fully understand, He waits for a while before the He sends the answer. Sometimes He puts us through trials to test our faith to develop perseverance. Sometimes He holds back because He has something better in mind. He sees things that we cannot see. He knows things that we cannot know. He answers prayer His way but with wisdom and in love and He always sends the best. When we are in prayer, this is the truth about God that we must hold on to – that we are not pleading with an uncaring stranger or a reluctant giver; we are asking Abba. Can there be any doubt that Abba will hear our cry?
Prayer is not just about us and our wants/needs, but it is our connection to God. It’s our way to bond through a relationship. It’s not about what time you get up in the morning, or how long or short your prayer is. It’s not about quantity but quality and intimacy. Our whole life needs to be anchored on this prayer relationship.
Prayer is more than words spoken as a routine or repetition carried out mechanically. I’ve learned that prayer is an opening of our heart to our Father’s heart. It is an opening of the heart to our Father’s love and purpose. Through prayer we provide thankfulness for giving another day of life, health and blessings. It is the laying down of burdens and the taking up of strength and grace. It is two hearts becoming one.
Just like any beautiful relationship you might have, time alone with our Father is a non-negotiable thing. For many years I struggled to make it a non-negotiable part of my life and it was difficult to learn to connect with God through prayer at first. But I can attest through my own personal prayer walk, one day it clicked, after years of persistence, I started to operate on the same wavelength as God and there was this distinct newfound confidence in Christ and in myself. Prayer had finally become the anchor of my relationship with Jesus.
As for my prayers, I love walking back through my entire day and sharing it with God. Of course He knows how my day went, but I like telling him what transcribed, how I felt, what I was feeling, what went right and what went wrong, I thank Him for many things, both good and bad that are happening in my life, I ask for forgiveness on all of my mess-ups of that day and I also pray for others. It's amazing what prayer can do in your life.
Jenn B on Aug 7, 2009 1:13pm
And what if praying was just living in open conversation with God?
Anonymous on Aug 7, 2009 2:38pm
Yo steve, maybe you need a blog! ;)
Richard Finnie on Aug 7, 2009 10:12pm
We are told to pray without ceasing. Since God hears our every thought, it seems that we need to act like he is always with us and that our life is an open conversation with God. Of course, there are times when we need to shut out the world and just talk with God. However, we are in a constant state of "prayer" every waking minute. Comforting and scary at the same time.
Steve Thurston on Aug 9, 2009 3:14pm
Anonymouss, actually I love writing and blogging but I do it in Spanish to a Spanish audience. English is not my 'forte' but if the topic is one that connects with me, i'll take my time to write/comment in English. As you can tell, this topic is close to my heart ;-)
Especially when things are not going right in your life, when you are traversing through some trials in life, prayer is one of the key lifelines that keeps you both sane and faithful.
mario rojas on Aug 9, 2009 11:35pm
Jessus asked his diciples why couldn't they pray with him for an hour,what do you think about that Brian?
Brian Jones on Aug 10, 2009 7:56am
Hi Mario,
I think that was a specific instance where jesus needed them to pray for an hour - right before being led away to the cross. I don't think it was meant to set an example for how long his followers are supposed to pray. I do want to say, however, that disciples should pray as often as they can, and if praying an hour a day works for you, then by all means please continue to do that. I jst think that many are wired differently. And that's okay. Lots of variation within the body of Christ.