Some notes I gleamed from a workshop on prayer by David Pryor
Prayer is relational communication with God. It is not ritual, or a chore to get out of the way before the day is over (like brushing our teeth before we go to bed).
It is not a monologue in which one person does all the talking and the other does all the listening.
For many people, prayer has little to od with the realities of life. Some think of prayer as they do the national anthem at a game: a nice opening ritural that has nothing to do with what happens on the field. Others treat it like a good-luck charm to use when things are tough.
The power of the Holy Spirit flows along wires of prayer, which makes prayer absolutely viatal and central to all of life.
A common misconception is that "spending time with God" means being alone with him. As Jesus modeled, you need time alone with God, but that is only a fraction of your waking hours. Everything you do can be "spending time with God." If he is invited to be a part of your day and you stay aware of his presence, you can carry on a continuous, open-ended conversation with him throughout your day (I Thess. 5:17)
Because prayer is relational, the Holy Spirit will communicate God's heart back to us by connecting with our human spirit so that we will ehar God talk with us in the deepest depths of our being.
To pray is to change. Prayer is the main means God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling or not desiring to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God, the more we see our need and the more we desire to conformed to Christ.
In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God's thoughts after him: to desire the things he desires, to love the things he loves.
Prayer involves a learning process. Accepting this saves us from arrogantly dismissing it as false or unreal.
It is easy to become discouraged rather than challenged by the examples of "giants of the faith." They may be so far beyond anything we have experienced that we are tempted to despair. But rather than whip ourselves for our obvious lack, we should remember that God always meets us where we are and slowly moves us along into deeper things.
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5 comments:
Great notes, great insight. I just finished reading Philip Yancey's new book on prayer. I highly recommend it.
Hi there!
(You don't know me, but I went to college with your sister and I'm married to Isaac.)
Just wanted to say I appreciated your post. I struggle with the basic questions of why we pray and am looking for a good book to explain the theology behind it. I have one my Foster, but I think he already assumes the reader knows why prayer might change God and us.
I know, I know, coming from a Christian college, I should know better. But do you have any suggestions?
Krista,
Thanks for reading. The guy I like a lot on prayer is E.M. Bounds. He wrote a book entitled, "Prayer." It has been a long time since I last read it.
Anybody else have any suggestions?
My friend Chris recommends Phillip Yancey's, "Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference." He says that it is a down to earth look at prayer.
Thanks! I will take a look at both of these books.
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