Prayer

I must confess these two truths before we dive straight into this blog. First of all, I don't make enough time to spend alone with God in prayer. Second, when I do pray my words seem to be hollow or even perhaps insincere to a degree. I know my heart is sincere, but they still feel like meaningless chatter coming from my lips. As I am typing these insecurities, I realize that most western cultures have some hang-ups when it comes to prayer. Maybe you have some of these hang-ups yourself. It's awkward asking the God of the universe for help.  Furthermore, there is no verbal response on His end of the line. Once on a mission trip in the Appalachian countryside of north Tennessee, our host told us the following story one evening after we had finished our nightly devotional.  Our host had been a missionary for several years in Africa.  One of the people he was working with was a native African. One evening the two were having a discussion in which the subject of prayer came up. The man told our host that Americans can sing all night long, but when it comes to praying they spend five minutes on it. He continued saying Africans would regularly pray all night long. This has been backed up by the great revival that is happening all over the Global South (Africa and Asia primary). These continents have seen a surge of new believers and churches emerging over the last fifteen years, and it happened with faithful individuals making a commitment to pray like never before. That story has stayed with me all these years,  for some reason. Prayer is the most important tool a Christian has at their disposal. So why is it so hard sometimes for us to make a genuine effort to open up a dialogue with our Father in heaven? We are so busy and too distracted even in the midst of a semi lock-down. The world convinces us that we must be either be working or be entertained all day long for our lives to be fulfilled. The apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6:18, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people." Notice three things here in this passage, Paul instructs us to pray in the Spirit. When your words are lacking or you can't get any words out,  the Holy Spirit will intercede on our behalf. Second, on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. God wants you and me to be in constant communication with Him all day long, from the smallest issue to the biggest problem. By nature, we value our independence and feel weak asking for help, especially when it should be a simple fix. God desires to be in an active relationship with us. Prayer gives us a direct avenue to our Father. Nothing else can compare. Finally, Paul writes keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Yes, we should come to God with our needs and desires, however, we should constantly be lifting other people up in our prayers. This is the greatest way of showing love to someone else when we make the effort and time to bring their needs before God in our own personal prayer life. The disciples asked Jesus one day to teach them how to pray.  He didn't give them a complex formula to follow, nor were there any fancy words or lingo to remember. Jesus simply said,

 "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 forgotten our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." 

If you feel like your words are not worthy to be spoken to God, know that there is no human in history that had acceptable words for the Father except for Jesus himself. As long as you come with a sincere heart, and have the Spirit running through you that is enough. God wants a constant dialogue with you, his own unique creation. If you don't have any words use the same prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. This can even be a launching point for you to have a more meaningful prayer life.

Here are two books to use as resources:

• Before Amen (The Power of Simple Prayers) written by Max Lucado 
• Miraculous Movements, written by Jerry Trousdale. (written about the Global South's Revival)