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The Trouble With Prayer

    Our Master gave us a model prayer in His Sermon on the Mount and most students of the Bible follow His instruction when petitioning God either publicly or privately. In steps, we pray to: 1) praise and bring honor to His name, 2) ask that His will and kingdom be forthcoming, 3) give thanks for the necessities of life, 4) forgive enemies and ask forgiveness for sins, 5) ask for the strength to resist evil, and 6) be granted personal and group favors which are here introduced. At the end of our solicitation we say "amen" and, if among brethren, full expect to hear this echoed from the congregation.
    Go into any Christian church and you will hear this outline being followed. It may sometimes get lost in a flurry of words or be in another order than that mentioned above, but it is there, nonetheless. There is, of course, nothing wrong with mentioning these things in our prayers; it is sometimes good to do so, otherwise such an example would not have been left for us.

God Not Out to Get Us on a Technicality

    This outline, however, has basically become a formula so important to some, that if it is not followed they feel the prayer is not an acceptable one to God. At a recent meeting, a brother was called upon to give the opening prayer. Anyone could see from his expression that he was not really thrilled with being called upon, but he, nevertheless, stood and delivered what many thought was an acceptable prayer from his heart. But before he could sit down, an elder, obviously citing what he thought was an omission in technique, spoke up with, "And let's not forget to say that we all need help in avoiding the many temptations of this world. Amen, amen."
    One can just imagine what thought this man may have had concerning his public reproach. For one thing, I'll bet that he will never again forget to ask to be led away from temptation. Although that was an isolated instance, this is the trouble with our prayer, today. Christians, many times are taught that prayer must be in a particular format to be beneficial; that if it does not follow the commonly accepted form, God will not recognize it as being proper. It is true that for a request to be granted, it must please God, but that does not mean that our prayers must be constructed by a formula. We should know that, reasonably, God is not "out to get us" on a technicality.
    When questioned about this problem, people most often say that they feel under pressure to remember "the formula" when called upon for public prayer instead of speaking aloud what they feel in their hearts. They are afraid of missing a point and having someone bring this to their attention - possibly in public. What is usually given in such a situation is not a prayer to please God, but a prayer to please men. Real prayer is often the furthest thing from their minds.
    So, who is to blame? In a way, we all are. In trying so hard to cover the points spoken of in Matthew 6:9-13, we sometimes completely miss the point in Matthew 6:7 that says "In your prayers do not go babbling on like the heathen, who imagine that the more they say the more likely they are to be heard" (Revised English Bible).

Lord's Prayer Meant Only as an Example

    It is evident that the Lord's Prayer as given in the Sermon on the Mount was meant only as an example. Elsewhere in the Bible it is shown that disciples, and even Jesus himself, did not strictly adhere to those specific words or points when praying. In Romans 8:26, 27 we are shown that Christians, under certain circumstances, need not or will not know exactly just what to pray for, but the Spirit will intercede for them. These references are all that we need in order to know that our prayer, no matter what we say, will be heard if it is sincere.
    We can correlate prayer with the episode of the poor widow who contributed to the treasury out of her poverty and not out of her abundance like everybody else. Likewise with our prayer, it is the intent, not the content, that is important. The man who stands in a congregation and simply, but sincerely, says, "Lord, we love You and ask that You please bless this meeting," says much more than the person who rattles on for five minutes making sure that he covers all possible prayer points.
    It is important that our fellow congregation members realize that they are not being put in the hot seat, so to speak, when called upon to offer prayer. They need to know that, whatever they say, it is acceptable not only to everyone present, but to God, too. We can all help to set the example for one another. Let each of us make sure that our own prayer is sincere and not just an effort to speak words which we feel are necessary to properly round out the message. After all, who are we fooling? Our goal is not to become public speakers with false messages, but to build a sincere relationship between ourselves and our Heavenly Father.

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© 1994, Ray Hermann
(Any use of this article must contain the "by-line" and proper copyright information; a link to this site would be appreciated.)
First published in Wisdom & Power magazine, July/August 1994

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