Simple Prayers
Prayer scares many people. If it doesn't scare you, chances are it makes you feel uncomfortable if you need to do it out loud. Prayer is one of those things that we know we should do it, but don’t do it enough and may even feel guilty about it in the back of our minds. Perhaps we’ve grown accustomed to only praying at meal times, maybe before bed, before jumping on a plane, when we or someone we know is in a crisis, but not much else throughout our daily lives unless we need something. Or maybe we just don’t pray at all. Why?
We don’t pray as often as we should because we don’t know how, don’t believe it matters, don't think we need it, or just don’t think enough about it to actually prioritize doing it regularly enough. This is common.
Another reason we don't pray, or don't pray as much as we think or know we probably should, is because we believe that prayer needs to be lengthy and sophisticated. We hear Sunday morning preachers stand up at the pulpits and pray using big words, elegant prayer speeches, and go on in a seemingly comfortable conversational manner that make us wonder how in the world could we ever pray something like that. I think pastors, unintentionally, are doing more Christians a disservice than they do to actually help parishioners adopt a regular and disciplined prayer life. In fact, prayers need not be elaborate and painted colorful with words the likes of Robert Frost, or other Pulitzer Prize winners, would appreciate. Biblical based prayers are quite simple and to the point actually. Jesus models the simplicity of prayer when he teaches his disciples how to pray in Matthew 6 during the Lord’s Prayer.
“Simple prayer is the most common type of prayer in Scripture.”
— John Ortberg
I mean when was the last time anyone at your church discipled you how to pray or grow in your prayer life on a personal level? I think it's just assumed that Christians pray, but do we?
A poll found that, although one in three people pray in a place of worship, and a third pray before going to sleep or on waking, others combine prayer with daily activities. One in five pray while doing household chores or cooking, 15% pray while travelling, and 12% pray during exercise or other leisure pursuits.[1]
But what about the other percentages of people?
Only 55% of people say they pray daily, 16% pray weekly, 6% monthly, 23% seldom to never, and 1% doesn’t think about it enough to even know if they pray.[2]
Prayer is a spiritual discipline that takes practice, effort, and thought. Think of it like going to the gym. Showing up is the hardest part. Getting ready to leave, driving over, then walking through the door are all the hard parts. Once you're there, you've won the day! The more we go, the more confident we get and the more our body gets in shape. If we don’t go, then we cannot experience the benefit of exercise. Prayer is the same way. We just need to have time in our day designated to do it. We don't need to get our life in order. We need to only “show up” to do it. The more we do it, the more comfortable we get at it and the more we will want to do it again and again. Remember, our prayers need not be complicated or long. Simple prayers work.
Ravi Zacharias tells us that the spiritual discipline of praying is the practice of Christians adopting God’s words [scripture] to inform and shape their own prayers.[3] Where the Bible is God's Word speaking to us, prayer is us speaking to God. The capacity to experience God through prayer is the center of Christian spirituality. Prayer affects human interactions, but more important, it is a method of communicating with God.[4]
Jesus taught that prayer should be an intimate part of a private relationship with God (Matt. 6:5-6). Prayer is not meant to be a ritual of special words that invoke God’s blessing hour after hour but a way of humbling ourselves before our just and gracious God. Prayer requires a humble awareness of our need for God.[5]
“Prayer moves one’s eyes away from self and onto God.”
— Mark McMinn
Ravi Zacharias offers some Suggestions to Practice the Spiritual Discipline of Praying Scripture
[My words in the brackets.]
Prayer has several components. It is not only making requests in line with God’s heart for the world, it is also composed of worship, thanksgiving, and confession of where a person has gone astray from God’s purposes. [These are all covered in the Lord’s Prayer.]
Leave “hurry” behind. Read scripture slowly and reflect deeply on the Eternal God’s words. [Give yourself time each day designated and devoted to just praying.]
Start a “prayer notebook” with personal thoughts, a list of topics, and applicable Bible passages. [As prayers get answered, write comments and dates related them.]
To prevent mental drift, speak your prayers quietly aloud or journal your prayers. If music holds a special place in your life, sing your prayers to God. [David did this in his Psalms. Feel free to read from the Psalms during your designated prayer time.]
Find passages in the Bible that reflect your heart and thoughts and apply these verses to your specific context. Personalize these verses as prayers. [Be careful not to cherry pick scriptures out of context to claim for you and your life. They might not be relevant or intended for you. Seek to understand the context and audience of why and who the passage was written.]
C. S. Lewis wrote that in prayer we must “lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.”
When we pray, view it just as it is, a conversation between us and God. If we were chatting with a friend, how would we initiate and engage them in conversation? Reverently view God in a similar way and pray to Him in a natural, conversational manner. When you start praying, especially if this is something new for you, keep your prayers simple, short, and straightforward. Don’t over complicate it because that will make you not do it.
Here are a few Psalms to get you started that you can pray regularly so you don’t need to reinvent the wheel racking your brain to come up with some of your own. When we pray scripture we are speaking God's truth and allowing Him to penetrate our hearts with His Word.
1. Allow God to Search Our Heart
Honesty and vulnerability are key foundations to have when we come to God in prayer. We can trust God with everything rattling around in our minds, the good, the bad, and yes the ugly. We all have something and when we allow God full access to us, this is when He can make us grow.
Psalm 139:23-24
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
2. Confession of Sin
This Psalm was written by David after Nathan the prophet confronted him about his sinful affair with Bathsheba and the murdering of her husband just so he can try to cover up her pregnancy. David repented and was able to experience God's rich blessings. God used David's sinful screw ups to shape his character. We need to confess our fallen condition and brokenness in order to experience God's healing and blessings.
Psalm 51:1-12
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51:1-4a; 17
Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight…
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
3. A Prayer Declaring “I will never be shaken or fear!”
When we try to maintain our independence from God, we work against his desire for us. He wants us to rely on his strength, his grace, and support from other Christians around us. Dependency on God is how we thrive and flourish.
Psalm 30:6-12
When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” Lord, when you favored me, you made my royal mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. To you, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help.” You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.
Psalm 23:4
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
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References
1. Frequency of prayer - Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics. (2015, May 11). Retrieved from https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/frequency-of-prayer/
2. Sherwood, H. (2018, January 14). Non-believers turn to prayer in a crisis, poll finds. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/14/half-of-non-believers-pray-says-poll
3. How to Practice the Spiritual Discipline of Praying Scripture. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.rzim.org/read/rzim-global/how-to-practice-the-spiritual-discipline-of-praying-scripture
4. MacMinn, M. R. (2014). Psychology, theology, and spirituality in christian counseling. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
5. Ibid
For more good articles on prayer from Ravi Zacharias, and his team, visit here: https://www.rzim.org/resources/prayer
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