Prayer is critical for the Christian. If I’m being honest, it is the most critical aspect of life in the Spirit. I say this because it is the spiritual tether between heaven and earth, between our hearts and God’s. It is the crimson red thread connecting each and every Christian that ever has, is, or will exist, to their gentle and lowly Shepherd.
Prayer is also the most underutilized aspect because of misunderstandings, misconceptions, and all-out assault from the world, the flesh, and the devil.
You see, prayer is the thing that Abram did as he boldly went out to follow the call of an unknown God into an unknown land on the basis of an unbelievable promise. It is the thing Moses did as he pleaded with God for mercy on behalf of the fledgling nation of Israel. It is the thing that David did after he was confronted with and convicted by the reality of his sin against Uriah, Bethsheba, and the Almighty God himself.
It is the thing that our Lord Jesus Christ did more frequently and more intentionally than anything else. It is the thing that brought down the presence and power of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. It is the thing that kept the early church faithful in the face of hungry lions in the coliseum and being used as human torches in the gardens of Nero.
It is the thing that is causing the persecuted church all over the world right this moment to blossom and flourish under government oppression. And, for us in the American church, it is often the furthest thing from our minds.
Let that land on you.
The thing that carried the saints in Scripture and even Jesus himself through the earthly pilgrimage we call life was prayer; and, if you are honest with yourself, and if I am honest with myself, that is not the way we treat prayer. But my hope is that, with fresh eyes, open hearts, and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can begin to see prayer not as a chore or another area of guilt and shame, but as life itself, in its truest and realest form.
Now prayer, unlike faith or justification, doesn’t have a clear-cut definition in the Bible. So, in order to formulate an accurate and faithful definition of prayer, we need to survey the very heart of God, drawing out what he deems important, and using that to inform us. Lucky for us, we have the living, breathing display of the heart of God shown clearly in the God-man Christ Jesus.
“Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ And he said to them, ‘When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation’ ” (Luke 11:1-4).
This famous passage of Scripture gives us clear directives and guidelines for what Jesus deems as worth praying for, and I believe that if we as a community begin to cry out to the Lord with prayers shaped like this that He will hear and respond to us with life and power.
I want to draw your mind to three aspects of this prayer that you can use in your own prayer life. First, prayer is relational. “Our Father… ” We go to God as loved children speaking to their loving heavenly Father, not as abused children going to a cruel and domineering tyrant. This radically reorients the heart posture of our prayers. We can be unafraid as we come to God to pray for the big things, like the salvation of our families, community, nation, and world.
Second, prayer is advocating. When we say, “Your kingdom come,” we are asking that the rule and reign of our gracious and mighty God would increase in the world around us, and as that happens, lives are changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Praying for the coming of the kingdom of God is praying for the love of Christ to be poured out upon every tribe, tongue, and nation.
Third, prayer is reliance. “Give us this day…” This simple request is actually a cry of utter dependence upon the Lord for His sustaining grace and mercy that is needed to live every day for His glory and our good. When we come to our Father in a spirit of humility, asking Him for sustenance and mercy, we are admitting our need for Him and acknowledging our lack of ability to rule and run our own lives. If we pray this way for others, we can bring our neighbors into the throne-room of grace, beseeching God for His gracious hand of blessing to be upon them in everything they do.
Imagine the power and possibilities of a man, woman, family, church, or community that was devoted to crying out to their heavenly Father in real, raw, wholehearted prayer on behalf of the world around them. Prayer is real and God works through it.
May we as a community devote ourselves to this great and godly task. To that end, the team at Macon Sense is going to be revamping our Faith and Family section to reflect our desire to see our community lift up their voices in prayer. This isn’t an effort to fabricate revival, but we do recognize that every major move of the Holy Spirit in church history has been preceded by prolonged seasons of prayer. It is our hope that the call to prayer included in each issue will prompt and provoke you to turn your eyes upward and seek God’s face on behalf of the world you inhabit every day.