What Should We Pray For?

Ephesians 3:12
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

What should we pray for, then?

The answer is easy...anything we need! Whether it is a big need or a small need or a need someone else has expressed and asked you to pray with them about, God cares about your needs. In fact, the Bible tells us that God knows what we need before we ask. (Matthew 6:8) He wants us to ask...but he already knows what we need.

So we can be confident when we pray, knowing that we are doing something that God has commanded us to do, something he wants us to do, and something that is effective. How do we gain confidence in prayer? How do we go from someone who mutters a hasty, "Thank you for our daily bread," when they're asked to pray before a meal to someone who can pour out their heart in prayer whether in public or private. How does prayer go from being an exercise in awkwardness to something that's as natural as a fish swimming in water?

That answer is also easy...practice. We should be praying every day, talking to God. Maybe the first...or hundreth...time you approach God, you don't have a clue what to say. Maybe you wonder why you have the right to even ask Him for anything or wonder if He cares what you have to say or what your needs are.

You should let your mind be at ease about those things. When you don't have a clue what to say, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. Romans 8:26 says "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." If our prayers are halting or timid or we think they are not eloquent...that's okay. God sees your heart, and he hears the groans of the Holy Spirit. You may not think you have the smooth-sounding words of the practiced prayer warrior who spoke in the pulpit last Sunday before the offering plate was passed, but that doesn't matter. You're not being judged based on the way others pray, and in fact if God were judging us on our eloquence, even the most silver-tongued orator would not evenbegin to approach His standard of eloquent, so what difference does it make if you or I are a little less eloquent that that person? I wonder...from God's perspective, would there even be a measurable difference?

When you wonder why you have the right to ask God for anything, it is because He told us to...repeatedly. Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you." (Matthew 7:7) The book of James tells us, "ye have not, because ye ask not." (James 4:2)  John tells us "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask , we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." (I John 5:14-15) We can and should ask of God because we're told to.

So next time you need something...whether it's a material need, wisdom to deal with a situation, a change of heart in someone you have to deal with...whatever the need, bring it to God and approach Him with your request with confidence.

When Should We Pray?

I Thessalonians 5:17
Pray without ceasing.

Once we've established that we ought to be praying, then that leads to other questions. One of those is when should we pray?

Do we pray only at church? Do we pray at a set time every day? Maybe just at mealtimes? Maybe at bedtime? Is any specific time required...or are they all just suggestions? Psalm 55:17 says "Evening and morning, and at noon, will I pray..." Does that mean we're required to pray three times a day? (Conversely, does three times a day get us "off the hook" and that's all we need to pray?)

The answer is that Christianity doesn't have any set times or amounts that we need to pray. Many families do give thanks before each meal, and that's a good practice because it gives a specific time to be in particular thankful. But there's no requirement to be prayerful at that exact time. Like many things in Christianity, when to formally pray is a matter of conscience.

However, though Christianity doesn't have set times to pray, there is a very high standard for Christians about prayer. Like many things in the New Testament, the requirement under grace gives more freedom and no strict law...while at the same time holding an even higher standard than any law could. In this case, the standard is "Pray without ceasing."

So what does that mean? It seems impossible on the surface, but God would not give us a command that is impossible. Obviously, we're not to be bowing our heads and praying in a spirit of deep communion twenty-four hours a day. For one thing, many hours are spent asleep, which is certainly not time spent in prayer. And if we try to pray with closed eyes and head bowed while we're driving down the road, we'll end up with our front bumper communing with the rear bumper of the next car.

I shied away from writing about this verse at first becasue, honestly, it's a spiritual discipline that I'm not very strong in. But I believe what this verse means is that we should always be in a spirit of prayer. When something bad happens, instead of trying to figure out how to solve a problem ourselves, our first response should be prayer, asking God for wisdom to address the situation or for provision. When something good happens, our first response should be, "Thank you, God!" And when we have a pause in life's routine, instead of letting our minds wander aimlessly, we should turn our thoughts to God.

What a difference it would make in our lives if we spent our days always ready to pray at the first opportunity!

Who Should Pray?

James 5:19b
"The effectual and fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

For the next several days, I'd like to talk about prayer. Prayer is something we need more of. Collectively, we need more of it, as the world around us needs help that is more than just something that can be accomplished by natural power and human ingenuity. Individually we need more prayer, as it is the way to commune with God, make our requests known to Him, and have a deeper relationship with Him. I know I need to pray more, and I don't do so nearly as often or as thoughtfully as I should. I think probably nine out of ten people reading this would say they either pray "seldom" or "not enough" or "not regularly". That needs to change if we are going to be effective followers of Christ.

The first thing I'd like to address is the question, "Who should pray?" Well...all of us who are Christians. We see in the verse today that the prayer of a RIGHTEOUS man is effective.

Wait a minute, you may say. That's not me. I mess up all the time, and I certainly am not "righteous". So, will God listen to our prayers if we are not righteous? As Christians, unconfessed, unrepented sin in our life certainly CAN block our prayers from being answered. Or the distance put between us and God by such unconfessed sin may just leave us not feeling much like praying at all. (Think about it, in your earthly relationships, do you REALLY jump at the chance to talk to a friend you know you've wronged in some way? Not particularly, and it's the same way with God. The first thing we need to do if we can't find ourselves in the mood to pray is search our lives and see if there's some sin that we need to confess.)

However, simply messing up now and again doesn't preclude us from being righteous and having effective prayers. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." When we accept Christ and turn our lives over to Him, God doesn't just see us when he looks at us...He sees His son, Jesus. He doesn't see our sins and failings. He sees Christ's righteousness!

So the answer to, "Who should pray?" is "Anyone who has the spirit of Christ in them."

For those of us who have accepted Christ...pray on!