What is prayer Archives - Page 5 of 5

In a previous article we saw how people sometimes repeat God’s name over and over in their prayer. This is not a natural way of praying to God.

Another type of unnatural prayer is the one where two or three words are repeated over and over throughout the entire prayer. Sometimes these words are “Glory to God! Hallelujah!” Other times they are “Father God,” “Holy Jesus,” “Glorify Your Name, Oh Lord” or some combination or variation of these ideas.

Usually, while the person is praying out loud, they will inject these words at the beginning of every sentence, and sometimes right in the middle of a sentence.

In church prayer meetings, we usually don’t think much of this sort of praying because it is so common. And while this sort of praying is not quite as strange as speaking in tongues, when it is carried over into a real-world conversation with another human being, it sounds completely bizarre. Imagine that instead of praying to “Father God” two men, Theo and Andrew are having a conversation where Andrew repeats Theo’s name every few words. Here is how this conversation might sound:

Theo: Hey Andrew! How have you…

Andrew: Oh Theo, I thank you for letting me come into your presence today, Theo, and Theo, I ask that you bless me today, Theo. For I am your servant, Theo, and come before you with nothing but an outstretched hand, oh Theo, hoping that you might, Theo, in your glory, Theo, and out of your grace, Theo, see fit to listen to my needs, Theo, and hear my requests, Theo, and grant them, Theo, according to your mercy, Theo.

Theo: Uhhhh….

Andrew: And Theo, there are many people in this place, Theo, who have many burdens, Theo, and they come before you with many sins, Theo, which you, oh Theo, in your infinite wisdom, Theo, already know about, Theo. And we thank you, Theo, that because of your blood, Theo, shed for us, Theo, we might enter your presence, Theo, with boldness, Theo, before your throne of grace, Theo…

Theo: You can stop saying my name now. I’m not going to forget it.

Andrew: Oh Theo, Theo, Theo, Theo, Theo, Theo, Theo. We love your holy name, oh Theo. For in your name, Theo, there is strength, oh Theo, and power, oh Theo, and might, oh Theo, and glory! In your great name, Theo, we cast out evil spirits, Theo, and bind the enemy, Theo…

Have you ever heard prayers like this? Where “Father God” or “Lord Jesus” is mentioned every third or fourth word? This sort of prayer goes on for a while, and the person praying develops quite a rhythm, and pretty soon, those listening to the prayer start whispering, and even shouting the name of God also.

It’s a great way to pray if you want to drum up some enthusiastic “Amens!” to an eloquent and energetic prayer, but when it comes to having a conversation with God about what is important to Him and to us, I’m not sure that this is the best way to pray. When we talk to God, our goal should be to talk to God … not to get people to shout “Amen.”

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What about speaking in tongues during prayer meetings?

By Jeremy Myers

133 Comments

I have never spoken in tongues. And honestly, I have never wanted to. I had some pastor tell me that I didn’t want to speak in tongues because I was proud and didn’t want to look foolish in front of others. Maybe so. But I don’t think that looking foolish in front of others is doing a whole lot of good for the cause of Christ and the advancement of the kingdom. But that is a topic for some other time.

All I want to say is that if you speak in tongues, I am not trying to mock you or your prayer language in the rest of this post. I am only poking fun at the two examples below…

I am introducing my series called “Let Prayer Meetings Cease” by writing about several types of prayer that you might hear in a prayer meeting. (I write more about this in my forthcoming book, Cruciform Pastoral Leadership.) Recently we looked at the “Magic Words” prayer. Today, we look at the prayer where people let God do the talking.

The “I Don’t Know What I’m Saying, So God Will Say it For Me” Prayer

I have sometimes been in prayer meetings where people clearly lose their train of thought, or they don’t really know how to pray for the issue at hand, and so rather than pause, or stumble around for the right words, or simply pray wrongly and let God sort it out (He doesn’t mind), the person instead starts to “speak in tongues,” thus trying to impress everybody with their spirituality.

And rather than type what it sounds like, I will give you an example from YouTube. Of course, this guy is preaching a sermon, but just imagine he is praying instead. You’ll get the idea. I actually feel bad for this poor pastor. It appears that he was told that the Holy Spirit would take over and start preaching through him, but for some reason, the Holy Spirit power never really “kicks in” …unless 90% of a Holy Spirit Sermon consists of the words “Glory to God! Hallelujah!”

Oh, and I know this video is old. It looks like it’s from the 1980’s. But these kinds of sermons are still preached in countless pulpits across America today. In the religious environment in which I work, I hear sermons like this almost every week.

Speaking in Tongues Videos

The first is by Brother Barry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=askNweeETVM

And then there is this classic from Televangelist Robert Tilton:

I don’t know if you have ever been in prayer meetings where people do this sort of thing. It has always made me uncomfortable, and I often doubt that this is really what speaking in tongues was all about in Acts 2 and elsewhere in the New Testament. You can disagree, but I think it is always better to pray with words that both you and others understand.

Eventually I plan to write a book about speaking in tongues and what the Bible teaches about it (Join my discipleship group to be notified when it is published), but for now, I just encourage you to stay away from this practice in public prayer settings, especially when it is used as a means to make yourself look more spiritual and sound more holy. This is not what prayer is for.

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Don’t treat the Lord’s Prayer like a Magical Incantation

By Jeremy Myers

17 Comments

If you have been to prayer meetings, you have probably heard various types of prayer. Sometimes you might hear what I call “Magic Spell prayers.”

Praying with Magic Words

There are some prayers that people memorize and then say as quickly as possible, as if it is only the words that matter. The Lord’s Prayer is one example. While memorized and recited prayers can be meaningful and helpful, they sometimes degenerate into jumbled string of words where the person praying simply tries to get through as fast as possible.

It sounds something like this:

Ourfatherwhoartinheaven
hallowedbythynamethykingdomcome
thywillbedoneonearthasitisinheaven
giveusthisdayourdailybread
andforgiveusourtresspassesasweforgivethose
whotresspassagainstus
forthineisthekingdomandthepower
andthegloryforeverandeveramen.

Such prayers are more often found in the liturgical settings where prayers are read out of a book or memorized and recited. The goal in such praying seems to be to get the words out as fast as possible. It doesn’t really matter if others understand you or not, of if you really mean the words or not. All that matters, apparently, are the words themselves.

In such cases, I sometimes imagine God saying to such people, “Whoa there! Slow down! Take a breath! I like that prayer, but I can’t understand a word of what you’re saying!”

God understands what is being said, of course, but He doesn’t care for such prayers because there is no focus on relational communication in praying this way.

Those who pray this way reveal a mindset that believes that prayers are like magic incantations, where the only thing that matters is that you pray with the magic words.

This sort of praying might be what Jesus had in mind when He criticized some people in Matthew 6:7 for babbling their prayers, thinking they will be heard for their many words. It is not the words God cares about, and especially not how fast we can get them out.

When you pray, slow down.

It is better to say five meaningful words to God, then 10,000 words without thought or meaning. God wants a relationship; not recited prayers.

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6 Ways to Pray Like a Leper (Luke 5:12-15)

By Jeremy Myers

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Ever struggle with what to pray for and how to pray? Learn a few lessons from the leper in Luke 5:12-15.

This man is full of leprosy, which means he has an advanced case. When he sees Jesus approaching, Luke 5:12 says he implored Jesus, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean.” Here are six things we learn from this simple request:

1. Recognize our condition. You come as a beggar, a leper, a nobody. You are not making an exchange with God. You have nothing to offer. Anything God grants is strictly by His grace and out of His love.

2. Implore. The leper “implored” Jesus. The word is very strong. It is more than a request. It is more than a prayer. It is all out pleading, a tearful and earnest begging. When used all by itself, it can be translated, “Please!” This is not a half-hearted prayer. This leper knows his need, and is not afraid to ask. He asks with all his energy and emotions. This is what it means to implore.

3. Ask Jesus. The leper doesn’t turn to another leper. He doesn’t turn to one of the apostles. He doesn’t even turn to the priest. He knows that none of them can help. He turns to Jesus. When we pray, we must turn to God alone. Jesus instructs us to pray to the Father (Matt 6:9), but this does not mean that we cannot pray to Jesus.

4. Ask humbly. The leper says, “If you are willing.” Though he is imploring, begging, pleading for Jesus to answer, he does not make demands. Again, this is due in part to his stance as a leper. He is not in a position to make demands. Today, when some pray, it seems like they are making demands of God. Some Christians even have the audacity to command God. They think this is praying with faith. I’m not sure God sees it that way.

5. Ask simply. There is no long, wordy explanation of why the leper is where he is at now, no attempt to “soften” Jesus up by telling Him how great and wonderful and awesome He is, no repetition of the name of Jesus. Just a simple, straight-forward, honest request.

6. Obey. After praying, the leper obeyed the instructions of Jesus. Prayer is not an end in itself. You cannot pray and think you have done your part, so now God must do His. No, you must often seek to be an answer to your own prayer. This does not mean we answer own prayers, but neither do we pray, then sit back, twiddle our thumbs, and wait for God to act.

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What if I told you to Pray Less?

By Jeremy Myers

15 Comments

I recently heard (#AmazonAdLink) Bob Roberts make the following shocking statement:

“I think all Christians need to pray less. Instead, we need to just shut up and play ball.”

At first, I was shocked, because we so often hear that we need to pray more, and that the kingdom of God advances on our knees.

But then I got to thinking about it. I think that many of us substitute prayer for obedience. We need to pray less and obey more.

Pray vs. Obey?

We know what God wants us to do, but instead of obeying, we pray about it.

Every single one of knows that we are supposed to show love to our friends, coworkers, family members, and neighbors. But instead of actually doing that, most of us pray about it instead.

We say: “Dear God, please help my neighbor with his marital problems. Please help my coworker with her troubled kids. I’ve been praying so long for my father, God. Please do something.”

Does that prayer sound familiar?

Listen to the prayer time in your church this Sunday, or in the Bible Study you attend. I guarantee that in most of these prayer times, someone will pray that God will help the people in your community with their problems and struggles.

Then ask yourself, “What are we as a church, what am I as a Christian, actually doing about these needs ourselves?”

When we pray to God to help others, it is possible that God is “praying” for us to go help others?

How about when someone is hurting, or sick, or in financial need? Do you pray about it, or do you actually help them? What do you think God wants you to do?

Let Me Pray About It

I am constantly haunted by a conversation I witnessed about five years ago between a father and his son. (The father was a pastor, by the way.) I was working at a Bible camp, and we needed some staff for the following week. The son asked the father if he could stay and help out. The father answered, “I’ll pray about it” and walked away.

The son turned to me and said, “That means ‘No.'”

The son had his dad figured out. His dad was using prayer (and God) as a way to spiritualize his own decisions to not grant his son’s requests.

I wonder how often we treat the commands of God this way? Instead of just telling God “No” we tell him “I’ll pray about it.” Prayer, when used in such a way, is a spiritual way of stalling so we don’t have to obey God.

The next time you catch yourself saying (or writing) to someone, “I’ll pray for you” stop and ask yourself if there is something you can actually do for the person instead.

Do you want to pray like never before?

Do you what to talk to God like you talk to a friend? Do you want to see more answers to prayer?

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Father God Jesus Christ Glory Hallelujah

Do you want to pray like never before?

What about speaking in tongues during prayer meetings?

The “I Don’t Know What I’m Saying, So God Will Say it For Me” Prayer

Speaking in Tongues Videos

Do you want to pray like never before?

Don’t treat the Lord’s Prayer like a Magical Incantation

Praying with Magic Words

Do you want to pray like never before?

6 Ways to Pray Like a Leper (Luke 5:12-15)

Do you want to pray like never before?

What if I told you to Pray Less?

Pray vs. Obey?

Let Me Pray About It

Do you want to pray like never before?

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