Core Value: Prayer

Our core value focus this month is prayer and I wanted to talk about it before the month is over. However, first I want to remind us that when we’re talking about a core value, we’re talking about something that we want to be engrained in the fabric of our church’s culture. Every church has a culture, and we want to be known as a praying church. We are known as individuals who pray and as a church that prays together and for each other.
 
My personal thoughts on prayer this year have been very relaxed. What do I mean by that? I mean that prayer, at its most basic sense, is simply the communication of the soul in relationship with God. It’s the actual and constant flow of communication between us and Him. As the Apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, we are to “pray without ceasing.” This means that all throughout our day, we’re living with an awareness of Him and communicating with Him. It’s like we’re doing life with Him by our side and in our hearts, sharing life with Him. It reminds me of the evening walks my wife and I frequently go on. Walking together creates a natural space to talk about the things of life and of that day. We have some of our best conversations while simply walking together, side by side.
 
Recently I had someone ask me what I think about using things prayer beads or prayer acronyms to give more structure or routine to our prayers. The degree of my response would depend upon the exact nature of those elements (Matt. 6:5, 7), but I tend to avoid such things and most definitely some of those things. God is a person, and I think He wants to hear communication from the heart like we do. We don’t want people to treat us like impersonal beings who must respond in a pre-programmed, cause-and-effect way. I think God, too, wants our soul to open and unfold before Him much like any intimate relationship would. The relationship grows deeper and deeper over time as we talk about our hopes, dreams, fears, struggles, and the things of life—and then walk through those together much like a married couple does. That being said, I think those structured elements can turn a relationship with God into something religious and un-relational. I think it can make God out to be a genie who must turn left every time we expect Him to turn left and to turn right every time we expect Him to turn right. In reality, God often turn left when I expect Him to turn right. He is no tamable genie.  In my experience, my best praying doesn’t happen with a list or acronym or even in a specific posture. It comes from the heart when I let out what is really going on inside of me. When I don’t pretend to be something I’m not. When I refuse to be fake, and instead, admit my sins and struggles and give it all over to Him.
 
As a new believer, I remember looking down on someone who was praying with their eyes open, their hands unfolded, and in a relaxed, unconcerned posture—that is until I read the Scripture where Jesus gave thanks at the feeding of the 5,000 and with His eyes open, looking up towards heaven (Luke 9:16). Quite often when I pray, I’m sitting in my recliner or on the porch with a cup of coffee, at a picnic table in the park, in an empty pew in the back of the church (not on Sunday), or on a walk or a hike—and my eyes aren’t usually shut. If I’m praying while I'm still, I may have a pen handy because I’m unpacking the things weighing down my soul and giving them to God. I’m processing life with God and dreaming about the future. A journal and pencil help me be authentic and transparent in prayer. I had one Bible school instructor who liked to walk around in circles around an empty, second-story classroom while praying. How do I know? The library was on the first story of that old, creaky building.

​At the end of the day, prayer should be authentic and genuine communication with a relational God. Let’s embrace and embody authentic prayer together. Let's make it part of the culture of our church's fabric.