Prayer

I am very passionate about prayer and have now spent several years following prayer movements, leading prayer groups, planting prayer communities (or attempting to), and even accidentally starting a prayer room. With all of that helping shape my view on prayer I still feel very under qualified to define prayer because of the enormity of what it entails. Since such an attempt to define prayer in a single word or idea may result in an incomplete view of prayer I want to help create a definition on the nature of prayer by writing briefly concerning six things that I believe prayer should do:

1. Prayer should birth honesty and self-awareness.

According to the theologian known as Matthew the Poor who wrote The Orthodox Prayer Life, "Prayer does not reach its power and efficacy as an actual communion with God until man is full aware that his soul is created in God's image." This point that we are created not creator leads us into number two.

2. Prayer should develop humility.

Our awareness that we are created in the image of the God is the starting point for the devolvement of humility. When we pray we should not pray in the name of the created but the creator. That is a paramount idea highlighted in the gospels when Jesus teaches his disciples to pray: "Your kingdom come, Your will be done" (Matthew 6 and Luke 11). In Prayer we understand our will must be in alignment with the will of the Father by the renewal of our minds through prayer.

3. Prayer should make us aware of God's movements (presence).

Understanding our place in the humility of alignment with the will of the Father helps us become more aware of His movements. We do not petition God to move, we become aware of his movements through humility and alignment. This leads to a lifestyle inside the presence of God, and an intimacy with the personal savior.

4. Prayer should create progressive spiritual development.

In our awareness of these movements we should develop a continual renewal of the mind in progression towards what is good, pleasing, and perfect to God (Romans 12:1-2). Through this renewal of our minds in the humility of prayer, we should understand the dark nature of our personal desires and live in the renewal of God's will. Accepting this renewal will lead to a continual lifestyle of progression in his will.

5. Prayer should be foundational for healthy community.

Ultimately the goal of Christian community (church) is to reflect the nature of Christ towards each other, and towards the world. We cannot be the extension of his nature without understanding it. You cannot be an extension of the nature of God outside of two things. 1. An experience with the nature of God. This I truly believe is an experience birthed first in prayer, but not limited to prayer. 2. An awareness of the goal of the nature of God, which I believe to be parallel to an understanding of God's will. (The Lord's Prayer)

6. Prayer should fuel mission.

Without understanding the nature of God all Christian mission is merely an indoctrination into a set of fundamental beliefs rather then an invitation to intimacy with the God of the universe. Andy Freeman says it very well in his bookPunk Monk, "As we receive from God in prayer, we are changed. Slowly, more slowly then we expect, we become the message we are called to preach." Again, we cannot accurately be an extension of God's nature without experiencing it beginning in prayer.

Since I am concerning myself with things that the nature of prayer is and should do, I must also concern myself with things that the nature of prayer is not and should not do:

1. Prayer is not formulaic.

I find that there are many Christians who think that prayer is something that can be reduced to a traditional methodology. I find this a very hard concept to grasp. I recently heard a really great teaching on prayer especially concerning healing by a guy named Scott Abbott, who has spent the last fourteen years of his life in a wheelchair, saying, "When we reduce God to a formula we limit his sovereignty." I totally agree. If I have learned anything in the past several years it is that the value of prayer has several expressions that break the mold of many traditional Christian mindsets.

2. Prayer is not nostalgic.

Prayer cannot be a mirror to the past, but a window of expectancy for the future (faith) and for self-progression (personal renewal).

3. Prayer is not subject to personal conditions

Similar to number one, prayer cannot be subject to personal conditions. It is only subject to the will of God. Let me know if and when you figure out the condition in which our prayer is answered. Rather than submitting prayer to personal conditions, maybe we should mold our personal prayers to divine conditions.

I hope this can create a starting point for personal reflection regarding your personal prayer life. This list is neither conclusive nor exhaustive. Please let me know what your experience of prayer has been, in defining the nature of prayer. Ultimately, I hope you find the intimacy with the creator of the universe that I have through prayer.