Pray hard. That’s a bumper sticker I see around. I agree with it. There has been a prayer movement in the Church which I endorse and support. Today is the national day of prayer. So we will hear a lot about praying on Christian radio and TV.
There is a problem. Not all prayer is effective prayer. Much energy spent on prayer is wasted and empty. It’s not that prayer is wrong but much of what the church calls prayer today is idle words, powerless petitions and hopeless pleas. God’s not mad at us but he does want us to understand him and how we come to him. He’s the one who said, come let’s reason together.
Here are the sorts of prayers that will be prayed today without much result:
- Prayer without faith
- Prayer of convention and rote
- Prayer without fervency
- Prayer without trust or belief
- Prayer instead of action
- Prayer instead of authority
- Prayer without specificity
- Prayer subject to circumstances
For clarity, the above are prayers prayed by the saints. The unbeliever who prays a prayer of repentance is always heard. Unfortunately the prayer of the unbeliever who prays without repentance is ignored or worse deceived into believing he or she is heard. A brand new Christian will often pray without knowing what or how to pray. God’s grace is extraordinary for the new believer. But as we become mature we are required to go deeper and further. Soon the Father expects us to grow in faith and grace and pray with effectiveness. When we were babies our worldly fathers loved our baby talk and fumbling ways. That’s not nearly as cute on an 18 year old, and even more painful for a 30 year old. So, believer learn to pray with effectiveness. Stop praying so much. Pray less better. More words does not make better prayer. I told some Pastor friends once, "the church prays too much". You would have thought I killed their dog. But many churches spend far too much time in meaningless empty prayer and zero time in the throne room.
I won’t try to teach all there is to know about prayer but in the interest of time and space I offer you these comments about each of the 8 categories above.
1. Prayer without faith. What? But we do it all the time. We pray but we don’t really believe what we are saying. We hope and pray but mostly hope. If you can’t truly believe it is Gods will and Gods plan for what you are praying stop. You are taking the name of God in vain.
2. Prayer of convention and rote. Here is a sacred cow that needs slaying. Most written prayers, most planned prayers, most books of prayer are ineffective. Inspirational yes. Gives you words to say, a spiritual vocabulary; OK. Worth reading, of course. But not for prayer. Any prayer that is prayed which allows you to walk thru without thinking or faith is a waste of time. This can even mean the Lords Prayer. The Lords Prayer CAN be prayed with effect but usually isn’t.
3. Prayer without fervency. Fervency doesn’t mean volume. It means passion, belief, desire, fire, faith. It means if it’s not answered you are surprised even shocked. That’s fervency.
4. Prayer without trust or belief. We pray for things and people and don’t believe for a second anything is going to happen. This is most prayer for the sick (which I don’t believe in) in the church today. It is prayer for the sake of prayer. I do something even if it’s wrong or ineffective and hope it counts. It doesn’t.
5. Prayer instead of action. I met John Ashcroft Sr. Senator/Secretary John Ashcroft of Missouri’s father. He once said: You are a part of the answer to every prayer you pray. If you aren’t willing to be involved in the answer, don’t pray. IF we just enforced this, most empty prayers would be silenced. If you pray for someone’s provision, for someone’s wholeness in some way you. if you need to do something you must do it. Put another way, if you have a conflict with a neighbor and you don’t go to him or her to correct it but rather just pray about it, you are wasting time.
6. Prayer instead of authority. Sometimes we pray when the answer is already given. This is particularly true for salvation and healing. Mostly those things should be confessed or commanded. You have been given the authority. Stop praying. Command. A few days ago I was in a business situation of difficulty. A semi truck had been stopped in Iowa by the police with my product on it. I started to pray. I heard the Lord say, Stop praying. Speak to that mountain. So I did. I stood up, pointed west and commanded the truck to move, commanded the police to let them go. Without any more phone calls, the mountain moved, the truck was released and things were resolved. Jesus never said, pray that the mountain be removed, he said, speak to the mountain. We too often pray when we should speak with the authority we already have.
7. Prayer without specificity. This is too common. We pray a scattergun prayer. Bless them Lord. We have no idea what to pray, we just pray a general prayer. Sometimes we tell the Lord to read someone’s mind. “Lord you know all about this, do whatever it is you are supposed to do”. What? What about asking, seeking and knocking? If you don’t know what you are praying for then why pray?
8. Prayer subject to circumstances. This is a tough one. We pray like this, “Now Lord, you know how our bills haven’t been paid, and I’m out of work, and we need money, and there’s no hope and and and.” Prayer must be prayed in spite of circumstance. Pray the prayer that says I believe that even though it is not, I pray as though it already was. Have confidence in God.
In the end, there is one catagory of prayer that is always heard and helps us in the infirmities which otherwise might force us to pray like the examples above. That is the prayer of the Spirit. Praying in Tongues. Mark 16:17 The Spirit of God takes our tongue and prays a prayer that is not understood except by him. It takes a prayer of our heart and connects it by the Spirit directly to God. We don’t know how to pray but he helps us in out infirmities by groanings and utterances we cannot understand. Rom 8:26. So many times when I no longer knew what or how to pray I began to pray in an unknown tongue focusing my mind on the situation. 1 Corinthians 14:2-4. Sometimes that goes an hour. Sometimes only a few minutes. Ephesians 6:18. But in the end I know that a breakthrough has come and I stop. Going on would be vain repetition. It’s a free gift and will help you pray with effectiveness and faith. I have it on good authority that the Apostle Paul recommends it. 1 Corinthians 14:5.
Thank God on this day of Prayer for the gift of Praying in the Holy Ghost. Jude 19-21.
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