“Let us resolve by God’s grace
that, however feeble and poor our prayers may seem to us, we will pray on.”
— J.C. Ryle (1816–1900)
If there is a trembling weakness
within any believer’s repertoire of spiritual disciplines, besides their sin,
it’s likely to be prayer. Many of us feel we don’t pray well enough. Most of us
probably feel we don’t pray enough. And probably all of us have experienced
that doubt within that contemplates that God either doesn’t hear our prayers or
doesn’t answer them. We secretly wonder if prayer makes any difference at all.
The topic of prayer, therefore,
can be a vexing one. It seems too much of a mystery at times, especially when
we hear others’ eloquent prayers, thinking to ourselves, “If only I could pray like that!”
Well, God’s got news for us.
Prayer is truly nothing about
eloquence. It’s only the human’s shield of fear for a good performance—the
flesh-want for pride—that puts a barrier between us and the humble note of
recognition of God and the request for God’s help that the Lord desires.
Glorifying God by Prayer
Could glorifying God by prayer be
as simple as praying imperfectly, yet with an unshakeable conviction? And we
may sound convicted, by the enthusiasm in our voices, but God alone knows our
hearts. Would (or should) we fake an ardent conviction?
Could groans make for better
prayers than fine elocution? To dictate well and enunciate perfectly sounds
good to us humans, but is God impressed? God is impressed with a broken and
contrite heart—a person cut to the heart enough to simply admit their sin and
need of God.
Then there are all sorts of
structures and rules for prayer, like A.C.T.S. (a process for prayer in the
order of: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication [requests]). Is
God bothered if we forget adoration because we are too weak to do anything but
seek strength in our fatigue? Would God be perturbed if we were to just simply
thank him?
We worry too much about how we pray
and when we pray and how we sound when we pray. God simply wants us to pray.
Truly, every prayer is a winner,
and better, still again, if we pray as truthfully as we can, not seeking
material blessings, just simply spiritual blessings.
***
We worry too much about how we
pray and when we pray and how we sound when we pray. God simply wants us to
pray.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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