Week One
The subject of prayer has been occupying my mind in recent weeks. Have you ever wondered why God wants us to pray? Does He not already know what we need even before we ask of it? And if “God’s will” will always prevail, does our prayers ever change anything? I found myself asking these questions and in my quest to find some answers, I came across a little book by RC Sproul entitled “Does Prayer change Things?”.It has not only helped me see what prayer is meant to be but also HOW we should pray, as modelled by our Lord Jesus’ teaching in what has become known as The Lord’s Prayer. In the next few weeks, I’d like to share what I’ve learnt about this important Christian habit.
But first, why pray? Our Lord Jesus taught us in Luke 18 that Man ought always to pray and not lose heart. Prayer is not only for the glory of God but for the benefit of man. When we pray, we acknowledge our TOTAL dependency on Him for everything we need. It puts us in our proper place in relation to God and gives us a chance not only to communicate but to commune or converse intimately with Him. It’s an opportunity to fellowship with our Father and examine our hearts to reflect on our priorities which we so often get wrong! That’s why Jesus was the supreme example to us when it comes to prayer. In the Lord’s Prayer, our Jesus Himself set forth the pattern of prayer us. In the coming weeks, I shall share some profound lessons I’ve learnt from studying the Lord’s Prayers which has given me a greater appreciation of this special means of grace. But before we dive into it next week, here are a few more thoughts….
I’ve heard that prayer for a Christian should be as natural as breathing. But if I’m being honest, I think that’s far from reality for many, if not most people, including myself! If it’s so natural, why are there so few people at the church’s prayer meeting? Why do we struggle to regularly spend time conversing with God? Sure, I observe that there are more people praying since the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic and more people seem willing to pray. But it’s also true that it often takes a crisis to bring us down to our knees! And yet, as Christians, we know prayer ought to be central in our lives no matter what our circumstances are. How then can we be like David whose prayer life is richly illustrated by his cries for mercies or shouts of praise as recorded in the book of Psalms? Or how do we follow in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul who evidently prayed without ceasing for the churches he wrote to (See Romans 1:9; 1Cor 1:4:; Phil 1:3; Col 1:3; 1 Thess 1:2)? I find the desire to answer these questions weighing heavily in my heart.
I believe the state of our prayer life is a reflection of our true spiritual state. If we are lukewarm towards our love for Jesus, the vitality of our prayer life will likewise be lukewarm. Many things may cause us to lose our first love for Christ. If we are not “watching and praying” as Jesus commanded his disciples to do, over time, we’ll find other things crowding out our Lord’s place in our lives. I remember our camp speaker last year, Pastor Chris Chia talking about the rhythm of our lives. Is our life playing to the tempo and tune of our own desires or is it playing to the desires of our God? In other words, who is the Lord of our life? If Jesus is not the Lord of our moments, then He is not Lord at all! When we call out in our prayer “Lord!”, do we process in our minds what that really means? Am I sinning in wanting only what the Lord can give me but not the Lord himself? This is a soul searching question that I have been asking myself. Our answer to that question will determine whether we will ultimately lead a meaningful prayer life.
Just as our relationship with Jesus would manifest itself in our prayer life, it is through prayers (prayers of repentance and worship) that we can once again re-ignite our first love for Jesus. I think in one sense, Prayer is not natural to us. To the extent that we grow in love and maturity with Jesus, our prayer life will gradually become more meaningful, more intimate and more natural. It’s a habit forming process. But that requires first of all a desire to get right with God. And it requires we intentionally apply ourselves to pray according to the pattern that our Lord Jesus Himself has set out for us which we will begin to look at next week.
Prayer :
Please forgive us for often neglecting to pray and to pray amiss. Teach us the true meaning of prayer. In Jesus name, Amen!
(This article is adapted from a series of sharing on the subject of Prayer by Yew Lum to his Lifegroup members.)