Essay 10 (11-29-03)

CAN WE BE TAUGHT TO PRAY?

Lord, teach us to pray — Luke 11:1

The answer to this may be both yes and no. Yes, there are principles of prayer that can and should be taught, such as we find in what we call "the Lord’s Prayer." The one thing that Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them was how to pray. That suggests that at least to some degree prayer can be taught. And we can learn from the prayers of others – especially from the great saints of the church, both past and present. Those who grow up in a praying home learn something about prayer. A study of spirituality might well enhance our prayers. And we learn about prayer by studying the Bible. Yes, prayer can be taught – at least the structure of prayer.

On the other hand, if the essence of prayer is personal communion with God – a matter of heart and mind -- it is an experience that can hardly be "taught" in the usual sense of that pedagogical term. There may be within all of us an innate hunger for communion with our Creator -- an instinct that expresses itself especially in times of crisis. If there are no atheists in foxholes, it may also be true that many prayers have emanated from such fearful places. Only God knows how many prayers there were -- desperate, agonizing cries for help and mercy – in the Twin Towers catastrophe on that fateful day in September, 2001. Was this learned behavior?

People who may never have done so before sometime pray, and pray passionately – however irreligious they have been – when their situation becomes fearfully hopeless. They do what they were never taught to do, pray. It appears to be natural – part of who we are down deep inside. When all else fails, we can’t help but pray. We know how, having never been taught!

Prayer does not have to be well-crafted and elegant. You may have heard of the news report of a visiting clergyman’s prayer in a Boston church: "It was one of the most elegant prayers ever delivered to a Boston audience." A prayer that impressed our Lord was quite different from the Boston prayer. It was but a few words and very down to earth: – "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" (Luke 18:13) The despised tax collector who prayed that prayer probably had never been taught anything at all about how to pray. But he knew how to pray! He simply prayed his heart’s desire. And that is the premier truth about prayer – it must come from the deep recesses of a sincere heart. If this is "taught," the teacher must be the "anointing of the Holy One" (1 John 2:20).

If you were to ask me how to pray, that would be my answer: pray your heart's desire. I would also tell you that it is OK if you feel like you don’t know how to pray. Neither do I. Even the great saints – those gifted in spirituality -- have admitted as much. The apostle Paul put it bluntly: "We do not know how to pray as we ought" (Romans 8:26). He says we need help, and it is the Holy Spirit who helps us in our weaknesses, "making intercession for us according to the will of God" (verse 28).

This does not mean there are not principles of prayer that will make our prayers more biblical, more appropriate, and more pleasing to God. We find them in the Lord’s Prayer. Prayer is to be largely a matter of praising and honoring God -- "Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And it is about praying for our necessities, not our wants – "Give us this day our daily bread." God promises us only our needs, not abundance. We are spoiled by abundance, and this may hinder our prayers.

And prayer is about forgiveness – "Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us." That adverbial phrase – Forgive us, AS we forgive others -- is a risky thing to ask. We’d better think about what we’re saying. That line may have inspired Shakespeare's, "Words without thoughts never to heaven go."

Along the way I picked up an acronym – ACTS – that helps me to remember what to include in prayer.

A = adoration of God

C = confession of sin

T = thanksgiving

S = supplication for others

There is little place here for asking God for things for ourselves. We are to praise God and lay bare our sins before him. We are to pour out our gratitude for our abundant blessings. We are to pray for others, for mercy upon our sinful world, for world peace We would do well to forget about things for ourselves – except for our daily bread, the neccessities of life.

All this may be saying no more than we don’t know much about how to pray, and that we need all the help we can get.

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