Prayer, then, is the uplifting of the heart…We pray, therefore when the heart draws near to God, when it speaks with Him, when in sincere faith it seeks help of Him alone.
–Ulrich Zwingli Commentary on True and False Religion p. 281.
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5 Old Prayers and 5 New Prayers
Old Prayer #1: Lord, please give me health.
New Prayer #1: Lord, honor your name in my sickness or in my health.
Old Prayer #2: Lord, please give me wealth.
New Prayer #2: Lord, enrich your glory through my resources whether many or few.
Old Prayer #3: Lord, please defeat my foes.
New Prayer #3: Lord, may your kingdom come and let me be on your side.
Old Prayer #4: Lord, please give me ease.
New Prayer #4: Lord, for your sake give me hardship or ease.
Old Prayer #5: Lord, please protect me.
New Prayer #5: Lord, be famous whether I live or die.
A Prayer for Your Children
The most important thing a parent can do for his/her children is to pray for them. Prayer is not the only thing we do for them, but it is the most important. Think of some other things we should do for our kids:
1. Provide for them
2. Protect them
3. Teach them
4. Discipline them
5. Spend time with them
All of these are important. But do not attempt them while neglecting to pray for them. You can provide abundantly for them and still deprive them if you are prayerless. You can shield them from pain yet keep them what is most important. You can teach them (even about God) and they can be lacking in the power of God. You can harness their inappropriate behavior while the miss out on the one who can strengthen them for holiness. You can play with them they still do not experience the greatest joy.
Continue Reading…
A Prayer List for the President
Some time ago some of my more conservative friends posted social media updates about praying for President Obama. These posts saddened me for several reasons. The first disappointment came when I saw post after post that began with a line like this, “I was driving behind a car with this bumper sticker.” Now unless this bumper sticker suddenly appeared overnight on cars around the country (which I doubt), the posting began with a lie. That’s not a great place to begin when what follows is something highly critical of somebody else.
Everybody’s Fine…Prompted to Pray
I like it when I get a special opportunity to apply something I have written. This was the case yesterday. I began the day writing an article, Prompted by the Holy Spirit to Pray. In the evening I experienced a strong prompting to pray for my children. I was able to cry out to God on their behalf. I offered thanks for my kids and prayed for their holiness and happiness. The prompting came through an unusual source (at least for me) – a movie.
Suzie and I sat down last night to watch the movie, Everybody’s Fine. The movie starred one of my favorite actors, Robert DeNiro. The story is that of a widower who is anticipating a visit from his adult children. One by one they cancel and he embarks on a cross country trip to surprise each of them. He discovers that they all live lives differently than what he had in his mind. It is a stirring movie for most people. For me, it was more than that. It was a spiritual experience that ended with me praying fervently for my adult children.
Prompted by the Holy Spirit to Pray
Do you keep a list of people for whom you are praying? I have kept these lists, but usually they are not put to great use. I do have a “mental” list of people for whom I pray – my wife, my family members, my pastor, etc. Yet some of the best intercession that I do comes when the Holy Spirit prompts me to pray for somebody.
Recently, I was chatting with a good friend, Marina Bruner. She commented that I was on the top of her list of Facebook friends that morning, and that placement led her to pray for me. I wrote an earlier article about using Facebook for this kind of praying – How I Use the New Facebook Layout in my Prayer Life. I mentioned to Marina that she had come across my mind the previous day and that I had prayed for her. We came to the conclusion that the Holy Spirit prompts us to pray for certain people at key times in their lives.
Some of the most intense interceding that I have done has happened in the middle of the night. I have been awakened from a sound sleep with somebody on my mind. Instead of counting sheep, I have asked God to be very near to that person, to work mightily in whatever circumstance of life they find themselves.
Why Is My Nose Itching During Prayer?
My nose started to itch. I was sitting in the middle of a church pew. All of us in the church building bowed our heads as the pastor began to lead us in a prayer of confession.
Before he began to pray, a random thought popped into my mind. Inside my head I could hear some little old lady somewhere saying that my nose was itching because company was coming. So I spiritualized this random thought into something like this, “I’m preparing to pray, specifically to confess my sin. God must be about to show up. He’s the invited company.”
I eagerly bowed my head. I was ready to confess so that God would show up. I felt a little bit like a child who readily hops off to bed on Christmas Eve so that Santa can come down the chimney.
How I Use the New Facebook Layout in My Prayer Life
As users of Facebook are aware, newly designed profile pages have been rolling out on the popular social site. Whenever a new version is released, one can count on seeing status updates bemoaning the changes. I certainly understand getting comfortable with a version only to find yourself learning something new. However, I have found a way to take advantage of this new format.
For some time Facebook has kept me informed about urgent prayer requests for people with whom I am connected. This morning I am praying for a former co-worker’s father-in-law after an automobile accident placed him in serious condition in the hospital.
I am also connected with people on the mission field and with missions organizations. Their updates allow me to intercede for what God is doing around the world. This morning I am praying for a cousin and her co-laborers who are building a crisis pregnancy center in Mexico.
Spreading Your Prayers Before the Lord
In an article last week, I wrote about how our posture or physical position of prayer can be a prayer of itself. This week I came across an interesting example of a physical action in the prayer life of King Hezekiah. In 2 Kings, Hezekiah finds himself on the receiving end of a threatening letter from the King of Assyria, Sennacherib. This militarily powerful king was preparing himself to sack the nation of Judah ruled by Hezekiah. In the letter Hezekiah was specifically warned,
Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed?
–2 Kings 19:10-12
The prophet Isaiah had already assured Hezekiah to be unafraid of Sennacherib. So when Hezekiah received the threatening letter, what did he do?
Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD…
–2 Kings 19:14-15
Hezekiah had in his hand a troubling document regarding his future and the future of God’s people. He took this document and spread it before the Lord. Read the words of his prayer:
O LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone.
(2 Kings 19:15-19 ESV)
God-Focused Praying
Notice the strong acknowledgment of God and who God is. He might have a threatening letter in front of him, but his focus was clearly on the Lord. He pleads with God to pay attention to the threatening letter. He acknowledges the troubling circumstances. This is a great example to us. While we might be troubled, our focus should be more upon the God who rules all things more than upon what troubles us. Then he makes his request.
The Request
Hezekiah’s request was a simple one. He asked to be saved from the hand of Sennacherib. We should be praying a similar prayer. God save us from those people and those things which could destroy us or impede us on our mission.
The Desire for God’s Fame
Please do not miss the end of Hezekiah’s prayer. He was not praying for God’s intervention merely for his own good. That is not reason enough. The ultimate outcome of Hezekiah’s prayer was that God would be famous or be made known to all the kingdoms of the earth as the only God.
For much of my life, my requests have been motivated simply for my own well-being. That might be important, but of ultimate importance is that God is honored and that He is made known. The test for our souls is to determine whether our highest priority in prayer is for us or for God. If God’s purposes are furthered and he is honored through our suffering rather than our lack of suffering, then we should rejoice. Why are we praying?
Do you have something that you need to spread before the Lord? Currently I have a few pieces of paper that represent my concerns in life. I have knelt before God and spread those pieces of paper in front of me before the Lord. I have prayed the best I know that God might intervene in my life in such a way that his name is made known. I am hoping you will join me in this kind of praying.
Praying Postures
Did you know that the position or posture in which you pray can be a prayer in and of itself? Some of us learned to pray in a certain position and only feel prayerful when in that position. Let’s take a look at some of the prayer postures and examine what they should mean. At the end I hope you will think about other postures and incorporate them into your prayer time.
1. Praying with our heads bowed
2. Praying in a kneeling position
3. Praying with our eyes closed
4. Praying with our eyes uplifted
5. Praying with hands uplifted
6. Praying while we walk
When we kneel or bow our heads or both, we should be expressing our humility before the Lord. The imagery is that of a subject coming into the presence of a king. The subject would kneel, bow his head and yield to the wish of the king – even if the king’s wish was to put the subject to death. In this position the back of the subject’s neck was exposed to the king. If he so desired, the king could take a sword and remove the subject’s head by striking the back of the neck.
Do you present yourself to the King of Kings in this kind of humility. Making no claims even of life, we should say as Job:
Though he slay me, I will hope in him.
(Job 13:15 ESV)
The apostle Paul also speaks of this kind of humility,
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
(Romans 12:1 ESV)
Our bodies are to be presented to God as a living sacrifice. If God so chooses, he can take our life. This is a perfect posture for praying prayers of confession and repentance.
When we pray with our eyes closed, it might also represent the same thing as when we kneel and/or bow our heads. It also should be a way for us to shut out all of the worldly influences and focus our minds and hearts upon the Lord. Practically, we might need a bit of encouraging with regard to this. For some, closing the eyes too closely resembles going to sleep. If we are not careful, we might become sleepy or daydream. Focus. Exert all of your mental strength into focusing on God and who he is rather than letting your mind drift or tire.
When we pray with our eyes and/or hands lifted, we should be acknowledging the praise-worthiness of God. We are saying that he is above us. He is high and lofty. I remember the days when a person who raised their hands to praise God was looked upon as somebody strange. Hopefully that no longer exists.
Jesus made it a habit to pray with his eyes lifted up. He did this when he blessed the bread and fish to feed the 5000.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
(Matthew 14:19 ESV)
On at least two occasions, Jesus lifted his eyes when he performed a miracle. While we may not have the miraculous power which Jesus had (not that we can’t pray for miracles, we don’t inherently have that power like he did), we can mimic why he did this. He was honoring the Father and demonstrating that the Father was working through him.
And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
(Mark 7:34-35 ESV)So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
(John 11:41-44 ESV)
In this final example from Jesus, we find him praying as the time for his crucifixion was at hand. He looked to heaven because of the intimacy between the Father and the Son.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
(John 17:1 ESV)
We should be reminded of the intimacy we have with the Father. We are able to call him Abba. He dwells in us. He loves us. When we express our love for him, we can lift our eyes upward in adoration.
The final posture is that of praying while we walk. Note: don’t combine this with praying with your eyes closed. The results might not be prayerful.
To pray while we walk should help us be mindful that we are to walk with the Lord. As we go about our day, we should be speaking with God. We ask for his advice. We pray for his wisdom. We praise him. We intercede for others in need of God. Walking in prayer pretty well encompasses whatever other positions in which you might find yourself. Sitting in a chair, lying in a bed…praying like this is walking with the Lord.
We can also use walking in prayer as a means of praying for specific geographical areas. In recent years, Christians have embarked upon Prayer Walks. They walk through a neighborhood or city while praying for God’s blessings on that area. It is a pretty good idea.
Pick one of the postures from the list above. Make it one which you have not used before or have not used it in some time. Spend some time in prayer. I welcome any comments about what you experience.
