I’ve never known a life without prayer. My parents took my brother and me to church, where we prayed. I had a verbose aunt who prayed twenty minutes before holiday dinners. Even my early childhood friend’s parents made sure I prayed before meals.
I’m thankful that God gifted me with an environment rich in prayer. Now I can approach the topic with exposure and experience. However, the activity of prayer was habitual. I failed to understand the role of prayer in my life and the lives of others. As I matured, left religiosity, and discovered God's true nature, I am now thinking critically about prayer.
The questions about prayer I’m asking God are:
- What is Prayer?
- Why did Jesus pray?
- Why do we pray?
- When was the first prayer?
- How are we to pray?
- What makes prayer effective?
What is Prayer?
A dialogue with God consisting of worship, petition, and/or intercession
Example Prayers:
- Worship -- Psalm 63, Daniel 2:19-23
- Petition -- Psalms 5, 2 Kings 20:1-7
- Intercession -- John 17:6-25, Philippians 1:9-11
Why did Jesus Pray?
Jesus prayed because he needed to. It is clear without consulting His Father; he can do nothing. Jesus explicitly explains the authority he has been given in John 5:16-30. Additionally, if Jesus was not about pleasing himself, but the one who sent Him, it would only make sense to be in continual conversation with God.
Philippians 2:6-7 concisely explains how we are to follow Jesus’s heart in prayer:
We have the opportunity to petition and intercede through our humility and faith. With the same heart, we can worship out of reverence of our heavenly father.
Why do we pray?
Psalm 37:4 states, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Growing up, I don’t remember the exact context this scripture was quoted to me in. However, I often incorrectly equated God to a vending machine through the misinterpretation of this verse.
We pray for the same reason Jesus did.
God doesn’t need us to pray; He already knows what we need (Matthew 6:8). However, God wants to experience our worship (Romans 12:1), see our submissiveness (1 Samuel 15:22), and develop a personal relationship with each one of His children (John 15:16).
When was the first prayer?
I’m not a bible scholar, and won’t pretend to be one. I was unable to nail down a single answer. However, we can learn from prayers that have significance in the Jewish culture and were “first” in their own respects.
Genesis 3:8-19
Two things as it relates to prayer I see from Adam’s interaction with God:
- God initiated the conversation
- This idea of God’s initiation is later explicitly formalized in verses such as John 6: 44, Matthew 22:14, and 2 Peter 1:10-11. While through the blood of Jesus, we approach God with confidence (Hebrews 4:16), we ought to remember our place on the totem pole.
- Honesty
- We can see how brutally honest Adam was with God in Genesis 3:10. Adam was naked and afraid. In many ways, we have the same disposition as Adam. When compared to the divine righteousness of God, do we approach God with fear and trembling?
Genesis 20:7,17 [God mentions prayer]
In the story of Abraham and Abimelech, we see that God speaks to Abimelech before he has the opportunity to sleep with Sarah. God prompts Abimelech that Abraham will pray on his behalf. Later in verse 17, God fulfilled his promise to Abimelech.
1 Samuel 2:1-11
Hannah’s prayer is arguably the first quoted prayer, in full, and one that addresses the nature and authenticity of prayer. Hannah, Samuel's mother, had the honor and privilege of having her heart and honest expression to God chronicled for eternity! A whole article could be written on the depth, context, and spirit of Hannah’s prayer; here are a few highlights:
- Hannah initially approached the lord in a broken state (1 Samuel 1:15-16)
- Complete reverence and trust of the nature, power, and knowledge of God
- Hannah displays a heart of gratitude
How are we to pray?
When we look at Luke 11:1, one of Jesus’s original disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Observations from Jesus’s prayer:
- Starts with giving honor to God
- The prayer directly acknowledges that the Lord’s will supersedes our desires
- The prayer is communal (There is no presence of “I” or “me”)
- Forgiveness from God isn’t assumed; it is asked for
- Forgiveness for those who sin against us is the expectation
- There is a petition for daily bread
- This parallels Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 6:34 of not worrying more about tomorrow and being satisfied with today.
- There isn’t any extra fluff at the end (No mention of the “evil one” or “For thine is the kingdom..”).
- This content isn’t in the original text. While there isn’t anything malicious said, it is essential to know what is in the bible and what is not.
John 17 is worth looking at; Jesus demonstrates how he prayed for God’s will in his life, the lives of his disciples, and for those who believed in Him.
What makes prayer effective?
Persistence. After Jesus finishes the Lord’s Prayer in Luke, he teaches the necessity of perseverance through the use of two parables:
- Luke 11:5-8 (NET)
- Note: Hospitality is a central pillar in the Jewish culture that goes back to Abraham's days. Not having food for a guest is considered shameful and disrespectful.
- Luke 11:9-13
We can be confident that God hears us and sees us. The angel who spoke to Hagar affirmed that the Lord heard Hagar’s cry (Genesis 16:1-16).
God already has a plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11), and even when our desires aren’t sinful, they may not align with His plan. This is seen in Matthew 25 as Jesus prays three times in the Garden of Gethsemane, submitting to the will of our Father three times.
What can hinder our prayers?
- Motives (James 4:1): Our earthly desires can lead us to quarrel and covet
- Relationship with your spouse (1 Peter 3:7): We must approach God with an unconflicted heart and with reconciled relationships with others
- Doubt (James 1:5-8)(Matthew 21:21): Faith is the expectation when coming to God, within the context of the points above
Prayer allows us to be resigned to the will of God. When we ask, seek, and knock God reveals His will for our lives and those around us. Are we spiritually mature enough to accept it?
Conclusion
I don’t have all of the answers. There is more to discover and apply to your own prayer life and understanding of prayer. Please don’t stop with these questions. I encourage you to be curious. Let your questions come from a heart submitted to God and a heart of love for His people. Consider how our lives may be less of a result of our own prayer. They may be the result of intercessions from your peers and the generations before you.