The first Ordinary Means we will discuss, in our everyday faith [start here if you missed the first post in this series], is prayer. God has revealed what true prayer is. Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. We look to His Word to learn, not inwardly, not to philosophy, not to other religions. We do not look to science either. Does science currently show the benefits of prayer? Yes. But science is man’s study of the world, asking questions-formulating answers from a man-centered perspective, looking for theories that can be tested, controlled, repeated with expected outcomes. Prayer is NOT something man discovered and tested, and controls, nor something in which man demands certain outcomes.
Prayer is a means of communing with God.
This post will be only a beginning–this topic is far too grand for a few hundred words. Let us begin in 1 Samuel. Notice, even in Old Testament times, God hears the prayers of His people. Did the priests have a formal function of praying for the people? Yes. But did this mean God would not hear the prayers of those who were not of priestly descent? No. And this should encourage us, as a reminder that Old Testament mediators pointed toward the One and Only Mediator, the God-Man, Jesus Christ. He hears those who call out to Him in truth! When you seek for Him with all your heart, you find Him! Through Christ, we have true communion with God.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
From the Old Testament priests we glean that God must be treated as holy, approached with reverence and awe, adored. I am so glad the era of “Jesus is my homeboy” has passed, yet I think every generation deals with its own version of attempting to turn communion with God into a trite, common experience, in which we deserve grace and we care nothing for what we owe God.
1 Samuel
Discussed more fully here.
As you read through chapters 1 and 2, you see a woman pouring out her heart to God. In that culture, there was no separation between “head and heart” as there is in our Westernized minds. The inner man which thinks, feels, plans, dreams, etc…is all connected. Do not attempt to put a modern spin as though God segmented your affections from your will, or from your intellect or your reasoning. As a whole person, not a fragmented person, prayer is communicating it all with your God.
As you read Hannah’s prayers, you see she reverences God, quotes Scripture, she recognizes God’s Sovereignty, she is humble–never demanding or proclaiming or declaring or expressing any arrogance; rather we see her asking, seeking, weeping, presenting herself and her requests, her troubles, her desires, herself. She exults the LORD, and is used by the Spirit to proclaim His excellencies, and to prophecy of the Future King.
When she weeps, and is mistaken for a drunkard, she is not weeping like the Israelites in Hosea, crying out from their beds but not to Him. Not like Esau who cried about having given away his birthright, wishing for it desperately–yet without turning to the LORD, without honoring Him.
Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; 16 that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
A C T S
A lovely little acrostic, if acrostics help you. Adoration and praise; Confession, Thanksgiving; Supplication. And, this acrostic is helpful as you begin your prayer life. As you grow toward “prayer without ceasing” you learn to flow seamlessly through all the various aspects of prayer without attempting to always stick to a rigid order.
While we live, we walk in faith and repentance. Repentance, or confession, is not a one time thing. Though Jesus’ death was once for all, yet to enjoy communion we are willing to repent moment by moment. We do not dismiss our sins, or tritely say “well, Jesus paid for that, no big deal.” We confess the very things that hinder our communion and He is faithful and just to forgive and restore.
Note: this is a help, so you may practice and so form habits of prayer, and grow in the rhythm of living all of life coram deo, before the face of God. This acrostic is not “the only pattern.”
Consider the pattern laid out for us in the Lord’s Prayer. Hallow His name. (see here). https://abidedeep.com/gods-name/ Acknowledge His greatness, His attributes, His grace and mercy; ascribe to Him the glory due to Him. Then use each petition as a jumping off point for your own prayers. Think through each, let Jesus’ pattern guide you to sharing your thoughts and feelings and petitions.
Prayer and The Word
When Jesus was teaching His disciples in the Upper Room, clarifying the doctrine of the Trinity, He also clarified the call to abide. Look now at these verses from John 5, 6, 7, 8 and finally from the Upper Room discourse in chapter 15:
5:38 You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.
39 [i]You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; 40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from men; 42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. 43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive [j]glory from one another and you do not seek the [k]glory that is from the one and only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
6:27 Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
33 For the bread of God is [i]that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would [j]betray Him.
67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” 68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “[g]If anyone is thirsty, [h]let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From [i]his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
8:24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that [f]I am He, you will die in your sins.” 25 So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “[g]What have I been saying to you from the beginning? 26 I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.” 27 They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that [h]I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me; He [i]has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” 30 As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.
31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue [abide] in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word [j]has no place in you.
15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so [d]prove to be My disciples. 9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
Jesus was teaching little by little the importance of knowing the Word, knowing that He is the Word made flesh, that all of God’s words are understood by the work of the Spirit in us, and all of God’s words, whether spoken through prophets or now through His Son, will lead us into prayer.
Spend some time slowly in these verses, meditating on Jesus’ words about Scripture, about His words, about us remaining and abiding and continuing in His words. His words are spirit and life! When our prayers are, like Hannah’s prayer, rooted in what God has revealed, we will pray in faith-taking God at His Word. True prayer is never separated from the Word, rather we learn from Him, and commune with Him in harmony with His revelation. To pray in faith is to pray according to the Word we have received, the word at work in us (see 1 Thessalonians).
At All Times
One last thought concerning prayer for now–prayer is not to be limited to an official moment, entered into, left behind, walked away from. In corporate prayer, it is fitting to make a beginning and an end, to say Amen as we agree with all our that brothers and sisters have offered up in prayer to the LORD. But personal prayer can begin as you awaken, and continue throughout the day, no matter the time or place.
As you grow in Christlikeness, in the Ordinary Means of communing with God, you train yourself, disciplining yourself to form Spiritual habits. So with prayer, a good first habit to grow in is: waking up, realizing you really are still alive here and now, and offering your very next thought up to God in prayer.