WATCHWORD:
1 One day as Jesus was praying in a certain place, one of his disciples asked Him, “Lord, teach us a prayer.” 2 And this is the prayer he taught them: “Father, may your name be honored for its holiness; send your Kingdom soon. 3 Give us our food day by day. 4 And forgive our sins—for we have forgiven those who sinned against us. And don’t allow us to be tempted.” 5 Then, teaching them more about prayer …9 “Here’s what I’m saying: Ask and you’ll get; Seek and you’ll find; Knock and the door will open. Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. Luke 11:1-5, 9-13
6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” 7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir. Galatians 4:6-7
17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18
Meditation:
How Do You Pray?
At almost every church service our pastor leads us with: “Let us pray as the Lord has taught us“, and we go into the familiar, and memorized, prayer that begins “Our Father who art in heaven…” It would be most unusual if we were to go on and say “ask and you’ll get, don’t bargain with God. Or, this is not a cat and mouse hide and seek game you’re in. Spit it out, say what you mean”. I venture to say, many of us might take exception to those words.
But that’s not what we do, is it? No, we don’t go in that direction, yet, that is exactly what Jesus told His disciples, and us. He was laying out a pattern, an outline of how we were to communicate with God. The Message version of the Bible tells us that Jesus said, Be direct.
Are you familiar with the word pussyfoot? Do we tiptoe around when we are praying to the Lord, seemingly forgetting that he knows what we need, what we are going through, what’s on our mind, everything? When we speak to the Lord in our prayers, candidly, and completely, we are being respectful and loving children, sharing our needs, our thoughts with our Holy Father.
Recently I had a heartfelt conversation with a friend who was going through a health crisis, and he was discouraged. We talked about prayer and how important prayer was for him and for me, but we seemed to be on different pages. For me my prayer life with the Lord often started with formality but quickly became more informal, more of a conversation, even a two-way sharing.
For my friend, that was a struggle for he had learned prayer as more of a formal and respectful communication to the Father. He had a hard time thinking of prayer as informal, a casual speaking with the Almighty. The whole idea that prayer could be a two-way conversation; well, that was just too hard to grasp.
When we read the words of Jesus, we get the impression that our Lord is urging us to not get bogged down in a timid approach to the Lord but to be candid, to be even direct. If we are to pray continually, as Saint Paul admonishes us, it just seems to me that an ongoing conversation with God, our Father, is an informal, give and take, while being attentive to the Holy Spirit and responding.
In the Galatians reading, we see the words “Abba, Father!” Some think that translating the Greek word ABBA as daddy is too intimate and even improper. But as one theologian points out, the early church fathers seem to be in agreement that ABBA was how a small child addressed his father. If we are indeed children of the creative God then maybe there are times when we think of him in those terms.
So, How do you Pray? Give it to the Lord. So be it.
Closing Prayer:
Mighty God, by the power of your Holy Spirit open our eyes, our ears, our hearts, our very lives to Your presence here, today, as we pray to You, as we worship You, as we serve You. May we in our conversations with You, Lord, follow Your will as we confess to you and listen carefully to the murmurings of the Holy Spirit that You have given us. With deep gratitude, Lord, we offer these prayers in the Name of Jesus. Amen.
