Daily prayer is good for you (like vegetables)
Prayer is a discipline that can prepare our hearts during Lent. How do you feel about prayer? Privileged? Excited? Bored? Maybe you are even thinking, “I don't really pray”. We probably believe that “prayer is good for us”, just as “vegetables are good for us”.
Prayer – like all spiritual disciplines – is part of the sanctified (holy) life. God makes us alive from our spiritual death in sin (justification). Once God has made us spiritually alive, we are to actively live in relationship with him. As veggies nourish our already living bodies, so prayer nourishes and strengthens our already living faith. As adopted children of God we have his gift of prayer to help us love him and love our neighbour (and ourselves).
The Bible teaches both God’s command to pray (Luke 18:1 and the Second Commandment) and God’s promise to hear our prayers and respond with good gifts (Matthew 7:11). God wants us to pray for our needs and desires, even though he knows what we need before we ask. Yet this does not mean that our prayers are meaningless or powerless: “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16, NIV).
I like to think of prayer as unwrapping gifts that God has already chosen and prepared for us. God often gives “unwrapped” gifts to us even when we haven’t prayed. But sometimes our prayers are part of God’s gift-giving process. As we unwrap the gift (pray about something) we might hope for chocolate, but he knows we really need socks and undies. But at other times he surprises us with more than we dared imagine (an exotic feast?). There is a special intimacy shared between the gift giver and the one unwrapping the present with hopeful anticipation. And who doesn’t want to unwrap more presents? God looks on with a smile as we pray and look forward to receiving his good gifts.
What are some practical ways to grow our prayer life (or eat more spiritual veggies)? For all of us, it is helpful to be intentional about when, where and what words we pray.
The natural rhythms of life are good anchor points for prayer. Each week, Sunday is a natural time to gather in church and pray with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The natural rhythm of every day has rising from and retiring to bed and times for meals. All of these are ideal times for prayer.
The Lutheran Small Catechism teaches us how to pray each morning and evening (see https://bookofconcord.org/small-catechism/daily-prayers/). It encourages four parts; a) invocation, b) Lord’s Prayer, c) Apostle’s Creed, and d) Luther’s morning or evening prayer. Of course you can add additional prayers as you wish to this basic format. If you are with other Christians, you can use a slightly expanded version called Responsive Prayer (Morning or Evening) found in the hymnbook on page 55 or 56.
For mealtimes, the Small Catechism goes on to teach that we are to ask a Blessing before meals and Return Thanks after meals. There are many options for words of blessing and thanksgiving. The catechism suggests a blessing based on Psalm 145:15-16 and thanks based on Psalm 147:7–11. We are also encouraged to pray the Lord’s Prayer, especially following the main meal of the day when most members of the household are together.
Many other moments are also good times to pray, as we are to “pray without ceasing,” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Simple “dart” or “arrow” prayers for immediate help or thanks are good (Matthew 14:30). The briefest prayer is invoking the name of our Lord, “Jesus” (how sad that we mostly hear this from blasphemers). The Old Testament Jews were not permitted to speak the name of God (YHWH). But since God’s Son became human, we can now pray his name, “Jesus” which mean “YHWH saves” (Matthew 1:21). What a gift!
Another brief prayer is the Kyrie, “Lord have mercy” (Matthew 20:30). Our church fathers expanded this into a rich sentence sometimes called the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”. This simple prayer combines adoration of Jesus (Philippians 2:6-11) with the confession of the tax collector (Luke 18:13) and the cry of the blind men begging for “light” (Matthew 20:30). It is a good prayer for those awake times at night, or even while doing physical activities like exercising.
Making a longer time in our day for prayer allows for more detailed petitions. A simple model for such a devotional prayer time is Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication, or the ACTS of prayer. The Lord’s Prayer petitions can also guide our prayers. Words of adoration, thanksgiving and supplication usually come to us with little effort. Confession of sin can be more difficult and require focused attention. Meditating on the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes or the fruit of the Holy Spirit are ways we can “dig deeper” to see where our hearts grapple with temptations. Reflection and prayers of confession based around a couple of commandments is better than a rushed and superficial examination.
With a legalistic attitude, prayer becomes a burden (like bland or soggy vegetables). Rather, take up the invitation of God to unwrap his gifts through prayer. Let our days have times of regular prayer, a longer time for detailed petitions, and in our free moments let us pray; “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”.
Pastor Andrew Neumann