When you ask God things in prayer do you sound like you're reading from a list, ticking off the points as you go, 'yes I've done that, God will you please care for so and so, Lord help such and such an old lady, be with that family, be with those under church discipline.....'etc?? Do you sound like that? Or do you spend lots of time thinking about what you are going to pray about, yet when it comes down to praying, you don't have much time and just rush through it all; briefly touching on all the points??
I think many of us frequently offer our petitions in this, or a similar, manner. But are there better ways for communicating with God??
Of course.
Firstly, we must remember that there is nothing wrong with making lots of brief requests in prayer; however, it is when this approach dominates our prayers for a long period of time it can lead to the neglect of important dimensions of effective communication with God.
Jesus' teaching on prayer makes it clear that prayer may be much more urgent and persuasive than a rapid line of requests. In the parable in Luke 11:5-8 Jesus' teaches us that our persistence will win out.
He says: Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey and I have nothing to set before him, and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you.'? Though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. God is intensely concerned with our needs and so we should earnestly bring these needs before Him. We cannot simply pray: "Lord, please take away my problem", instead, we must communicate our deep longings in the situation.
If we want a friend to come and do something for us we will persuade them until they come. We will continue to talk with them and build case with them as to why they need to come. Similarly, we must do the same thing with God. We need to continue to speak urgently with Him, to lay before Him the reasons why we need Him to help us. In this way we convey urgency in our prayers.
We can draw on three elements when building up our case before God: God's people, the world, and the Word of God. Consider the prayer Moses offered to God in Exodus 32 after seeing the golden calf. God had determined to destroy the people of Israel, but Moses offered an urgent and persuasive prayer.
He firstly reflects on the people of God: 'Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?'
Secondly Moses draws attention to the world around him: 'Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people.
And thirdly, Moses recalls the promises of God to the patriarchs - he turns to God and His word - as a basis for his request: Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all thing land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever'.
As children of God, we can pray to Him in this way. We may appeal to His character and His word as we pray. God is faithful to His promises. When focussing on these available resources (God's people, the world around us, and God's promises) Moses received a wonderful response from God: So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.
Isn't that such a comfort that we can come to God in such a manner, through prayer, knowing that He will hear us and He will answer us?
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