The mid-point of Sunday worship in our church is what is often called the ‘pastoral prayer.’  We invite those who would prayer to come to the front of the church where the church’s Elders meet them and, following the model of James 5, anoint with oil, praying a prayer of faith.  That drop of olive oil applied to the forehead is symbolic of the Spirit.  We have followed this practice for decades. Is it ritual? Of course. Is it meaningless? No way!   

When people open their hearts to the Holy Spirit, when they come in expectant faith, God meets them.  His work is done, powerfully in them.  It’s the high point of our corporate worship.  This beautiful time of prayer can create a wrong idea that prayer is ‘just for church.’   In fact, the counsel of the Word is to “pray continually.” (1 Thess. 5:17) 

We all profess to believe in prayer, but in practice many of us pray only as a last resort. How many times have you heard someone say, “Well, at least, we can pray”  almost with a sigh of resignation? Why is it that we turn to our Heavenly Father only when we have exhausted all other resources?  Our Father invites us to keep the conversation going, to stay in touch, listening.  Christian, we should not have to go somewhere to pray, work ourselves into some emotional state to pray, or isolate prayer to special times or days.

To live prayerfully requires that we understand prayer as Jesus did. Prayer, for Him, was akin to breath. He could no more stop praying than He could have stopped breathing.  Without breath, we die. Without prayer, spiritually we die, too! Prayer is as much an attitude as it as an act. Learning to live with a constant awareness of the Presence of God gives us a power over temptation, keeps us secure when fears arise, and provides us with insight for each day’s challenges.  Someone asked me the other day how the ancient prophets received the Word of the Lord.  The Bible so often says that “the Lord spoke,” or “the word of the Lord came.”  We tend to think that those men were different from us.  No, they were like us, but they had learned to listen, to live in the Presence, to recognize His voice among the static.  And, so can we!

There is a cost involved with a life of prayer. We must be willing to step away from the endless activities and noise that deadens our spiritual ears. We must learn not to fear being by ourselves (not the same as being alone) with our thoughts. We must accept the call of the Spirit to a life of holiness; not to be confused with piety.  It is possible to live piously and still have never given ourselves entirely to God, which is the definition of holiness.  But, the richness of knowing our Master’s voice, of living near His heart, makes those choices no cost at all.

Jesus’ disciples watched Him pray and realized they were missing out on something amazing. They came to the Lord and asked, “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1)   Is that your desire? It can be a dangerous request. The school of prayer almost always involves creating a sense of desperation that drives us to Him.  “Sometimes, when all the props and crutches in your life get stripped away and you find you have only God, you discover that God is enough. Sometimes, when your worst fears of inadequacy are confirmed and you discover that you really are out of your league, you experience the liberation of realizing that it is okay to be inadequate and that God wants his power to flow through your weakness.” -John Ortberg

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LET US PRAY

Steven Curtis Chapman

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