INTRODUCTION TO PRAYER
Now that we have finished the Devil, it is only appropriate (and wise?) to move on to the subject of prayer.
The greatest guide to prayer in the OT comes from… Psalms! Around 980 BC, King David once exclaiming gratefully:
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me!” (Psalm 139:6-8)
Q: Since we just spent 2-3 weeks on the Devil, when do prayer and the Devil have the most opportunities to intersect?
A: During temptation.
Since I happen to be an expert in temptation, I will share my emergency prayer I say when I am falling to temptation… for whatever.
Q: What did Jesus say when the Devil tempted him?
A: “Get behind me, Satan.” (Mt 16:23)
The temptation process:
So, I figure if it works for Jesus, I can use it. And I have. However, then I found that as soon as I get past the initial temptation, I feel great, hey, this is cool … And then BAM, the temptation comes out of nowhere and mugs me, and I fall. Just when I thought I had it beat!
Let’s use a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough ice cream as an example. This ice cream out of nowhere confronts me on the frozen aisle! Now, I don’t know what I’m doing in the frozen aisle to begin with because I don’t need to buy anything frozen. But there I am. I’m sure Eve said the same thing at the tree. “Why am I here looking around where I shouldn’t be?”
So, I am confronted by Ben & Jerry and I say, “Satan, get behind me!” Whew, close call.
But within 20 seconds – I haven’t even gotten out of the frozen aisle yet – I have somehow done a U-turn and the ice cream is in my cart. Even worse, I start hurrying to get out of the store before I change my mind!
What the heck happened?
After analyzing the situation, I realized there were two problems. 1) The Devil obviously doesn’t always respect me (listen to me). If the fallen angels are smarter and more powerful than us by a factor of 10,000, then no wonder. He probably laughs when I say, “Satan, get behind me!” They are probably all doing a dance mocking me.
So now I have learned to say, “JESUS and I are giving you an order buster, ‘Get behind me, Satan.’” Then, I had to learn to prepare for the second attack. In fencing, it’s called the “riposte.” So, I call my other close buddies, the Holy Spirit and my guardian angel, Tomas, into action.
So, it goes like this:
The devil sends an unexpected temptation to me:
“Ben & Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream, very cool, nobody will see you, you’ve been good and deserve it, MOVE NOW, NOW, it’ll be the best day of your life!”
My response:
“Jesus, you here? Yes! Okay, Satan, GET BEHIND US!” Then immediately, before the riposte of the demons, “Holy Spirit and Tomas, quick, bring up the rear and surround me for the next 10 minutes!”
This works! Now I just need to remember to do it quickly.
Q: Okay, would you say that was officially praying?
A: Sure it was. Prayer is spiritual communication with God. Now, there are different kinds of prayer, but that’s qualifies as much as any of them.
Q: How many kinds of prayer are there?
A: Well, if you want to break it down all the way to Ben & Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream prayer, then there can be as many as you like. However, there are generally 4 kinds of prayer. Adoration, Contrition, Petition, Thanksgiving. The most common one is Petition.
Q: What category would my emergency temptation prayer fall under?
A: Petition.
Q: Which one do we forget to do right after something positive happens?
A: Thanksgiving. How hard is it to stop and look up and say, “Man, that was unbelievable, thank you so much!” Or just a simple, quiet, “Thank you.”
Just this simple “Thank you” constitutes a prayer of gratitude and is worth its weight in gold.
Q: Why is a simple Thank You worth so much?
A: Because every communication with God is an act of faith.
Q: And every act of faith creates more what…?
A: Faith.
Maybe you didn’t realize it, but faith helps create more faith. You could say this is similar to the way practicing math makes you better… or practicing driving, or piano, or any new skill.
I said “similar to” because it’s actually one measure better than that. That’s because an act of faith is spiritual, and it opens the door to God each time. So it isn’t just that you getting better at it; it is also God entering your life more and more.
Conversely – and unfortunately – no faith creates more of the same: no faith. Similar to refusing to practice the piano: pretty soon you don’t feel there is much value in it. And you aren’t getting any help from God help because you haven’t opened the door.
This is why those who have little faith have a hard time seeing any value or truth in faith. It’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
That said, the good news is you can start changing your circumstances any time. Just start.
Q: By building your communications with God, you not only build faith, but what else?
A: A relationship.
Many people don’t know how to have a relationship with God and the simple answer is that you can’t have a relationship with someone without communicating.
Q: What is the essential gift God gave to humans which enables us to pray?
Our freedom. Human relationships require free will.
Q: How does Jesus advise us regarding getting started?
Jesus says knock and the door will open. “Knock, and it will be opened to you” (Mt 7:7).
Q: This means there is only one barrier to prayer. What or who is it?
Ourselves. We control that door. When Jesus said that from the OT to the NT God would be moving from the Temple to our hearts, this is what he meant. We have a direct line to God.
Q: Returning to the question asked on the Meetup post: Why should we bother praying if God knows what we need and we can’t change his mind anyway because his is changeless?
A: Prayer is not about giving God information or changing his mind. It is an activity he wants us to do because it draws us out of ourselves/our material world and builds a relationship with Him and our fellow human beings. This relationship is what we take back with us into our material lives.
Q: What if we don’t stay focused on prayer or don’t know what to say?
A: First, it takes an act of faith to pray, so just getting started opens the door to God before you even speak. Second, God knows what you want more than you do, so don’t worry about messing up.
“The Spirit helps us in our weakness for we know not how we ought to pray … the Spirit himself intercedes for us…” Romans 8:26.
Maranatha,
Ron
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