Children gassed in Syria.

I heard from the doctor today . . .

Life hurts.

Sometimes the hurt is just ‘bad.’  We can still cope with the trouble.  Our minds can create solutions to the problems.  Solutions which we then ask God to carry out.  Or sometimes demand that he does.

But there are other times when the hurt moves beyond bad.  Those times when we watch the news about Syria, or the Florida School Shooting.  Or times when we watch our own lives collapsing around us.  There are just no words.  There are no answers that we can come up with.  Events occur that we simply cannot understand, or sometimes even deal with.  These are life’s moments that bring us to the end of our rope, and we just do not know what to do.

It is in those moments that we must lament.

What is Biblical Lament?

Many of us are likely familiar with different types of prayer and their appropriate occasions.  When in need, a believer makes requests to God.  Upon seeing God provide, a believer will offer thanksgiving.  Recognizing how amazing God is when studying his attributes, praise should be forthcoming.  But, how are we to pray when life presents to us incredible pain and hurt, and no seeming way out?

This is the place for lament.  Author Michael D. Guinan defines lament as “a prayer for help coming out of pain.”

Lament is prayer, but not as most of us are used to.  It is a direct address to God, but it is a direct address to God driven by emotion.  The intellect drives much of our prayer.  We understand God’s attributes, so we praise him.  We recognize a need and its solution, then we make a request.  But pain and loss generate powerful emotions.  Lament is a form of prayer driven by these powerful feelings.  We go before God, and we tell him how we feel.  We tell him how much we hurt, we confess our uncertainty.  Then we remind ourselves how great he is.  Lament is prayer that is brutally honest.

We Need Lament

Lament has fallen by the wayside in our churches today.  For many reasons, our generation no longer remembers how to lament, and it is to our great detriment that this form of prayer has been lost.  Proper lament is healthy and vital to the growth of God’s people.

Lament Allows us to be Fully Human

We need lament because it allows us to be fully human in our walk with God.  People are not just an intellect.  We are an amazing blend of mind, emotion and will.  All of these are not always valued by believers, however.

Years ago, a large and influential ministry popularized an illustration using a train.  Fact, the truth of the Gospel, was the engine.  It provided the power to move the train forward.  Faith was the coal tender car.  It provided the engine with the fuel that it needed to propel everything forward.  Feelings were the caboose, a car that was not necessary to movement, and was to be pulled along by the other two.

I believe this illustration properly teaches the primacy of truth.  The truth of the Gospel and our faith in those truths should be central to our beliefs.  And to our lives.  Truth and faith should govern our emotions.  But, like many teachings, they can be taken too far.  Often times it is implied that as the caboose, emotions are not necessary at all.  Emotions become dismissed entirely.

This dismissal of our emotions ruins our relationship with God.  A relationship consists of knowing and being known.  If God only knows, and cares about, our will and our mind – he only knows and loves a part of us.  This is a relationship that will bring joy to no one.

Lament allows us to bring our full emotions to bear.  When they are at their greatest, the waves of hurt and fear and uncertainty can be brought out into the open and shared with our heavenly Father.  We find a caring ear.  And a glimmer of hope for help.

With out lament, we are never fully known.

Lament Allows us to Process Powerful Emotions Properly

The ups and downs of life produce many powerful emotions.  Prayers of Lament provide a process for believers to process these emotions in a way that allow us to express the emotions but then bring those feelings back in line with the character and work of God.

Proper lament, as we shall see later, is a cycle.  It is a process that begins with the expression of deep pain and hurt. Feelings are brought out into the open, instead of being bottled up or medicated with our favorite sin.  The sin, trouble or tragedy is named, often in great detail.  The situation and the pain are openly acknowledged.  There is no pretense of a stiff upper lip or of some super-Christian “everything is ok.”

Next, crucially, we remember what God is like.  We remember God’s power, that he is all-knowing, and that he is love.  We remember how he has come through for his people in the past.  It is recognized that as bad as it is to our eyes, this situation is not beyond God’s ability to work – and we acknowledge this to him.

Lastly, in recognition that the only possible source of rescue from this situation is God, we beg him to help.  After we tell God how bad it is, we ask him to fix it.  Sometimes we have suggestions for how God should intervene, but often the situation is so dire we have no request to make other than, “Help!”

It is these last two steps that make lament so healthy for Christians.  In lament we have a space in which to express our pain.  It is widely accepted that emotions need to be “let out.”  Lament allows the expression of such pain.  But these last two steps prevent the emotion from taking over, it prevents the caboose from going to the front of the train.  The feelings are acknowledged, but they are immediately put in the light of God’s character.  The circumstances – or the hurt – will not overcome us, says the truth of God’s word.  In addition, we seek help from the only one who can help.  Knowing God has promised to rescue his people in his time, hope and confidence emerge in the midst of the pain.  Through lament the caboose is acknowledged, but we also ensure it stays in the back of the train, guided by truth and trust.

In proper lament, we find expression and hope – by expressing it to the one who can do something about it.

Lament is not fun.  But it is good for us.  We need it.

Lament as an Expression of Faith

Tragedy and difficult times typically lead to feelings of despair or doubt.  Followers of Christ of fear both of these responses.  It is helpful for us however to recognize they are different – and one need not be feared.

Tragedy and suffering lead many into feelings of despair.  For the purposes of our discussion, we define despair as feelings of utter helplessness and hopelessness.  The one who has entered despair feels like all hope is lost.  Nothing can be done by anyone to remedy the situation.  “I can’t do anything to change things” they will say.  Or, “God cannot – or will not – do anything.”  People who have given in to despair have given up on God.  They do not believe he cares.  So, they run away from God when life hits the fan.

Doubt on the other hand is a totally different experience.  For our discussion, we define doubt as feelings of being unsure.  The one struggling with doubt deep down still believes God cares, and that he can do something to rescue them.  They would say, “I don’t know how, but I know God could . . .”

Since they still believe that God cares and is still powerful enough to act, they take their feelings – and their last desperate cries for deliverance – to God.  The one who is willing to lament then, is the one who still believes God cares and is active.  They would not appeal to a God they believe to be uninvolved.

Elements of Lament

Lament is not uncommon in the pages of the Bible.  The Old Testament Book of Lamentations is one long lament over the situation of Israel.  Over one-third of the Psalms are laments.  Jesus himself, in the Garden of Gethsemane, prayed a prayer of lament.

While each of these prayers are not identical in form, they do have many common elements.  Elements that we should understand if we are going to pray our own prayers of lament.

Addressed directly to God

Prayer is personal communication.  Prayers of Lament are no different.  Open by directly addressing our Heavenly Father.

The Psalmists give us great examples.  “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!” begins Psalm 130:1.  Elsewhere, Psalm 88:1 opens with, “O Lord, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you.”

Ask Heartfelt Questions

Bring before the Lord our questions about what is going on around us.  These questions are not so much appeals for information as they are expressions of hurt.

The writers of the Psalms guide us again.  Psalm 13:1-2 opens with some gut wrenching, honest questioning:  “How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide for face from me?  How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?  How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?”

Complaining vs Expressing

Some of us will see this call to honesty and see it as nothing more than license to complain, to whine.  This form of prayer then becomes summarily dismissed.  But I was really helped in this by the example of Job.

Job was a Godly – and blessed – man who was afflicted by the devil.  He lost his wealth, his family, everything.  Broken in spirit his words to God were eye-opening.  He was so brutally honest, but as we are told, he never crossed the line into sin.

In trying to understand how that could be, it occurred to me that there is a difference between shaking the fist at God and pointing the finger at him.

Shaking the fist at God is the reaction of someone who does not understand what is going on.  They do not know why God has not acted yet, they are frustrated, hurt and angry.  They seek help.  Desperately, they shake their fist at God.  “I don’t like this!”  “Why don’t you help us yet!”  Those who shake the fist at God are not afraid to admit their hurt or fear, but they never question God’s character or love.

Pointing the finger at God is different.  To point the finger at God is to accuse him of wrong doing.  God, you didn’t come through for me!”  “God, if you let this happen there is no way you love us.”  “God, you were wrong in this!”  See the difference?

Job was able to shake his fist at God with out ever pointing his finger at him.  We are to do the same in our lament.  Be honest, but don’t turn it into license to accuse the Almighty.

Describe the Afflictions

Tell God about the dire circumstances surrounding you.  If our troubles are coming from other people, tell God who is oppressing us and how they are doing it.  If our pains are from our own decisions, tell God about the ways we have faltered and how those choices are causing pain to enter our lives.

God is omniscient.  He knows everything.  But he still wants to hear it from us – and we need to tell him.  Whether it be sickness, relational issues, injustice, war, oppression, or our own sin, tell God about it.  Let him know what the circumstances are doing to you and how it makes you feel.

The author of Psalm 3 looks about him and is bothered by the oppression of the poor he witnesses:

“In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.  For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul. And the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.  In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’  His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them.  He says in his heart, ‘I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.’” (Psalm 10:2-6, ESV)

The Psalmist sees the oppression of the poor.  It bothers him.  It bothers him to the point of lament.

Pray for deliverance

After sharing with God about the injustice and the suffering happening right before us, ask God to intervene.  Ask God to deliver.

Ask God to heal the sick, free the oppressed, punish the unjust, stop the tyrant, teach the ignorant . . . in what ever form it looks like, beg God to rescue.

As one Psalmist says, “Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.”  (Psalm 71:4, ESV)

Express Confidence and Trust in God

After expressing our hurts, and after seeking help from the all-powerful God, we have reason for peace.  We have reason for praise – because “God’s got this!”

Praise God for his attributes, his traits that fill you with hope and confidence as you lean on him.  Remember the ways God has come through for his children in the past and praise him for those acts of deliverance.

Let our hopes and requests turn us to praise.  Just like they did for the author of Psalm 10:  “O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.” (vv.17-18, ESV)

Try it – Pray a Prayer of Lament

Unlike some of our other forms of prayer we have experimented with, lament is very situational.  It is response to a certain event or state.  Given this nature, it does not really seem appropriate to do as I have in the past.  To attempt to just lament for a week is not a good idea.

To attempt to lament every day would be forcing it.  Inauthentic lament is not life-giving, nor God honoring.

Recent events however, do give reasons to express lament.  The current and ongoing situation in Syria bothers me in my heart.  While the news reports speculate endlessly on who did what and which side was responsible for each attack, the reality is that there is human suffering occurring on a scale far beyond most American’s conception.  This is cause for lament.

No explanation is needed as to why recent events in Florida are cause for lament.  Every school shooting provides cause for lament.

So this week, as part of my ordinary prayer times, I will include a few times of lament.  I will express to God my deep pain over these events that I have no control over.  I will pray in a way that includes all of the elements described above.

To help you do the same, we have put together a short one-page PDF you can download from our Prayer Toolbox page to guide you in praying a prayer of lament.

We will give it a try and let you know how it goes.

The post Try It – Lament, Prayer for When Times Are (Really) Bad appeared first on One Year Prayer Experiment.

Praise.

We all have heard the word thrown around.  Often the first thing to come to a Christian’s mind is the time of praise and worship that most American church services open with.  This is a time of singing intended to prepare our hearts to hear the Word of God preached.  But this is not a blog about singing or leading worship.  This is a blog about prayer.

The outline for prayer that Jesus taught us to use opens with the command to praise the Father, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name . . .” (Matthew 6:9, ESV)  Jesus teaches us our experience of prayer should begin should begin with praise.  Yet for many of us, clear praise is absent from our time spent talking to God.  Or it is vastly outweighed by the time spent asking for things.

Offering praise to God brings joy, both to us, and our heavenly father.  It has many other benefits for us as well.  If we are going to learn how to incorporate praise into our prayer lives, we should start at the beginning.

Praise Defined

Before we can start to effectively praise our Father in heaven, we must understand what it means to praise God.  This is how we define praise:

Praise is recognizing God’s character and attributes and in response to them, offering glory and adoration to God.

Let’s work through this definition.

Praise begins with God’s character.  God reveals his attributes to humanity through his inspired Word, the Bible.  He tells us what he is like.  The Bible boldly declares attributes he manifests that we could never show – his incommunicable attributes.  God is all-knowing.  He is all-powerful.  God is present in all places at once.  The Bible also proudly displays other attributes of God that humans can demonstrate – his communicable attributes.  God is love.  The Lord is patient.  The Scriptures paint a clear picture of who God is and what he is like.

We must start with this picture the Bible paints.  Do not start with what we think God is like.  And do not start with what we want God to be like.  Psalm 145:18 says, “The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”  (ESV)  If we call upon, or offer praise, to God in a way that does not line up with his true character – we lie to God and ourselves.  We waste our time.  No one benefits.  If we respond to God in line with the way he really is – God will be near.

The starting place for praise, then, is God’s true character.  The starting place is the Bible.  Crack open the Bible and read about who God is.  Then we respond. 

Recognizing an attribute about God is not enough.  Intellectual assent is insufficient, insufficient to bring about joy in our hearts or change our lives.  And it fails to fully glorify God.

Instead, we contemplate upon a trait of God and we respond to it from our head and our heart.  We start to respond with wonder and awe.  We realize how amazing it is that a being could be the way he is described.  Pausing, we are filled with wonder as we think about how big the universe really is, and that God sustains it all.  We are overcome with awe when we realize how powerful God really is – and how weak we are in comparison.

Our minds and hearts also respond with the offer of Glory to God.  The more we realize how different, and better, God is from any other being – the more we should be inspired to tell him how much better he is than anything else in all creation.

Ultimately, our response should turn to adoration.  Seeing all of the attributes that are true about God and knowing how superior he is to all things – and then finding out this God if for us . . . Love is an appropriate response.  Praise is an expression of that love and appreciation.

Praise vs Thanksgiving

A point of clarification is in order here.  Discussions of praise will always be incomplete if they do not in some way include thanksgiving.  Praise and thanksgiving are closely related, yet they are different.  There is some overlap in their application, yet they are distinct.

The crucial difference is this:  Praise is to glorify God for who he is.  Thanksgiving is to express gratitude for what he has done.

Praise is concerned with who God is.  God is celebrated because of his unique and perfect attributes.  “Lord, because you are truly omnipotent and in control of everything, you are worthy of fear and respect – you are far above all people!”  “Father, you are a generous God who gives willingly, freely and happily!”

Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is concerned primarily with what God has done in our lives.  It is our expression of gratitude for the ways we have seen God’s hand at work in our lives.  “Thank you Lord, for providing the extra $1,000 we needed to pay the rent.”  “Thanks be to you Father, for giving me the right words to say at that important moment yesterday.”

Being closely related, praise and thanksgiving often blend together.  “God, you are so generous, thanks for being so generous to us and providing a job when we needed it.”  Both are vital.  Since both are vital, it is important that we clearly discern between the two so we can be sure to include them both in our prayer life.

Why We Need to Praise God

There are several good reasons for us to be careful to include the regular practice of praising God.

Praise is the Ultimate Expression of Our Purpose

The Bible is clear on what God’s purpose is.  The prophet Isaiah speaks for God when he says, “For my own sake, for my own sake I do it, for how should my name be profaned?  My glory I will not give to another.” (Isaiah 48:11, ESV)  God is telling his hearers that what he is doing, he is doing only for his sake.  Only for his own glory.  He is not doing it for their sake.  For his.  He will not share the credit, nor the recognition.  The prophet Ezekiel expresses similar words from God in chapter 20 of his book.  Three times in that chapter God says through him that “. . . I acted for the sake of my name . . .”  (Ezekiel 20:9,14,22, ESV)  God’s purpose is his the magnification of his name – his glory.

Everything God does, everything he allows to happen, he does in order to magnify and increase his glory.  John Piper says, “God governs the world with glory precisely that he might be admired, marveled at, exalted and praised.”  (Piper, Desiring God, 46)

If then, God’s purpose is his glory, and if he manages everything in such a way as to increase his glory – one of humanity’s main purposes must be the offering of praise to God.  Piper says, “The climax of his (God’s) happiness is the delight he takes in the echoes of his excellence in the praise of his saints.”  (Piper, Desiring God, 46)

The offer of praise to God fulfills the purpose of two parties.  It makes God happy.  It fulfills his purpose – he receives glory.  Praise also fulfills our purpose – as creatures made to praise the creator.

Praise Roots us in Reality

In our culture it is not that hard to get disconnected from reality.  Our pride, our hurts, our preconceptions and our ignorance – can all color the glasses we use to look at our world.  It is easy to carry inside of us a picture of reality that does not truly, or completely, line up with reality.  This is particularly true of spiritual reality.

The practice of praise forces us to recognize many realities we may me ignorant of, or realities we may be suppressing.  For example, as we recognize the fact that God is sovereign, we are forced to realize we are not king of our own lives.  We also are forced to acknowledge that we are dependent.  The more we rightly praise God, the more we know him rightly, and the more our sense of reality will conform to the actual reality.

Living life with a correct concept of reality will free us from many frustrations and false hopes.

Praise Completes Our Joy

We have made the point already that one of our main purposes is praise.  If we regularly practice praising God, then the joy and satisfaction that come with fulfilling our purpose will follow.  But there is more to it than this.

Think back to the last time we saw a movie in the theater that we thought was amazing.  A movie we loved.  What happened for the next few days?  We talked about the movie!  We asked our friends if they had seen it.  Excitedly we told them about it, about how entertaining it was, or how about how it moved us in a special way.  We eventually tell our friends they need to go see it.  And if a friend of ours has already seen it, together we extol the virtues of the film.

What is going on in this situation?  We watched a movie and enjoyed it very much.  But the experience of watching the movie was not enough.  Watching the movie again was not enough.  We are so full of excitement and joy that we have to tell someone about it.  Piper perfectly explains this phenomenon when he says, “We praise what we enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it is expressed in praise.”  (Piper, Desiring God, 49)  You see, praise completes joy.  We gain a great amount of pleasure from watching the movie, but we gain more satisfaction when we tell our friends how great the movie is.  And we gain even more when they go see it, enjoy it, come back and praise the movie with us.

This principle works exactly the same with our experience of God.  When we praise God, we experience God’s true self.  The response to such a joyful experience is to share it with someone.  The difference between the experience of God and of the movie is the direction of the praise.  When we glorify the movie, we aim the glory towards others.  The virtues of the movie are directed towards others.  With the experience of God, we express some of the glory towards other people, but primarily we offer the glory right back to the source:  God himself.

Learning who God is and what he is really like should thrill our hearts.  Responding to that by praising God completes that joy.

The Process of Praise

Recognizing the benefits of praise, both to God and to ourselves, the next question is obvious.  How do we effectively praise God?  We offer a simple process.

The first step is to open the Bible.  To praise God, we must know him as he reveals himself.  We have created a PDF that you can find on the PRAYER TOOLBOX PAGE that includes a list of God’s attributes and the verses where they are found.  You can download the guide to guide you on this step.

Second, as you read these verses, pick out one of God’s attributes to focus on.  Then meditate on it by asking yourself these questions as you pray:

1)       Lord, I realize you are ____________.

2)      Lord, because you are ____________ . . . I know . . . I feel . . . I can . . .

3)      Lord, if you were not ____________ . . . I would feel . . . I would think . . . I would do/not do . . .

Finally, because we want to be well rounded, include a time of thanksgiving.  Consider your life and circumstances, and think about specific ways God has expressed this attribute towards us.  Then tell him thank you.

Putting Praise into Practice

As Part of the One Year Prayer Experiment

When something becomes unbalanced, it is often necessary to shift some things around in order to restore balance.  Regardless of what the imbalance is in, be it physical weight, skill, or knowledge, one area must be built up to restore balance.  When the imbalance is found in our skill set, extra effort is often required to fill in the gaps and re-balance our skill set.

I think the practice of praise falls into this category for many of us.  If we started out day one praying like Jesus taught us Matthew 6 – which we talked about in a previous post – we would have a perfectly balanced prayer life.  Many of us, however, did not get off on the perfect first step.  I certainly did not.

Many of our prayer lives end up unbalanced.  The amount of time and effort we spend on offering praise to God pales in comparison to the time and effort we spend asking God for things.

So, we need to really work on praising God in order to build our skill and comfort with offering praise to God.  And, we may need to rebalance an out of whack prayer life.

To jump in with both feet, I am going to do something a little different.  I am going to spend one week spending my daily thirty-minute time of prayer only offering praise and thanksgiving to God.

A Word of Caution

I will not recommend praying this way as a long-term practice.  But to accelerate learning and to restore balance this could be a useful practice.  It also has a place for occasional short periods of just wanting to praise God.

With that said, try this method of prayer.  Just do not do it for more than a week.  Or else we will end up unbalanced in the opposite direction in which we started.

I will give it a try and LET YOU KNOW.

The post Offering Praise to God – A Primer appeared first on One Year Prayer Experiment.

I like to be prepared.  My wife would say sometimes I like to be over prepared.  The words, “Just get on with it” have been launched my way more than once.  But before I launch out on this experiment I really want to get at least a few tracks to run on as to how to pray.  I know there are many techniques and strategies for prayer out there.  Where does one begin?

To anyone who knows me, they would not be surprised that I found the answer to this one in a book.  For a question this important, I went straight to the most important book on the subject:  the Bible.

In Matthew Chapter 6, Jesus instructs his disciples with the following words:

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.  (Matthew 6:9-15, ESV)

This is the famous Lord’s Prayer.  Many people have heard it.  Many of us have prayed it.  I prayed it almost every night as a child.  It is familiar.  It is comforting.  But what many people don’t realize is that Jesus is not here giving us a prayer to recite, but a model for prayer.  The opening words clue us in to this.  Pray then like this.  Pray this way.  I like how the New International Version translates it as “This, then, is how you should pray . . .”  Jesus gives us, in the lines of this familiar prayer, an outline to guide us in our prayer.

The Essential Elements of a Healthy Prayer Life According to Jesus

Let’s work our way through this prayer, taking a look at each part and learning what our times of prayer need to include.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

Hallowed is a word we don’t often use anymore.  As I think about it, the only time I have ever heard the word used was to refer to the hallowed halls of something or other.  The word was being used to indicate that this hall was special.  It was different from other halls.  Worthy of notice.

This usage is not far off from what Jesus is trying to teach us.  The word hallowed comes from a Greek word that means to make holy, or to set something apart as holy.  To recognize God as holy – or hallowed – is to recognize that He is something special.  To acknowledge that His name is distinct from and superior to all other names.

In prayer, this is simply praise to God.  To make hallowed his name is to praise him.  Lift him up.  Acknowledge his attributes.  Give glory to God.

Recognize however that praise is different from thanksgiving.  To give thanks to God is to express gratitude for what he has done.  “Thank you Lord for providing the money I needed to pay for the rent.”  To praise God is to extol him for who he is.  “God, you are a generous God who provides for his people exactly what they need.”

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Jesus preached often about the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God is the presence and rule of God.  In the kingdom, life is the way God intended it to be:  full of love, justice and peace.  The world clearly is not that way now.  This makes sense when we understand that the New Testament gives us a picture of the kingdom as one that has started, but has not yet been fully realized.  The kingdom of God has broken in to our world, but it does not yet encompass all.  The kingdom is present and it is growing.

Our prayers then need to be that the world will look increasingly like his kingdom.  We should pray that his people act more and more like citizens of this kingdom.  That his people do his will.  And we should pray that the world around us will see how we treat each other and join us in creating a place like the kingdom of God.

The prayer for the kingdom to come is where we pray for justice and unity.

“Give us this day our daily bread,”

Jesus tells us to ask for daily bread.  I need to eat to stay alive.  You probably do too.  Jesus acknowledges needs.  He knows we need food, water, heat, and shelter.  He knows we need money to pay the rent and buy medicine.  Jesus knows we have needs.  And he tells us to pray for them.  It is right to take our needs to God.

Ask God to supply what is needed.  Ask specifically.  If one needs $200 more to pay the rent, boldly pray for $200.  Pray confidently.  Wait patiently.

Before you start running through the want list with God though, we must make sure to discern between needs and wants.  A bigger TV is not a need.  Money to keep the heat on during an Upper Peninsula Michigan winter is a need.  Money to keep the cable TV going over those winter months is not.  Be discerning.  God promises to meet our needs.  He never promises to give us everything we want.  Remember, he is the sovereign God of the universe who is working out his plan.  He is not Santa Clause.

As we become practiced in praying, do not forget to recognize when God answers prayer.  I used to think God never answered many of my prayers.  Then I was given a challenge.  A mentor challenged me to write down what I prayed for and check the list every time I prayed.  Turns out, if I slowed down the rate of requests just enough to remember what I asked for, I started to see that God actually was answering prayers and working around me.  So, remember what you prayed for, and recognize the answered prayers.  Then express your gratitude.  Tell your generous Father in heaven “Thank You!”

“and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Jesus tells us to ask God to forgive us our debts.  He is not telling us to ask God to get us out of financial trouble.  Nor is he telling us to ask him to make our credit card bills go away.  He is talking about the personal debts we owe to him.  These debts are the debts that accrue when we sin.

Every one of us has all sinned.  We can all think about something we should have done – but did not.  We can also probably remember something we should not have done – but did anyway.  This willful sin builds up a debt between us and our Heavenly Father.  This sin does not take away our salvation.  Our relationship with God is fixed and secure because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.  Our fellowship with God, however, our ability to connect and enjoy our relationship with God, is disrupted by this sin.

The solution to this disruption is to ask God to forgive us our debts.  It is to confess to God our sins.  To confess our sin means to openly admit what we did and agree with God that is was wrong.  Then repent – commit to turn away from that sin.  After confessing any sin we are aware of, continue to commune with God with a clear conscience.

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

There is a war going on around us.  We cannot always see it.  Swirling around us is a violent conflict between Satan and his demons versus the Kingdom of God.  These enemies concentrate on wreaking havoc in the lives of believers.

Jesus tells us to pray for protection.  Pray that we will not be led into temptation.  Ask God for the wisdom to recognize a trap laid by the enemy.  Ask for the courage to walk away from the trap, regardless of how inviting it looks.  Pray that you don’t fall for the lies.

Jesus tells us also to pray for deliverance.  Our enemies will not only launch temptations at us, they may try to afflict us more directly.  Ask God to shield us from the assaults of the enemy.  Pray that God will keep the enemy at bay, at a great enough distance to not be able to harm you.

Be forewarned.  If you decide to embark on a prayer challenge of your own, if you decide to try to become a person of prayer, expect the attack to come.  Know the enemy does not want you to pray.  The enemy does not want us to feel close to or connected to God.  As we try to move closer to God, expect the enemy to try to move us apart.  So, make sure to pray for protection.

A Balanced Prayer Life

We are presented with the essential elements of a balanced prayer life in the Lord’s Prayer:  praise, justice and unity, personal requests, confession, and protection from the enemy. 

This understanding of prayer is so much more diverse and engaging than my early understanding of what prayer was.  Early on, I understood prayer as only making requests to God.  Honestly, I was dumbfounded when I heard about people who prayed for hours.  How could you spend hours just asking God for things?  It made no sense to me how anyone without an iron will would be able to that.  Or even desire to.  But expanding my understanding of prayer with all these different categories changes my expectations of prayer.  Praying like this can be a much more relational experience.  It can be a much more engaging experience.

As I look to renovate my prayer life, this outline presented by Jesus will serve as the tracks I run on.  I will strive to incorporate each of these components into my daily time of prayer.  And that 30 minutes figure seems a lot less daunting when I realize I only need to pray for six minutes in each one to reach my goal!

Go to our Tool Box page and download a simple one-page guide to praying the way Jesus showed us that you can print out and use to give you tracks to run on as you pray.

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