“We do not want to be beginners. But let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything else but beginners.” – Thomas Merton

“True, whole prayer is nothing but love.” - St. Augustine

“Lord, teach us to pray.” – Jesus’ disciples

“We look upon prayer simply as means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God himself.” – Oswald Chambers

What is prayer?

• Conversation – what makes for good conversation?

Why is prayer so difficult for so many Christians?

• Time

• Don’t know what to pray about

• We don’t see any results, so we quit

• We don’t have a proper understanding of what prayer is

Some problematic ways that we view prayer:

• Prayer as a last resort – what does this show about how we view ourselves and God

• We don’t listen – James 4:3 “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” One way that our passions are transformed is by listening.

• The belief that prayer doesn’t change things. See the following:

Exod 32:14
Jonah 3:10
1 Corinth. 3:9
John 15:7

Learning To Pray

Real prayer, not the kind Jesus warned about in Matthew 6, but real true prayer is something that we learn (“Lord, teach us to pray”). The disciples knew the way that the Pharisees prayed, but they noticed that there was something different about the way Jesus prayed. Real prayer is something we learn.

2 things are needed in order to begin: Time & Place

Time: Try setting a time that you pray, this helps to be consistent. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in the morning, do it whenever you are going to be the least distracted and able to focus.

Place: Choose a place that will help you to focus and provide minimal distraction.

What to pray

Start with “simple prayer”

Simple Prayer –

• Where we come before God, warts and all

• The way to close the gap between what I am supposed to be praying about & what I am really thinking about

• Like a child to a father – open, honest, trusting

• Where we learn to pray about what is really on our hearts; not just what we think God wants to hear

• Ordinary people bringing ordinary concerns to a loving and compassionate Father

This is where we get started in learning to pray. Over time, we will see a change begin to happen.

In real prayer, “we begin to think God’s thoughts after him: to desire the things he desires, to love the things he loves, to will the things he wills. Progressively, we are taught to see things from his point of view.” “God always meets us where we are and slowly moves us along into deeper things.” - Foster

C.S. Lewis says that we ought to “lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.”

Next Week: Prayer continued…

Additional Resources

Prayer: Finding the Hearts True Home by Richard Foster
Spiritual Disciplines Bible Studies: Prayer & Listening by Jam Johnson
Re-understanding Prayer by Kyle Lake
Hearing God by Dallas Willard
Prayer: Does is make any difference? by Philip Yancey

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