"Lord, teach us to pray...", this phrase has been reverberating in my mind over the last two years...
The network that I help lead, near Philadelphia, was born out of prayer. We started meeting just to pray for our students, each other, and our community. Soon our small group began to grow and we eventually became more than just a time of prayer, but a network focused around prayer.
Before I go any farther, let me explain that I am by far not an expert in the field of prayer. If I am honest, it often feels like the weakest part of my relationship with God. Knowing this about myself has caused me to lean harder on the Holy Spirit's power when it comes to prayer. This is what I'm learning: My personal prayer life affects the way I approach corporate prayer. My corporate prayer life affects the way I lead my community in prayer. This cycle creates ripple effects in the lives of the people in my community.
How can we improve in prayer? As much as I would like to offer some miracle strategy to accomplish this task, I don't. In fact, I don't think this is my question to answer. Actually, I think this question has already been answered. As I continue to read over the gospels one thing stands out to me consistently: Jesus prays. He doesn't just pray here and there; He prays a lot! Jesus prays such a significant amount that his disciples notice, and come to him and say "Lord, teach us to pray..." And Jesus, as He always did, taught them:
"When you pray, say:
'Father (or Our Father in Heaven),
Hallowed be Your name
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
On earth as it is in Heaven
Give us each day, or today, our daily bread
Forgive us our debts, or our sins
As we also have forgiven our debtors, or everyone who sins against us,
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from the evil one.'"
Let's break this down just a little. Jesus teaches his followers to pray firstly by acknowledging the personal nature of God, as "Father", then moves into humbly highlighting God's authority. He continues by focusing on God's provision and forgiveness. He then finishes by re-acknowledging God's personal nature and authority as he says, "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."
Jesus presented prayer to His followers in a simple and concise way. Somewhere along the way, we have complicated it and have moved away from this teaching.
Prayer is a vital, essential, and critical part of our relationship with God and our ministry to others. Sadly, it is often used as a bookend either at the start or the end of our meetings. This is not because we do not believe prayer to be vital, essential, and critical. But we do act that way! In the midst of the rest of our ministry busyness, it is very easy for prayer to be something we put on the back burner of our mind. I'll be the first person to tell you how easy it is for prayer to become an afterthought instead of my first thought.
I'm not writing this as a rebuke, but as a challenge. We need to pray more! It starts in our personal lives as spiritual leaders, it grows in our ministry networks, and it overflows into the families and youth we serve.
Francis Chan has extremely challenged my thinking on prayer. In his book "Letters to the Church" he has a section titled "Good Shepherds." In this section Chan explains how important he believes prayer to be in this exchange:
"I once told my staff to let me know if they were not praying at least an hour a day. This way I could replace them with someone who prayed and did nothing else than someone who worked tirelessly without praying. That may sound harsh, but prayer is that critical. Prayer is not merely a task of ministry; it is a gauge that exposes our heart's condition. It unveils our pride, showing us whether or not we believe we are powerless apart from God. When we pray, it is an expression of surrender to God and reliance on His infinite wisdom and sovereignty."
Boom. Mic drop. As I read this, It was like a Mack truck hit me square in the jaw. I literally questioned if I was even qualified to spiritually lead others because my prayer life was stale, stagnant, and pretty much non-existent when put up to this standard. This was the wakeup call I needed!
Maybe this is the same wakeup call you need right now. How much do we as spiritual leaders prioritize prayer? How can we take the truths of "Lord teach us to pray..." and apply them to our own walks with Jesus? How should we humble ourselves to ask God for his power when it comes to our prayer lives? Do we need to change our cycle and routines, so that prayer is given a healthy place not only in our personal walks? How do we do this also in our network meetings and our youth meetings to give prayer the same priority that Jesus gave prayer?
I know for me, my starting point was dropping to my knees - or trying very hard to keep my eyes open as I drive - and asking God to teach me how to pray...