What is prayer?

[BobVigneault]

I'm not interested in the systematic theological definition. I don't want a three page quote from one of the confessions (I know where to find the confessions). I don't want the exhaustive list of all scripture verses regarding prayer.

Synthesizing the systematics, the confessions and the verses, I want a short paragraph that gives a working, everyday, practical, down-and-dirty understanding and explanation of what prayer is and what it is supposed to accomplish in and for the Kingdom. Brevity is next to godliness.

 

[BobVigneault]

{Bump} Please give this some thought and give me some answers. I really need an answer to this one. Anyone?

 

[ChristopherPaul]

It is much easier to copy/paste a bunch of excerpts from confessions and commentaries. When you ask for thought - that requires work which requires time, so needless to say the replies are much fewer and far between.

 

[bradofshaw]

Here's a shot...

Prayer is conversation between man and God. It is important because we have a personal God who created and redeemed us to have a personal relationship with him. It exists for us to acknowledge God's glory and express our love for him, to repent of our sin and be restored to relationship with him, to allow us to confide in our heavenly father, to foster our dependence on his providence, and to conform our wills to his as we make our requests known and yet ask that his will be done. It accomplishes the encouragement of the saints and is a means by which God facilitates his will on earth, as he has promised to hear and to answer when his children come to him in prayer.


Four sentences! Lot of words though...

 

[Irishcat922]

Humility, Worship, petition. I think these are the elements of Christian prayer.

 

[PresReformed]

I've always liked these...

WSC Question 98. What is prayer?
Answer. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.

Spiritual Milk for American Babes (John Cotton's Catechism)
Question. What is prayer?
Answer. It is calling upon God in the name of Christ by the help of the Holy Ghost, according to the will of God.

 

[PresReformed]

The Larger Catechism answer is good too.

Question 178: What is prayer?
Answer: Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit; with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.

 

[BobVigneault]

Thank you, thank you gentlemen. Brad, that was a terrific description of prayer.

We have prayed for so long about our daughters, our foster children, our grandson only to have the opposite of what we ask for happen. I have lost my understanding of what prayer is and it's become hard to pray. I hear others talk about God answering prayer but I have only seen frustration and hurt. I have jokingly told people that pain and suffering are God's way of letting you know he's thinking of you. Lately I've begun to feel like that's true. Perhaps I'm just getting a bit weary.

We've been through a lot and we're not new to adversity but I need to rework my understanding of prayer and you have helped to give me a starting point.

 

[Gregg]

Prayer is an essential part of daily life between a struggling young widower and his God that sustains him.

 

[bradofshaw]

You're welcome, Bob!

I hope you remain faithful in prayer and in seeking God's will. I've struggled with similar doubts and often need reminding myself. I'll try to remember you in prayer.

 

[turmeric]

I will pray for you and yours. Our pastor preached on the following verses once.

Luk 18:6-8
And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

 

[BJClark]

Bob,

I have come to understand the conflicting answers to prayer in this way..

When I used to pray for patience, I got more turmoil..why? Because dealing with turmoil, teaches us patience. Which in turn answers the prayer that I actually prayed. Needless to say, I stopped praying for patience.

When it comes to praying things concerning my kids, I'm still learning. but God is helping me to see them first as His Children, not mine. He has plans for their life, that may be quite different than my dream for their life. He allows them to go through the things that will teach them the things they will need in the future. He knows what life holds for them, I don't...He knows the trials and tribulations and joys they will have, and the things they need to prepare them for that. So even though I have my idea of what I want their lives to be like...God already KNOWS.

Even looking back at my own life as a child and my life now, I can see where God didn't answer certain prayers the way I wanted, because He had plans for me..that I would not be able to accomplish today had He answered my prayers the way I wanted Him too.

We have prayed for so long about our daughters, our foster children, our grandson only to have the opposite of what we ask for happen. I have lost my understanding of what prayer is and it's become hard to pray. I hear others talk about God answering prayer but I have only seen frustration and hurt. I have jokingly told people that pain and suffering are God's way of letting you know he's thinking of you. Lately I've begun to feel like that's true. Perhaps I'm just getting a bit weary.

We've been through a lot and we're not new to adversity but I need to rework my understanding of prayer and you have helped to give me a starting point.

 

[BobVigneault]

I have two meditations that keep me going:

The one is the fact that Jeremiah wrote Lam. 3:21-23 after the destruction of Jerusalem and from a dungeon.

21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.


The second is Joseph in an Egyptian prison for 14 years for something he didn't do. I am sure he prayed every day. Yet it pleased the Lord to leave him in a stinking prison in spite of his prayers.

So, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases and what seems to be evil God uses for good. So I keep praying.

The suffering over the years has increased my intimacy with the Lord but so much time seems to have been wasted. I long to see my children and grandchildren redeemed. One grandchild is dead now, one is with strangers, and evil seems to be calling the shots.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Bob -- You and yours are in my prayers. We do not always understand why things work out the way they do. Be assured, brother, by God's Word, "that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8.28).

Lamentations is good reading. And the Psalms. Also consider the prayer of Christ at the Garden of Gethsemane: "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22.42). He went to face death "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12.2). It is the hardest thing in the world to pray "not my will be done, but thine." But Christ's example should teach us that God's ways are far above our ways. It is the hard providences that teach us "that men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18.1) because God has something better in store for his own than tears and grief, a joy that surpasses all pain and sorrow, found only in Christ.