Prayer in the Real World

Tonight we’ll be talking about prayer again. I’m currently reading several books at the same time that relate to the subject by Andrew Murray, E. M. Bounds, and David Jeremiah. Tonight, we’re going to be talking about the practicality of prayer and there are two long quotes from David Jeremiah that really got my attention…

Prayer is about real-world concerns, spoken in real-world language. God does not want us to shift into a stained-glass prayer voice to address Him. Prayer comes out of this world, the workday world of houses and cars and grass and sewer lines and schools and janitors and the IRS. Prayer is about bread. Prayer is about money. Prayer is about a judge in conflict. It’s about feeding unexpected company in the middle of the night when your cupboard is bear and the stores are closed. That’s what God teaches us through these two parables. The necessity of prayer springs out of the needs in the real world. ~ David Jeremiah

So much of the time, we’re all wrapped up in the product. God isn’t; He’s wrapped up in the process. We’re all looking for the answer; God is looking for the person who will pray, even when he cannot see the answer. If we are short-fused people who will pray only when we immediately get what we want, then God can’t trust us with any big answers to our prayers. But if we are consistent men and women who take God at His word, who believe that prayer changes things, who will pray without ceasing, who will not lose heart at our praying, who day after day will pray no matter what seems to be happening around us, who keep trusting God, then there will come a time when God will say, “I can answer that believer’s prayer because that’s a person who can handle the answer. ~ David Jeremiah

We’re going to be studying through Jesus’ model prayer in Matthew 6:9-13, but tonight, we’ll be looking at the few verses immediately preceding that passage, which talk about a new kind of praying. The prayers of Jesus’ day were apparently dominated by hypocrisy. The religious leaders had selected three times during the day to pray publicly, all three of which would put them praying while large crowds of people were gathered in the marketplace to see them.

The old way of praying: FAKE
The new way of praying: REAL

WHAT DOES PRAYER LOOK LIKE IN THE REAL WORLD?

Prayer in the real world is a personal matter.

The old way of praying was all about the external – the words, the voice, the body, the time and place, and the crowd watching. But the new way of praying is stripped of every facade and simple becomes shamelessly real before God. It’s also personal in a relational sense. The new way of praying cries out, “My Father!”

Prayer in the real world is a purposeful matter.

That is, there is reality to it. The old way uses pretty, but often empty words. The new way of praying uses words that express the heart’s feelings about current conditions, holding nothing back. Nothing is off limits with God because He knows it all.

How personal, and how purposeful is your praying?