Covering All the Bases

Spirituality Column #137
June 23, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Covering All the Bases
By Bob Walters

We are advised by both scripture and tradition to lead a prayerful life, but it is often hard to know how to pray.

The Bible has plenty of advice on prayer – look up pray-prayer-praying in your Bible’s index. Make sure not to miss Matthew 6:5-15 in the Sermon on the Mount. That is Jesus’ advice on praying.

To learn how Jesus Himself actually prayed read John 17, where Jesus prays powerfully and beautifully in the Garden of Gethsemane for Himself, for His disciples, and for all believers.

Catholic, Orthodox and the varied Protestant denominations have spent centuries perfecting their prayer books, and the prayers are magnificent to recite, majestic to hear.

Some people are hooked on rote prayer – prayers we memorize. Some people think rote prayer is akin to an Eastern mantra or the “babbling like pagans” mentioned in Matthew 6:7.

Rote prayer, I think, is incredibly helpful when we don’t know where to start praying, or aren’t quite sure what it is we are personally trying to say to God. The Orthodox “Jesus Prayer” – “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” – is often my jumping-in point for prayer.

The key to prayer is to focus on God, on Christ, and on the Holy Spirit … not on our personal needs. In John 14:26 Christ promises that God will send us the Holy Spirit to act as our Counselor. And what is prayer, really, other than seeking divine Counsel?

Ask the Holy Spirit how to pray. Ask the Lord Jesus how to pray. Ask God Almighty how to pray. You’ll find their answers will all be identical. Only by focusing on Them, however, can you possibly hope to hear Their counsel.

When my prayer focuses on me … guess whose advice I get? Mine. And if my advice were all that great, I wouldn’t be praying.

A prayer formula can be helpful. I like “PTA” - Praise, Thank and Ask.
- Praise God for being God and for all the ways He lets us know it.
- Thank God for His blessings.
- Ask God for greater closeness to Him and understanding of His will.

I think it is safe to say we are all inclined to ask God for material things or physical/emotional comfort, but it is God’s closeness and our understanding of His will that brings the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) advises the inclusion of “Confession” in prayer as well. We can’t surprise God, and confession properly tempers our requests.