Visions From the Early Church: Prayer

"And they devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching and fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer." Acts 2:42

How does prayer work? It was a not question I was expecting. I was being interviewed by a reporter from the small town newspaper in Pampa, Texas because I was the newest pastor in the city. He had asked a number of background questions but the prayer question caught me by surprise. It caught me by surprise because I had never thought about prayer as a mechanical process.

One of the things that separates humans from most other animals is not only our ability to accessorize but our ability to be tool makers. That tool making ability means we always want to know how things work, so we can fix them when they break. We see a problem, we figure out what kind of tool we need to fix it, we build (or buy) the tool, we fix the problem, and then we move on to the next problem.

The interesting thing about this mind set is that we do not confine it to broken mechanical devices (including the human body). We have applied it to relationships, psychology and faith. There are thousands of books in circulation describing the six secrets to fixing relationships, psychological struggles, churches and our prayer life. In fact one of the largest areas of religious writings is how to insure that our prayers work…that we get what we want.

The issue I have with this way of viewing prayer (as a mechanistic process) is that it ignores the relational aspect of our interaction with God. To see prayer as mechanical is to see God as no more than a miracle dispensing machine at best and at worst a god who can be manipulated. This view ignores the fact that at the heart of prayer is not getting something, but entering into an intimate encounter with the living God.

Prayer is the act of speaking with and listening to God. The early church understood that prayer was a gift that allowed them to engage and be engaged by God in Christ. While the church did pray for healing they also prayed for guidance, strength and forgiveness. In other words prayer was about seeking to have the will of God made clearer so that the church (both individually and corporately) might live out that will.

This is why prayer is essential for any vision that we might share with one another. Without prayer a vision might be simply our vision, and not necessarily God's vision. The challenge before us is to make prayer a regular part of our spiritual life in order that God's will for our lives might be made more and more clear.

(How to: there are many good books on prayer that would give direction to our practice of prayer. However a short course on prayer is to 1) find a regular time to pray 2) find a place where you can be undisturbed 3) use the ACTS formula (adoration…praising God, confession…asking God's forgiveness, thanksgiving…giving thanks to God for all God has done, supplication…asking for God's help). 4) listen…try to hear what God has to say. Like any spiritual practice this one takes time to become a habit, but when regularly practiced, I believe one will gain a deeper and more profound relationship with God.)

John