What Prayer is Not
Luke11:1-13
by Frank Schaefer

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How then should we pray? Can we pray for anything we desire? Can I pray for those Gucci shoes? Can I pray for my football team to win? Can I pray for a healing either for myself or a loved one? The answer is yes, yes, yes, and yes.
However, whether God answers all of our prayers or not is a different question. That's really important to keep in mind.
Prayer at its most basic level is walking and talking with God. It's about a relationship. So, in this sense, prayer is more of a way of life rather than a thing we turn on and off. Sometimes we can define a concept really well by saying what it's not. So here is what prayer is not.

Prayer is NOT...

- a formula that must be mindlessly recited as a Christian duty. Some people pride themselves in being able to recite the Lord's Prayer in less than 5 seconds. Well, I think it's safe to say that they sort of missed Jesus point about prayer.

- our personal Genie service. Jesus addresses God as the "Heavenly Father" which is an intimate relationship. There is more to prayer than getting a wish fulfilled. Prayer is an ongoing conversation between God and us. Besides, God is not at our service to grant anything. "Hallowed by your name" implies that God is to be acknowledged as the one in charge.

- an emergency-only line When Jesus instructed us to pray "Give us each day our daily bread" he indicated that prayer should be about every-day things and an every-day activity.

- a superstitious practice to prevent evil from happening to you. When Jesus instructed us to pray "And lead us not into temptation, he made it clear that prayer has more to do with acknowledging our sinfulness and pray for strength to resist temptation than to pray away all bad things. Through prayer God can give us strength to resist evil and in that way we can have a part in making our lives better and in this world a better place.

- a spiritual practice which can conjure up God's power to our advantage. When Jesus instructed us to pray "hallowed be your name" and "your kingdom come" he made it clear that God cannot be coerced to bless us to our advantage. God is the one in charge and God's Kingdom is to be established--not our own. To bless our weapons in the name of God in the hopes to destroy your enemies is ludicrous. When Jesus instructed us to pray for our own forgiveness and to forgive others he made it abundantly clear that God's kingdom is one of peace, love, and forgiveness.

 

Most people view prayer as sort of a walkie-talkie conversation. But it's really more like a constant live chat. The apostle Paul encouraged his congregation to be in prayer constantly. Never turn the conversation off. Be aware that God is around you, above you and even within you. Walk with God and trust that God will provide what you really need:
 

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs." Luke11;9-11

What these verses say to me is that God wants us to ask and seek and to knock. No restrictions. We can ask for anything, pray for anything. There is nothing that we cannot pray for. But, not everything we ask for is something we really need. Some things we ask for may actually be bad for us.

We have a God who not only loves us enough to listen to our prayers, but who cares enough to gently correct us when our prayers are inappropriate. As we bring our petitions and prayers to God, God will valuate what we really need and what is good for us.
It's like a child asking for something s/he needs. Jesus says: why would the Heavenly Father not give it to them?

So, at the end of this talk about what prayer is not, I will attempt to state what it is: Prayer is ultimately about our relationship with God. It's about walking and talking with the Creator and sustainer; it's about trusting the Spirit and be open to life, trusting that God the great Spirit is around me, within me, and walks with me through good times and through bad. It's about trusting God that at the end of the day there will be a blessing and that God will provide what I need. Amen.