Prayer Walking
How do you pray? Better yet, what do your prayers sound like? I’ve heard it said, that the way you pray reflects who you believe God truly is. I periodically reflect on my prayer life. Does my prayer life reflect God as a genie in a bottle, here to grant my requests? Is God a counselor listening and jotting notes while I sit on his couch just talking? Or are my prayers just thoughts that go up into space while I just hope for the best? Do I expect my prayers to be answered? Why? Why not?
Last week I spent every afternoon walking up and down the streets with high school students and youth pastors casting vision for the church plant and praying over Columbus. Sometimes I find it fascinating praying with other people. That was certainly the case last week. Several times I caught myself celebrating students’ prayers to our almighty God, especially when they spent significant time showing God adoration in ways that I sometimes neglect to think about, or going to God with prayers of supplication and petition that it would certainly take a big and powerful God to answer. A number of students that I walked with were bold and courageous with their prayers.
Walking and praying up and down the streets of Columbus last week stirred God’s Spirit within me. And I do believe that we have a big and powerful God that joyfully answers prayers that are in alignment with His will.
Here’s an example of a beautiful prayer aligned with God’s will.
I was there! I am glad I had the opportunity to participate in the start of a church. I’m one of those people who hates “praying out loud” and often cheats–praying with my voice, but so quietly that only God can hear me. You believe he answers prayers that are aligned with his will–what does that mean? How do you know which prayers are aligned with his will? How did you learn to pray, or how do you practice praying?
Robbie, those are great questions. The following are my immediate thoughts, but I’m sure we could talk at much greater length about prayer. Feel free to email me at gabe@scarletcityproject.com if you have any more questions.
What is God’s will?
The only way to truly know God’s will is to know God’s word – the Bible. The Bible is significant because it’s the primary way in which God chose to communicate His story to humanity, the objects of His love and affection. Therefore, the better we know God’s word, the better we can know His will. Christ-followers should be lifelong students of God’s word in order that we can know our Creator more deeply. In fact, Romans 12:1-2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” The renewing of our mind begins with knowing His word.
What is prayer?
Prayer is communicating with the Almighty God. It’s still amazing to me that we have access to the Creator of the universe 24/7. I’m sure you can imagine, any good relationship requires good communication. The Bible is the story of God in relation to His creation, and most importantly His relationship to His “image bearers” – humanity. God adores you so much that He sent His one and only son to die for you. He doesn’t just want you to talk to Him when you want or need something, He wants you to talk to Him about everything, and even more importantly, to worship Him through prayer. Some helpful categories you could use to make sure you’re talking to God about a variety of things are 1) praises, such as “God you are _______.” Fill in the blank with anything true of God (powerful, loving, faithful, perfect, comforter, etc.); 2) confession, which is simply confessing your sin to God, thereby implying your need for Him; 3) thanksgiving, which is thanking God for things; and 4) supplication, which is a big way of saying, “asking God for things.” These four categories of prayers are represented time and time again throughout the Bible.
How do you pray in alignment with God’s will?
The more you read and understand the Bible, the more likely your prayers will reflect the things that God loves that are revealed in the Bible. That’s the whole “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” thing that I mentioned earlier.
How do you practice praying?
You practice praying just like you practice baseball, chess, singing, or math – you’ve gotta do it. You can read books on prayer and talk to people about prayer until you’re blue in the face, but if you don’t spend quality time talking to God it’s unlikely that you’ll ever become more comfortable with prayer. And the best part is, God isn’t judging your prayer life if you are honestly and genuinely talking to Him the best way you know how to, whether that’s by yourself or with a group of others.
Also, try reading Jesus’ response to his disciples when they asked him how to pray in Matthew 6:9-13 to help get started. I’m praying for your journey, Robbie.