SCRIPTURE:
“When you are praying, do not behave like the hypocrites who love to stand and pray in synagogues or on street corners in order to be noticed. I give you my word, they are already repaid. Whenever you pray, go to your room, close your door, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees what no man sees, will repay you. In your prayer do not rattle on like the pagans. They think they will win a hearing by the sheer multiplication of words. Do not imitate them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6: 5-8).
DEFINING OUR PRAYER WITH GOD:
This passage from Matthew 6 gives us a keen insight into the nature of prayer. Prayer is relational, between God and the disciple, and is therefore a dialogue where the disciple is impacted by the Divine Presence. When prayer is one-dimensional, with the exclusive focus on self, then it runs the risk of contamination and mockery. So Jesus tells us not to behave like the hypocrites who love to stand and pray in synagogues or on street corners in order to be noticed. Prayer is really about God: engaging in adoration, worship, and praise of our God who is both our beneficent Creator and our crucified Savior. It can only be about us if our intentions for ourselves are in the service and glory of God.
So Jesus asks us to pray in private and to become transparent before God, our Father. There is an interesting verse in Genesis: “The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame (Genesis 2: 25).” Before the Fall Adam and Eve were naked and they knew no shame. Shame is an emotion that gives us a keen insight into the way we think and feel about our identity. Adam and Eve were naked before each other. There were no secrets, nor any reservations about who they were and how they felt about themselves. And so they could appreciate and be totally comfortable with each other. The purpose of prayer is to become naked before God and feel no shame. God will make straight what is crooked, heal what is broken, and make us “sharers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1: 4),” when we open ourselves to the outstretched arms of the Crucified One and receive forgiveness and transformation in the acknowledgment of our sins and commitment to Jesus our Way, Truth, and Life. According to Jesus, it is our heart that matters in prayer, not our words or the sheer multiplication of them. But because we will use words in relating to God, they need to come from our hearts, honestly and humbly.
TEACH US HOW TO PRAY:
Let us continue listening to Jesus as he teaches us about prayer. Luke begins chapter 11 by telling us that Jesus was praying in a certain place. One of his disciples seemed quite intrigued by Jesus’ behavior. Apparently his curiosity and hunger for prayer were aroused because he proceeded to ask Jesus to teach them to pray. In response Jesus taught them the familiar ‘Lord’s Prayer’ that we have recited since we were little children. It is interesting that through the Lord’s Prayer Jesus chose to teach us the prayer of petition and intercession. Many saints like Teresa of Avila have chosen to comment on the ‘Our Father’ and regard it as sublime prayer. Why then did Jesus teach us to use the prayer of petition? Is it really an inferior kind of prayer as some have purported it to be? Or is it a prayer that can lead the disciple into the depths of God’s heart?
WHY THE PRAYER OF PETITION?:
In acknowledging ourselves as creatures, we declare that we have a Creator on whom we are totally dependent for everything. Our life and being comes from God. No matter how autonomous and independent we might become, it will always be an illusion to think that we can exist outside of God. The prayer of petition highlights the reality that God is the source of our being and we owe everything to our Creator and Savior. At the heart of every prayer, no matter what its form, lies the truth that we are creatures, always in need of God for all our needs, material and spiritual. In adoration, praise, gratitude, and petition we recognize the same bottom line, our total dependence on God. We create a mockery of our true nature every time we move away from our dependence on God. No wonder, then, that Jesus offers us the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ as a way of ensuring that we live our lives in the shadow of God’s wings. As we comb through the gospels and see Jesus in action, it becomes clear that he wanted us to have certain dispositions or attitudes when approaching God in prayer. They could be categorized as the attitudes of faith, forgiveness, perseverance, and abiding in God’s will, all of which highlight the different dimensions of total dependence and obedience to God.
FAITH:
Jesus always evoked faith in the listener, either before or while he was working a miracle. Salvation was only possible if there were faith in the seeker. Jesus’ miracles attested to the fact that humans were desperate without God’s saving presence and full of joy and salvation when they came to believe in God’s power and mercy. In John, chapter 9 we have the story of the blind man whom Jesus chose to heal. In recovering his sight, the man became a witness of the saving power of Jesus in his life. Salvation and new life came to him when he bowed down and acknowledged Jesus as his Savior even though by then he had been cast out of the synagogue. Mark has an interesting turn of phrase in 11:24: “I give you my word, if you are ready to believe that you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer, it shall be done for you.” Faith is engendered in the heart of seekers when they know that God is indeed their only true Source and they have learnt to put their total trust in their God and Savior for all their needs, indeed for their very life. This is what it means to know God as Abba, Father.
FORGIVENESS:
In numerous places Jesus made it clear that the context for asking and receiving God’s blessings and graces was conversion and discipleship. Immediately after giving us the ‘Our Father’ Jesus says, “If you forgive the faults of others, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours. If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive you” (Matthew 6: 14-15). Simply put, salvation or becoming God-like is the reason for petitioning God. While forgiveness of others is Jesus´ explicit condition for the prayer of petition, it also implies forgiveness of ourselves. The inability or unwillingness to forgive ourselves makes it difficult to approach God for mercy and forgiveness.
PERSEVERANCE:
There are numerous examples where Jesus seemed disinclined to grant a petitioner’s request. Upon their insistence he relented and granted them their heart’s desire. The parable of the corrupt judge in Luke 18 captures this attitude as exemplified in the widow. As a widow she had no rights in society. She knew that the judge was corrupt. Yet she persisted and finally in exasperation the judge answered her plea. In Matthew 7, Jesus asks us to persist in our asking, seeking, and knocking until we receive what it is we are asking from God. Why then would Jesus make perseverance such a key attitude in our prayer? A simple answer is that we are devious and it takes much honesty to find out if we truly mean what we say in prayer. Perseverance in prayer tells us whether we sincerely and wholeheartedly desire God’s saving grace and conversion. When we pray “like the hypocrites who love to stand and pray in synagogues or on street corners,” we fall by the wayside.
ABIDE IN JESUS AND PETITION:
Jesus makes us a wonderful promise in John 15: 7-8: “If you live in me, and my words stay part of you, you may ask what you will – it will be done for you. My Father has been glorified in your bearing much fruit and becoming my disciples.” When we abide in God and live by God’s word, we are truly dependent on God and living according to our nature of being God’s image and child. Jesus seems to say that disciples who abide in him and live according to his teaching have an irresistible power with God. The Holy Spirit tells them what to pray for and God listens to them. Indeed, saints can change the destiny of humans. Finally, this passage from John’s first letter can act as a resounding ‘Amen’ to our discussion: “We have the confidence in God: that he hears us whenever we ask for anything according to his will. And since we know that he hears us whenever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours (5:14-15).”
HELPFUL ATTITUDES FOR PRAYER:
· Prayer is relational, between God and the disciple, and is therefore a dialogue where the disciple is impacted by the Divine Presence. When prayer is one-dimensional, with the exclusive focus on self, then it runs the risk of contamination and mockery.
- Prayer is really about God: engaging in adoration, worship, and praise of our God who is both our beneficent Creator and our crucified Savior. It can only be about us if our intentions and desires for ourselves are in the service and glory of God.
· The purpose of prayer is to become naked before God and feel no shame. God will make straight what is crooked, heal what is broken, and make us “sharers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1: 4),” when we open ourselves to the outstretched arms of the Crucified One and receive forgiveness and transformation in the acknowledgment of our sins and commitment to Jesus our Way, Truth, and Life.
· Try always to come into God’s presence in the spirit of Psalm 139: God is passionate and immensely tender about your creation as God’s image and likeness. You have been fearfully, wonderfully made.
· If your prayer is based on these four attitudes or conditions that Jesus requires of you, your prayer will bear fruit in your life and in the world.
GUIDELINES FOR PRAYER:
- Be faithful to your time of prayer, and make it between 20 and 30 minutes daily.
- Begin every prayer session with an earnest prayer to the Holy Spirit like the one I have composed for you: Come, Holy Spirit, and overshadow me with your gentle wisdom and power as I endeavor to sit at the feet of Jesus during this period of prayer. Purify my mind and heart as I seek to make the teachings of Jesus my priority in life, thinking, speaking and doing as He desires. You are the keeper of my soul, leading me into God’s heart. May I be docile and submissive to your wisdom and guidance. May my life be a pleasing offering in your sight. Amen.
- Take one of the passages suggested for prayer. During the week you might want to ponder the question, “How naked and transparent have you become in your prayer and relationship with God?”
- Lastly, during your prayer make sure you also address God directly and listen for the Holy Spirit’s responses.
- You can end your prayer with the following: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I thank you for your gracious companionship. I praise you for being my Creator, Savior and Lord. May I take your blessings to my day, and may your presence envelop and permeate all my thoughts and actions. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
PASSAGES FOR PRAYER:
Exodus 32: 30-35: Moses makes atonement
1 Samuel 1: 9-23: Hannah’s Prayer
2 Samuel 7: 18-29: David’s Prayer
Psalm 139: The All-Knowing and Ever-Present God
Psalm 51: The Prayer of Repentance
Mark 11: 20-25: The Power of Faith in Prayer
John 15: 1-8: The Vine and the Branches
SPIRITUAL READING:
The Imitation of Christ: After the Bible, this classic is the most widely read. There are four books and 114 chapters in all. You could savor this book three times over if you read a single chapter each day of the retreat. Try the following chapters for this week:
Book III: Of Inner Comfort:
Chapter 17: That we should take all our cares to God
Chapter26: That true Freedom comes more from Humble Prayer than from much Reading
SCRIPTURAL READING:
The Bible: It would be even more important for you to become familiar with the Bible, especially with the New Testament. Similarly, beginning with the New Testament you can choose to read a few chapters on a daily basis, and/or the ones recommended during this week.
New Testament:
The Three Letters of John
JOURNALING:
- Journal for a few minutes daily about your experience with God in prayer and during the day.
- Your journal will help you with your sharing in spiritual direction
- Gradually patterns of insights, themes, consolations, and resistance to God’s promptings will emerge.
- Your journal will help you appreciate the Holy Spirit’s action in your being
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