Week 2: Regular Prayer
What is prayer? Everyone is familiar with prayer, and every believer in Christ would undoubtedly agree that prayer is a vital part of our Christian walk. But like so many things, it’s possible to know about prayer without ever really knowing what prayer is or how to practice it in our daily walk with Christ. In this post, we’ll explore what the Bible reveals about prayer, its significance in our Christian life, and how to apply this essential practice.
The Bible is full of prayer and praying people. Hundreds of specific prayers are recorded in the Bible, but even so, it can be difficult to discern the meaning and purpose of prayer according to the Scriptures. Prayer has many aspects and facets, and we can’t possibly speak to all of them in one post. Rather, our goal will be to understand the basic purpose of prayer and how we can best practice it in our daily Christian walk.
In the New Testament, “to pray” in Greek is προσεύχομαι (proseuchomai). Composed of the prefix πρός, meaning “towards,” and εὔχομαι, “to wish.” This deconstruction may lead us to believe that prayer is simply to throw our any and every wish at God. But the literal translation indicates that prayer involves movement towards God to exchange wishes. The interaction of prayer exchanges our wishes for His wishes, our will for His will. By understanding the Greek word, we lay a foundation for a deeper understanding of prayer. Prayer surely includes inquiring of God, conversing with and petitioning Him, but the basic purpose of prayer is that something of God comes to us, and something of us goes to God.
This fundamental function of prayer can be illustrated by respiration. When we breathe physically, we take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. For Christians, prayer is spiritual breathing. We take in God, and release the negative elements within us. In our Christian walk, we continue as we began, by receiving Jesus Christ. Christ is not only the life we received once for all at our regeneration, but also the life supply that strengthens us to walk with Him. Once a baby is born and takes its first breath, it never stops breathing. Similarly, when we received Christ and were born again, we took our first spiritual breath. And we continue to breathe spiritually through our prayer.
We’re able to breathe in God because the Bible tells us, “God is Spirit.” (John 4:24) In the New Testament, the Greek word πνεῦμα (pneuma) can be translated as Spirit, wind, or breath. John 20:22 tells us that “[Jesus] breathed into [His disciples] and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” Since we have a human spirit, we can receive the divine Spirit, the divine breath. Job 32:8 draws a clear connection between our human spirit and breathing in what God breathes out: “But there is a spirit in man, / And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.” This realization inspired renowned theologian and evangelist, A.B. Simpson, to pen his famous hymn: "O Lord, breathe Thy Spirit on me.”
I am breathing out my sorrow,
Breathing out my sin;
I am breathing, breathing, breathing,
All Thy fulness in.
Simpson’s lines capture the functional embodiment of what it means to pray. Prayer is our moment-by-moment contact with God, in which what we are is discharged and what He is becomes ours. Seen in this light, Paul’s charge in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, that we should “unceasingly pray,” is no longer an impossible standard but the most basic spiritual necessity. You can live without food for weeks, and without water for days, but a lack of oxygen is fatal in minutes. And these physical necessities are paralleled spiritually. If you find yourself struggling in your walk with Christ, it may be because you’re holding your breath. If this is our condition, the Lord may be inclined to arrange our circumstances so that we cry out to Him. In Lamentations 3:55-56, the prophet Jeremiah says, “I called upon Your name, O Jehovah, from the lowest pit. You have heard my voice; do not hide Your ear at my breathing, at my cry.” God cares for us, and often sovereignly arranges situations that cause us to cry out to Him. This can be compared to spiritual CPR. Our genuine calling out to God and calling upon the name of the Lord is the spiritual equivalent of taking a deep breath.
Just as our physical and mental health are largely based on our habits, so too is our spiritual health. So let’s consider some healthy practices and habits for prayer that the Bible reveals by addressing some common questions.
When should we pray?
Because God is Spirit, we can breathe Him in at any time and in any place. (John 4:24) He is as available as air. We can and should contact God constantly throughout the day. But the Bible also places particular emphasis on having definite, set times for prayer. Daniel 6:10 shows us that Daniel had a habit of praying three times a day: “he went to his house (in his upper room he had windows open toward Jerusalem) and three times daily he knelt on his knees and prayed and gave thanks before his God, because he had always done so previously.” And in Psalm 55:17, David records: “Evening and morning and at noontime I complain and moan, And He hears my voice.” Having set times of prayer ensures that our contact with Christ remains regular. The longer we continue in our walk with Christ, the more we realize that what we pray, the content of our prayers, is not nearly as important as praying consistently. In both Romans 12:12 and Colossians 4:2, we’re instructed to “persevere in prayer,” and the Lord Himself taught in Luke 18:1 that we “ought always to pray and not lose heart.”
Should we pray alone or with others?
We need to pray unceasingly and in every place, but practically, we also need to have set times and places for prayer. The Bible conveys a similar balance related to who we should pray with. In Matthew 6:6, the Lord emphasizes the need to pray privately, “But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door,” but later in Matthew 18:20, He highlights the importance of praying with others, “if two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter for which they ask, it will be done for them.” As believers in Christ, we should cultivate the habit of praying both privately and with other Christians.
What should we pray for?
The effectiveness of our prayer doesn’t depend on saying the right words in the proper order, but in our speaking to God genuinely from our heart and with the exercise of our spirit. God doesn’t expect us to know what to pray. Romans 8:26 says, “we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” This is because the primary purpose of prayer is to contact God and receive from Him. We simply need to begin praying. Once we begin, we contact the Lord and, by doing so, allow the Spirit to intercede for us and direct our prayer.
The best pattern of prayer is Christ Jesus Himself. He was constantly in contact with the Father and frequently went away privately to pray. We hope that this post has impressed you with the vital role prayer plays in our Christian walk and has inspired you to establish new habits of both constant and scheduled times of prayer. Having realized the profound importance of prayer, you may feel led to ask the Lord, just as the disciples did in Luke 11:1, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
