maturing prayer

The task of prayer

Prayer is the key to a healthy spiritual life. It matters not what religious faith one is a part of or what ones faith calls the act of discourse with their central figure, the communication through various means remains the focal point of spiritual interaction. The Christian faith emphasizes a strong need for developing a stronger life of prayer. A common cliché states, “Do your best, let God take care of the rest.” This cliché misses the call of how Christ aims to develop the lives of His followers. The concept of doing better is sometimes overlooked by our English class’s teaching that the definite top notch is best; however, we will never achieve our best if we are convinced that we are already there. The challenge before us is to do better than we have ever done—while this does not mean we accomplish the best, it does insist that we are trying to outdo what we were previously able to accomplish.
Just as communication between two people matures, so should communication with our creator. The words we use with close friends are not the words we speak with a child; the words we speak in presentation of business are specific to the corporate world; the dialogue in the courtroom is specific to the matters at hand. With these things in mind our prayer life should be at times the discussion of a child, a friend, a petition, and a presentation.
A child is heartfelt one way communication. A child rarely has time or an attention span to wait and listen to the answer. Children rarely understand the answer even when thoroughly explained. Much the same a basic prayer life that does not develop past the pleas and yearnings of a child is very one sided. One may often approach the throne of God the Father with this mindset without understanding the Father’s answer to whatever request we make of Him.
As the Christian develops a meaningful relationship with Christ, the prayer life tends to open up to a listening interactive discussion. Fellowship with other “like-minded” Christians becomes part of the “norm” of a blossoming Christian’s existence. The seeking experience is no longer for personal gain, but for personal growth and understanding. This friendship with Christ is becoming part of His family, associating with His friends and followers. The Christian at this point develops ears to hear the will of God through prayer, fellowship and study of the scriptures. This stage is the most powerful stage in Christianity, it is at this stage that Christians change and are able to be molded into useful instruments for the Kingdom. These prayers are mostly confidential calls to the position of Christ as friend requesting assistance in understanding the will of God.
The next type of relational prayer comes as the Christian enters into a ministry and aims to set goals for that venture. This is a petition relationship. The Christian in personal time may still share the friendship with God, but here in the devotion to see the current ministry develop, the prayer is seeking God’s specific will through the revelation of success. The Christian studies now with a purpose for the specific ministry while drawing closer to God, yet at times sectioning off from other fellowships within the church. This is the petition to the creator style prayer that recognizes God’s power in the relationship to transform the surroundings as well as the internal condition of the Christian.
The final style of prayer here is the presentation prayer. This is a corporate prayer addressing the will of the people of God in accordance with the will of God. This is a pastor’s prayer. This prayer is done with great humility and struggle as it comes as the formality of all types of prayer, while maintaining the heart of an individual prayer. This prayer is the prayer which is so well thought out that the verbiage seems too extravagant to be being spoken by a human tongue. The Christian in this prayer is often moved to tears for this prayer not only is the base of each Christian’s desire, but in it the heart of God is felt to be moved. The culmination of all needs for each ministry and individual are raised up as if each desire were from God and now were returned to Him that they may be fulfilled. It is in this prayer at the fullness of Christian life that God is the focal point, brothers and sisters in Christ are the petition and self is simply enjoying the pleasure of belonging to this great organism called the Church.
Which prayer is the best? The scriptures tell of us many different ways in which communication to God is made, but the New Testament teachings are probably the answer to the best way to pray—we are to pray in all ways at all times with all sorts of prayers; even as a pastor, one should continue to approach the Father, as an unfinished Christian on should be close to the friend in Jesus, and as a friend one should not be discouraged from requesting the help of the Master. Pray then in this way.