If you watch Orthodox Jews pray at the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem, you might wonder about the leather band wrapped around their forearms and the box strapped to their heads. The objects are called the tefillin, worn during a prayer ritual that some believe dates back to the time of Moses (Deuteronomy 6:6-8). The process to don the tefillin is very elaborate and must be performed in an exacting manner. This illustrates that in Jesus’ time, Jewish prayer was very focused on the “how”—praying in a specific way.
When Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray (Matthew 6:9-13), He makes very little mention of any techniques—no folding of the fingers in a certain way or bowing at certain times. Instead, in the verses preceding the Lord’s Prayer, He seems to de-emphasize the “how” of prayer altogether (Matthew 6:5-8). The first words of the Lord’s Prayer reveal the true focus of prayer—not the “how,” but the “Who” we pray to: “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). And this is what makes prayer so powerful—not that we know how to pray, but that the God we pray to is our loving, faithful Father.
As much as I would love to say that this was a habit peculiar only to the Pharisees, I too often become obsessed with the “how” of prayer—thinking that it’s because I pray in a certain way or say certain things that prayer works the way it does. But I have to remind myself regularly that the power of prayer isn’t in the how, but in the Who. Prayer works not because I do it in just the right way, but because I pray to a God who loves me.
As James wrote, “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father. . . . He never changes” (James 1:17). May we pray to God simply because of who He is.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Titus 3:1-11
More:
Read Luke 15:20-24 to be reminded of the character of our heavenly Father to whom we pray.
Next:
Do you ever find yourself focusing more on the how of prayer than the who? How can you make sure your prayer life is based on the identity of whom you pray to and not how you pray?
Gary Shultz on December 15, 2016 at 5:37 am
Hi Peter: Very well stated. There is soooo much said in the scripture passage. It is not a small thing to pray to “Our Father” and He after all He is in heaven. He is not of earth, He did not come from the earth, with great wisdom and forethought He created the earth and all we see, but He is from heaven. Our thoughts are not His, nor are our ways, thank you. Holy, holy is His name. Yes Peter, for me prayer must be all about to whom we pray. Yes, the story has just begun, as God’s kingdom will be ushered in at just the right time. By His will and by His perfect way will the future unfold, and the story of His love will shine in glory to Him. He has promised, this Holy God, us a place with Him and Christ our redeemer. Now I don’t know about everybody else, but I feel perfectly confident praying to a God like that. What can we bring that would be too much for Him. Thanks Peter, what a God, what a gift, creating Christmas with Christ.
gagirllive on December 15, 2016 at 5:53 am
I love this, Peter. Why have we made prayer so complicated? It is about relationship—Father/child—not ritual or performance. I can imagine how irreverent and revolutionary Jesus’ teaching on prayer must have been to the Jews of His day. Approach Yahweh as “Father”? And to take it even further, His apostles went on to use such loose terms of endearment such as “Abba, Father” which is transliterated as saying, “Daddy” or “Papa”. Yes, Jesus moved us away from the “How” to the “Who” and I, for one, am very thankful. The shift redirects us from being self-focused to being God-focused, from our performance to God’s character. “May we pray to God simply because of who He is.” That’s it for me, Peter. I just love being with Him, enjoying Him for who He is. Father and daughter—trusting, loving, and sharing. There’s nothing complicated about that. Thank you for this, Peter, and a very Merry Christmas to you and yours. Gloria!
suny219 on December 15, 2016 at 9:18 am
I read about a boy who prayed “Our Father who aren’t in Heaven”. When corrected, he said that God was everywhere, that was how he could talk to him. This simplistic explanation has gone a long way in improving my prayer life. I have moved away from the rituals and toward daily conversations with the Lord. Now that I feel free to pray anytime, anywhere my prayers are more meaningful and I feel more connected.
Tom Felten on December 15, 2016 at 10:27 am
Love it, suny! That’s the kind of childlike approach we should have in approaching our heavenly Father. Yes, He’s everywhere . . . and He’s with us here and now.
hsnpoor on December 16, 2016 at 3:32 am
That’s good, sunny! Kids are a hoot and you just never know what they will come up with and the trick & blessing is to pay attention to them. I’m sure you’ve heard the other misunderstanding of the prayer where the child thought it was “our Father who does art in Heaven”. Which, when you think about it, is not as great a truth as “aren’t in Heaven”, but it’s true enough too! Thanks for sharing! I enjoyed your comment.
godlove on December 15, 2016 at 10:26 am
Thank you Peter. I must admit that I, too, have been guilty at times of thinking that I have to say certain things in a certain order, when I pray, for my prayer to be answered. However, thinking that when a prayer is answered it’s because the prayer was said in a certain way is considering prayer like some magic incantation which it is not. In fact, I think it overlooks God’s Sovereignty in answering prayers. We must fight the basic human tendency to look for trends in our prayer life or try to find a “working pattern” or some sort of “winning formula” which gets prayers answered. I think the best way to achieve this is by always keeping in mind that prayer is a time to open our hearts to our loving and faithful Father. Jesus reminds us in v. 8 that “[our] Father knows exactly what [we] need even before [we] ask him!” Blessed and merry Christmas to all.
minkjh on December 15, 2016 at 5:42 pm
Luther had an interesting approach to prayer, spending several hours daily in conversation with God. He would start out by praying the Lord’s Prayer in its entirety, and then break out each section individually and pray (Our Father/Who art in heaven/Hallowed be Thy Name, etc.). After that he moved on to the Ten Commandments and prayed on each one in like manner. He concluded with the Apostle’s Creed, again in similar fashion. Is it any wonder God used him to lead a reformation that changed the course of ecclesiastical history? Imagine what God would do in this age if we prayed as Luther, yet we get antsy if our corporate prayers extend more than a few minutes on one day in seven.