I hear the groans.  Prayer to some is like having root canal.  To others, it must be something spur of the moment, something created by the moment.  There has to be an urgent need for it, others contend. 

Prayer has been with all of us who grew up in any church but along the way we may have lost the “how” and “why.”  It’s so free and personal that it becomes something forgotten in a busy, difficult life. “ How can I have time for it when God knows how I am getting my life back together again and taking care of number one!” I remember hearing that from a young man troubled about the trials and tribulations of his life.   Therein lay the answer to anyone intelligent enough to note the speaker’s concern; he believes he is in charge . . . not God.

Like everyone of us, I fell into the drift of life that said I had to make decisions.  Independence brings a feeling of necessity; no one is looking out for you. . .. you have to make all the decisions in your life.  I took my family from the Midwest to the East against the advice of my parents and when I didn’t feel God had given me an answer whether it was right or wrong, I believed I had to make decisions.  I was on my own, I told myself. Later in life I realized how wrong I was.  A number of hasty decisions failed but I also failed to see that I wasn’t asking for help from the only one who could help me; the Lord. Age, family crises, health issues showed me that the God I had once prayed to was still there, waiting for me to ask for what I needed.  It was then I reached my comfort zone . . . daily prayer. 

Philip Yancey, my guru on the value of prayer, offered his definition of the importance of it in his new book, Grace Notes.

“For years I resisted a regular routine of prayer, believing that communication with God should be spontaneous and free.  As a result I prayed infrequently and with little satisfaction.  Eventually I learned that spontaneity often flows from discipline. . . I found that in needed the discipline of regularity to make possible those exceptional times of free communication with God.  . . Often my prayers seem like a kind of rehearsal I go over basic notes (the Lord’s Prayer), practice familiar pieces (the Psalms ) and try out a few new tunes.  Mainly, I show up,” he wrote.

Such regularity, of course, creates discomfit.  Listen to Rabbi Pinchas Winston:

“It’s not the amount of time spent praying that bothers people, many people gladly spend an entire day consumed by a single activity---if what they are doing is meaningful to them and therefore, enjoyable.  The problem is standing there for many hours on end, often in an uncomfortable position, unable to connect with the opportunity of the day.  The synagogue experience doesn’t have to be this way.  Anyone who can master the prayer opportunity of ‘The Days of Awe’ can transform their prayers into meaningful accomplishments all year round.  Understanding the ‘art’ of prayer means using tefillah ‘prayer’ as a means for God-discovery and self-discovery.”

Uncomfortable pews, rigid adherence to church rules of standing and kneeling and rote repetition and chants hinders many across the religious spectrum.

But if you’ve discovered that God answers prayers as I have, if you believe that God will answer prayers...then prayer can be and should be the highlight of your day.  The main obstacle for many of us is  expectation.  We are so conditioned to having answers given to us, we give up quickly after a prayer or two and  a day or two goes by without a response because we don’t see immediate answers. Our everyday world and materialistic attitude put a wall between ourselves and the Lord.

The answer then is finding ways to follow President Ronald Reagan’s famous cry about the Berlin Wall: “Mr. Khrushchev, tear down those walls!” 

Brian Neese in an article on the web site “eHow” offered his view: 1. read passages and engage Biblical literature about prayer.  There are a great number of sources.  Use them.  2. Begin praying to God on a daily basis.  Make an effort even a number of times during the day---there are no limits on contacting God---and mentally make it as important as anything you do.  3.  Genuinely pray to the Lord and concentrate to shut out distractions.  Allow your thoughts and feelings to be expressed to Him.  4. Pray to God about the little things;  a common mistake is to think that pray is only for the big things in and about your life. That’s probably why some think of prayer as so difficult.  They try to separate out the little things and seek only the major issues.  That’s not the way God perceives prayer.  Why would you?  The Lord knows all but He wants to hear about it from you.  5.  Make God a permanent part of your daily life. . .now.  This is the beginning of dedicating your life to God.  Use it.   P

erhaps you like to write about your experiences.  Then start a prayer journal, says Eren Mckay in her blog Embracing Home.  “A prayer journal can be much like a diary but instead of writing to yourself you’re pouring out your ideas to the Lord.  It helps keep you focused and also opens up your heart to hear God’s word.  Keeping a prayer journal is a wonderful way to have devotionals.”

A terrific idea. Write and let me know how you deal with prayer.  Write to me at jbehrens@roadrunner.com.