Why Pray?

Wherever you’re reading this, two realities are present: what you can see, and what you can’t see. What you can see is pronounced: four walls, a ceiling, furniture, and beautiful people. If outside, trees, soil, roadways, and beautiful people.

But beyond what you can see is the unseen, and it’s plentiful, too. For example, wherever you are, countless frequencies are coming from television and radio stations, cell phone towers, and GPS satellites, and you can tune into them if you have the right device. Why, on my cell phone I have an app called WAZE that can access GPS satellites “just like that,” guiding me to my next destination skillfully. WAZE directs me around stranded vehicles, speed cameras, policemen, potholes, and even roadkill!

But there’s an unseen frequency even better than WAZE. It’s Yahweh, the one true God--the roaming Spirit of life--who’s also eager to guide our life as well. The problem: a lot of us don’t tune into Yahweh using spiritual devices or disciplines, like prayer. Oh, we might say a quickie petition, but we really don’t “dial in” to the divine. 

I think, in large measure, it’s because of all the other devices and frequencies. I mean, just the connection a smartphone provides seems to cover all the bases. The average iPhone not only has 100,000 times more power than the guidance computer used for the Apollo 11 moon mission, it also has access to almost 2 million apps covering any need. So, “why pray” when you can just Google it or access an app!

But then NFL star Damar Hamlin collapsed on January 2, 2023, during a Monday Night Football game, and our smartphones didn’t seem to be enough. Do you remember that incident? Almost immediately, we implored each other to tune into another frequency: God’s frequency, through prayer. But how ironic. Every other frequency, every other device, was immediately by Damar’s side: the best CPR, the best defibrillator, the best IVs, the best paramedics, the best doctors, the best ambulances. If you’re going to have a cardiac arrest, an NFL stadium is the place to be! But despite the availability of the best skill and technology, persons instinctively cried out for something else--the frequency of God, through prayer--for there are times when every other frequency is shaky and not enough. And so, why pray? Because we need access to a frequency, a resource, that never fails.

We need to acknowledge this truth not only when an NFL football player collapses but at every moment. For every day is a life-or-death struggle, if we’re candid, needing a dependable frequency and a surefire resource.

To that end, we turn now to the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), the model prayer, coaching us on how to approach prayer and to tune into God’s frequency--God’s resources--most effectively. For starters...

Think Us, Not Just Me 

It’s striking that the Lord’s Prayer begins with community language, not individual language. It’s not my father, but “our father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9 NIV, emphasis added). And so, prayer is not so much getting my needs met, but focusing on the needs of others. 

Sure, our needs are part of the equation; the Lord’s Prayer encourages us to petition, “Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11 NIV). But even that petition is in the plural; "our" daily bread, not "my" daily bread.  Thus, even individual concerns are to be in the context of the concerns of the people of God. Thus, a prime way to “tune in” to the Divine through prayer is to pray not only for our needs but also for the needs of others.

A practical way of doing just that is compiling a prayer list that includes both our needs and the needs of others. In my formative years, I met a patriarch of the evangelical church, Harold J. Ockenga, founder of two theological seminaries and veteran pastor of Park Street Church in Boston. As a number of us gathered around him, we quizzed him on his prayer life. Ockenga pulled out his prayer notebook, showing us a page or two. Listed in one column were the names of the various persons Ockenga was praying for. In the second column, he listed the answers he had received from the Lord for each prayer request. True, some names still had a blank space in the second column; the answer had not yet come. In other cases, an answer was there, not necessarily what was desired by Ockenga or the person being prayed for, but some response from Yahweh had become manifest. I have a modified version of Ockenga’s approach in Evernote, an app on my phone and computer. 

In whatever way works for you, compile a prayer list, leaving room for answers. Again, don’t look necessarily for what you want for yourself or others, but for God’s unfolding promise as we pray the next part of the Lord’s Prayer: “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 NIV, emphasis added). 

The outcome of praying in such a surrendered way is one of great benefit and blessing. As we pray in this manner, author and pastor Tim Keller notes:

“God will either give us what we ask [for] or give us what we would have asked [for] if we knew everything he knows.”

We tune into God’s frequency through prayer next as we...

Practice Forgiveness and Pardon

Though seldom acknowledged, the heart of the Lord’s Prayer encourages a spirit of clemency and mercy. “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12 NIV), or in more accessible language, 

“Forgive us the ways we have wronged you [God], just as we also forgive those who have wronged us.” (Matthew 6:12 CEB)

This requirement is so important that immediately after the Lord’s Prayer, in the very next verse, it’s repeated, as Jesus once again calls us to forgive other people when they sin against us (Matthew 6:14-15). 
 

In placing this admonition at the heart of the Lord’s Prayer, God seems to imply that a major roadblock to connecting with Him through prayer is the resentment we often hold toward each other. And so, “why pray?” Because prayer, at least the Lord’s Prayer, compels us to face a critical requirement for a flourishing life: granting forgiveness. 

Currently, the British monarchy is far from flourishing. In part, it’s because of the grudge match between Prince Harry and others within the royal family. The interest in the feud is huge, as sales of Harry’s recent “tell all” book, Spare, have smashed the Guinness World Record for book sales, becoming the fastest-selling nonfiction book ever with over 1.4 million copies sold on the first day of publication. But God doesn’t want us to set records with tales of brokenness and grudges, but with tales of pardon and forgiveness.
 

It's critical, however, to stress what forgiveness is not. 

• First -- Forgiveness is not forgetting; wrongdoing brings pain, and pain lingers. 
• Second -- Forgiveness is not a one-time event. Normally, forgiveness is incremental, as we forgive a little more each day.  
• Third -- Forgiveness is not always a happy ending. Sadly, despite forgiving, reconciliation and restoration are not always possible. 

But then, what is forgiveness? In the New Testament, forgiveness is the Greek word aphiemi, which means to "send away." And what do we send away? We send away bitterness. We send away resentment. We send away hatred. We send away any notion of revenge. 

Actually, the earliest meaning of aphiemi is even more graphic: it means to throw or hurl something. That reminds me of recent excursions with our grandkids to Little Tuscarora Creek, near our home. The grandkids just love to pick up rocks and hurl them into the creek; why, they could stand there all day and just hurl rocks! 

It occurred to me I could benefit by spending some time hurling rocks into Little Tuscarora Creek. Not just any rocks, but rocks I label with my resentments--the pain and bitterness I still carry.  

Where could you benefit from hurling some rocks...some resentments? Where are you still carrying some heavy hurts? When we pray the Jesus way, the Lord’s Prayer way, we are not being asked to forget the injustice, the sin done against us. But we are being asked to hurl, to “send away” the resentment that is consuming us. Send it away! Send it away!
 
Lastly, we tune into God’s frequency through prayer as we... 

Move From Worldly To Godly Sight

It’s striking--the last part of the Lord’s Prayer revolves around two action verbs. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13 NIV, emphasis added). The feel is one of movement away from tempting and evil worldly perspectives toward the perspective of God through the power of God.  

In the thought of St. Ignatius, such transit is referred to as the movement from desolation to consolation. When one is caught up in desolation, we’re eyeing things other than God to lead us, deliver us--things like money, sex, and power. The result is restlessness, guilt, and brokenness. When we’re caught up in consolation, we’re eyeing God alone to deliver us, to lead us. The result is peace, cleansing, and wholeness. Authentic prayer moves us from worldly to Godly sight -- from desolation to consolation.

 

We activate this movement when we keep our prayers straightforward--not simplistic, but simple. The Lord's Prayer is our model, the ideal simple prayer coming in at sixty-six words. But sometimes even sixty-six words are too much, given the pain and panic of life. And so, writer Anne Lamont provides a stop-gap prayer, a three-word petition, especially for urgent moments: “Help! Thanks! Wow!”  

• First, pray “Help!” Pray a raw prayer of need, believing there’s a God who’s out there...eager and available to help. 
• Next, pray “Thanks!” Pray a vulnerable prayer of trust, believing there’s a God who’s faithful...eager and tender to give grace.  
• Lastly, pray “Wow!” Pray a bold prayer of awe, believing there’s a God who’s Almighty...eager and sufficient to demonstrate power, wonder-working power.

“Help! Thanks! Wow!” Three simple prayers, able to move us from worldly sight to Godly sight, from desolation to consolation, especially during 911 times. Sure, eventually use more words--including the words of the Lord’s Prayer.  But use “Help! Thanks! Wow!” to prime the pump, especially when life gets to be just too much. 

Last September, my wife Robin and I participated in Grandparents Day at the Catholic kindergarten where our oldest grandson John attends. I'd never been in the school before and was surprised when the principal came on the intercom and began the school day with a personalized prayer. But then I was really startled. Immediately after the principal’s prayer, John’s entire class began praying the Lord’s Prayer, in unison, without any prompting. It’s hard to describe the experience, but I was lifted by a wave of consolation -- of holiness -- of goodness -- of reverence -- of encouragement -- of godliness -- that just swept over the classroom. It was especially powerful because the kids added the doxology of the Lord’s Prayer--not officially in Scripture but added later by a manuscript scribe--that’s traditionally prayed: “for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

As I recall that experience in John’s class in light of the question before us, "Why pray?" a definitive answer is more apparent. It's because a lot of us need to be lifted. Because a lot of us, not just Damar Hamlin, have fallen and are hurting. 

Friends, I don’t know precisely how prayer works, but I do know this much: prayer elevates, bringing a new wave of consolation and godliness.

We acknowledge, even celebrate, there are so many frequencies around us: powerful frequencies, valuable frequencies, popular frequencies, useful frequencies. But let’s also acknowledge there’s only one frequency that will never fail, that is utterly dependable, that never goes down: the frequency of God.  

And prayer is the prime means to dial into it, the best way to access its incredible bandwidth of Divine deliverance, rescue, and salvation!