Re: Verse reading – Luke 11:1-13; 18:1-8 (Day Three)
“Lord, teach us to pray.” It’s not uncommon for evangelicals to think that the best kind of prayer consists of spontaneous, off-the-cuff, stream-of-consciousness language. While speaking to God in a moment of unstructured outpouring is often a good and necessary practice for a Christian, this passage helps us to see that a studied, carefully planned approach to prayer can also help. A person would do well to contemplate and to pray the Lord’s Prayer, the Psalms, the composed prayers of devout disciples of Jesus Christ through the centuries of Christianity. As for the concern about reciting “rote prayers”, two observations: First, rote learning is actually a good way to become accustomed to ways of speaking (including prayer); and second, any prayer—spontaneous or not—will be as sincere or as distracted as the person praying it.
Having “grown up” in a fiercely non-denominational church, I once had the impression that reciting formal prayers was anathema ( I.e. too Catholic- probably because many of these prayers were written by people of that “persuasion”). As a young believer,I think I missed out on a rich, inspirational source for prayer and meditation by being raised with such a bias. I agree completely with what you wrote- prayer, like any other spiritual discipline, is essentially a matter of the heart. We have much to learn from the”cloud of witnesses” that have gone before us.
Well said, Pastor Bryan. I grew up hearing other groups critized because of rote prayers. Through the years I’ve come to realize that we Baptist pray the Lord’s together often and benefit greatly.Thank you for mentioning the prayers of godly people through the ages. Can you recommend a book or name some of the folks whose prayers have been helpful to you?