How Do You Pray?

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Having been a Christian for four decades, I have heard many sermons on prayer.  Most of them were meant to be guilt-inducing, I think.  How many times have I heard that John Wesley got up and prayed at 3:00 in the morning?  I wish preachers would understand that what John Wesley did in his prayer life has no impact on us.

This is not to say that we should pray less.  Prayerlessness is our great sin; perhaps I should say the wrong kind of prayer is our sin.  A study of the Bible shows that the way we pray is pretty off base. We pray for God to intervene in the past because we did stupid things and don't want to face the consequences.  We pray for extremely self-centered things for our own convenience. 

What verb describes our prayers?
Cajole - Come on, God, you said ....
Demand  - we take boldness seriously!
Plead -  Please, please, please let me win the lottery
Bargain - If you do this, I'll do this
Bug - I know I've prayed for this for thirty years, but here I am agai
Fantasize - God, I'd really like to be two inches taller and fifty pounds lighter
Adore - Here I am to worship
Talk - Dear Friend and Father
Ask - Please grant what I need according to the word
Listen - I hear

Instead of treating prayer like a marathon, or trial, or a contest, why not treat it as a ministry, a source of help to others?  People like me are quite enamored of our own ability to do; someday I will not have that.  Let us see prayer as a doing for others.  


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