Prayer

1 Thessalonians 5:17 commands believers to pray always. Paul gave believers this exhortation knowing the vital importance of prayer to our relationship with God. This evening, I experienced the wonder of that phenomenon once again. I was depressed about one of those unfortunate circumstances of the teenage existence, and wandered off down the street to think about it. I meandered a good quarter mile feeling sorry for myself. When I turned around, however, I just started talking to God. It was incredible the sense of comfort and contentment that resulted from simply confessing my frustration, doubts, weaknesses, and sorrows to the Father, the God of all comfort.


I wanted to write about this to share something of what I have learned about prayer recently. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has experienced the difficulty Claudius confesses in Act 3 of Hamlet: "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: words without thoughts never to heaven go." While of course, God hears the words we speak, I certainly know that I don't get any benefit from praying when my mind isn't focused on God.

Recently, I've made two adjustments to my prayer that have truly benefited my relationship with God. The first, is to kneel down when I pray. Humility in body encourages me toward humility in spirit as well. It's also much easier to remain focused when I'm not lying on my back in bed or just sitting.

One of my most persistent questions about prayer has always been whether or not I should do it out loud. I had been in the habit of praying silently in my mind each night as I was falling asleep. Of course, the difficulty with this was that I became easily distracted and rarely prayed through every topic I had wanted to address--my mind wandered, or I fell asleep too quickly. This summer, I ran across a quote by Elisabeth Elliot. Sadly, the exact text is sitting back in my dorm at Wheaton, but it remarks something along these lines: that prayer in one's head often encourages little more than "wool-gathering." To this, I say a profound amen! I have gotten into the habit of praying out loud since reading this, and it makes a profound difference.

Anyway, some spiritual musings.