THE UNCOMMON BOOK OF PRAYER

A Proper Perspective

I would like to begin these discussions on prayer from a somewhat unusual angle.  I would like you to consider prayer from the perspective of God.  What must prayer mean to him?  What does prayer look like to the omniscient eyes of God?  What does he see when he looks down at our hearts and closets, our beds and chapels?  To frame it in a manner more theologically accurate, considering we have an omnipresent God; what does prayer look like to the eyes of a God who sees all things clearly from a myriad of perspectives?

The reason I believe we need to ask this particular question first is found in centering ourselves in a proper and right perspective regarding who we are, why we are here, who God is, and questions like that.  What I mean is that often we find ourselves...not necessarily by purposeful intent, but by action and lifestyle...the center of our known universe, and that in this mode of perspective; prayer is rendered impotent...not because of God’s inability, but because of the motivation of our communication directed toward him.  Just as Copernicus, we need to reexamine the data and make a conscious decision (followed by a change in lifestyle) to truly determine that perhaps we revolve around something greater than ourselves, and that in centering our thoughts on that Point, we find all of life makes more sense.  Our needed perspective is this; we are not the hub of the universe...rather we are just one asteroid among many others circling around and drawn by an Entity that is wholly beyond our ken (beyond our ken if it were not for God’s self revelation in Scripture, that is).

Let us examine a more practical illustration.  My wife and I recently borrowed a Christmas “wish book” catalog from my parents.  My children loved it immediately and quickly went about circling the pictures of the toys they desired and were deeply, personally affected by this as they began to sink further and further into the stagnant pools of discontent.  I had to hide the book.  In contrast to this we recently received in the mail the Samaritans Purse Christmas catalog, which takes a totally different approach.  It lists within its pages a variety of gifts that you do not wish for...but gifts you can give to needy people throughout the globe.  The catalog listed gifts such as blankets, soccer balls, Bibles, and more.  We sat our children down one evening that fall and told them to look through this particular catalog and asked them each to choose one present each to send to needful children around the globe.  This exercise had the opposite affect from that of the wish book on their spirits.  When they focused on selfish intent (What’s in it for me?), they became powerfully discontent.  When they became focused on a selfless intent (What can I give to others), they became more content with their own situation.

I believe the same is true in prayer.  When we solely focus on our own welfare, we miss the point altogether and become discontent.  When we take the time to consider it from the perspective of God...who is the participating recipient of our prayers...we find that our own satisfaction becomes far less important to us and therefore far less a priority, while his satisfaction becomes paramount.  That is why I ask what prayer means to God.

I do not ask this particular question lightly, nor do I think I have all the possible answers to this question neatly tied up in a bundle inside my head.  In fact, after thinking about this question my response is quite the opposite.  I was left after my contemplation a more humble servant...recognizing that I desperately need God to give me the answers.

Billowing Smoke or Beautiful Incense

Prayer must bring a mix of emotions to God.  Prayer, at its most basic level, is a form of communication.  As such, it can be powerful, affirming and edifying.  However, it can also be counterproductive or self-serving.  Each of us has experienced times when our communication with others has taken an unkind turn, or times when we had left important things unsaid, or times when we wish that others had left things unsaid.  In the same way, some of the prayers that we place before the throne of God are perverse, derogatory, patronizing and far too often self-serving.  In Scripture, we are bluntly told that our attitudes and behaviors...spoken or unspoken to him...sometimes “grieve” the Spirit of God. They make