It is my personal conviction that prayer is the most difficult of all the disciplines of the Christian’s life. That is true for a multitude of reasons, all of which seem to be intertwined with each other. It is also my personal conviction that prayer is the most important of all the disciplines of a Christian’s life. It is for this reason that the powers of darkness, our own flesh, and the world as a whole want to keep us from prayer.
It is pretty easy to talk about all prayer, about the correct or incorrect focus, the theory and methods of prayer. I have read books and articles on how to pray, I have listened to sermons, podcasts and lectures on praying. There is no end to the advice from those advanced in the life of prayer and from supposed, prayer experts. Some of the things I have read and heard have been thoughtful, insightful and helpful. Others have been rehashed talking points that do not appear to have much substance. So, enough of the theory.
How do we become a person of prayer? It is somewhat like what the Oracle told Neo in the Matrix, “The future, the only way to get there is to get there.” The only way to become a person of prayer is to pray. We will never become a person of prayer by reading about prayer or by listening to sermons about prayer or having discussions about prayer. Forgive me for saying this but, sometimes (not always), attending “Prayer meetings” keeps us from becoming a person of prayer. If you want to be a person of prayer you start by praying. By the way, you will not be very good at first and it will be a struggle.
Allow me to illustrate. About 10 years ago, two of my frat brothers (yes, I was in a fraternity and we were really cool) died of heart attacks. They were in their early 50’s and my age. After a little grieving I decided I would do something to get into better cardiac condition. I decided to run, so I measured and found it was just over ⅓ of a mile around our block. My first day I took off and managed to get about a quarter of the way around the block before I had to slow from a jog to a walk. The next day, I went a little further, but had the same result. But I kept at it. Eventually, I got to where I was running one mile on Monday and Tuesday, a mile and a half on Wednesday and Thursday, and a 5k Friday. I also did a vigorous calisthenic workout on two of those days. Some days, just for fun, I would go to the high school and run sprints. Other times I would load my backpack with books to make it extra heavy and go for long, fast walks in a nearby state park. I was never fast, that wasn’t the point. The point was heart health and at my peak my BP, RHR, and weight were pretty good. As long as I ran, I could run and I enjoyed it. I hurt my hip joint and had to stop running. I almost had to stop walking because it was so bad. I never started up again. (I know I should and hope to someday). But the only way to exercise my heart is to exercise my heart.
A life of prayer is the same. The only way to be a person of prayer is to pray. Even if your beginning is a faltering, stumble start. Don’t worry about being great at prayer, just pray. The only specifics I will offer are these: 1) Begin with the Lord’s model prayer. Take each line of that beautiful prayer and use it to direct and form your own prayer. 2) Begin today. Like my plans to start exercising again, until I begin I will not have begun.
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