Prayer Overview
Prayer is truly a massive topic and an intimidating one at that. It is an area of the Christian life that is often fraught with questions, doubts, frustrations, and even misconceptions. We can often feel that our prayers are ineffective or have no ability to cause change. Those feelings can drive us to seek a “correct” way to pray in the hopes that if we get it, God will hear us and answer.
We believe that there is an invitation here. Perhaps you are new to following Jesus and learning to pray for the very first time. Or you may be at a stage where you yearn to experience God in new ways. Or maybe you just find prayer tedious, but you have a sense that there’s more to it than just something we are supposed to do. Regardless of where you are, we are thrilled that you are here.
What is prayer?
“Prayer is simply the medium through which we communicate and commune with God. The practice of prayer is learning to set aside dedicated time to intentionally be with God, in order to become like Him and partner with Him in the world.” - John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way.
If we agree that true communication involves the engagement and exchange of words between more than one person or entity, then we can say that true prayer only happens when an exchange occurs between ourselves and God.
There is both comfort and caution in this. The comfort is that if we come to God with a sincere heart, He will hear our prayer and respond. The caution is that there are things we do that might be considered prayer, but it is not. Prayer is not a ritualistic form of speech spoken at God, coupled with a heart that has no intention of knowing or hearing from Him. The ultimate aim is not to “pray more” or “pray better”. The aim of prayer is to draw close to God, and to align your heart with His. It’s what ancient Christians called union with God.
However, there is nothing wrong with a rhythm of prayer. When the disciples asked Jesus, “teach us to pray,” in Luke 11, Jesus gave them a script, or a liturgy, to pray. In various seasons of our lives when we’re exhausted, tired, traveling, grieving, doubting, or distracted, liturgies can carry us through and guide our prayers. As we learn the subtlety of prayer, we’ll begin fine-tuning a daily prayer rhythm.
What does prayer look like - or - How do we pray?
The easiest answer to this question: we can pray however we like! As long as we are sincere in our desire to commune with God, prayer can look however we want it to. Historically, Christianity and Judaism have a rich history of prayer in a wide variety of forms! Intercession, petition, confession, blessing, thanksgiving, praying in the Spirit, praying in tongues, psalms and songs, contemplative/meditative/mystic prayer, prophetic prayer, artistic mediums, are all forms of prayer. This list illustrates that prayer is not one thing, but instead is filled with nuance and diverse ways of praying.
Why do we pray?
This may be obvious but it’s worth stating anyway, we pray to know God. Prayer is one of the foundational practices to the life of the believer. God is the source of all that we are and we hope to be, and if we are to abide in Him as He abides in us, then we must pray.
Julian of Norwich said, “The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of Him to whom we pray.” Prayer is essential to live each day more aware of the Father; to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus; and to be filled with the Spirit, to do what He made you to do in the world.
This is an important journey for us as individuals and as a church community. If you would like to connect with our prayer team, email pray@citycollective.com.