Prayer Column 2: What Are the Purposes of Prayer?
Central Christian Church of Kettering's 40-day study of Unbinding Your Heart by Martha Grace Reese is now two Sundays away. Last week I wrote about a simple definition of prayer: "Prayer is talking with God." I also observed that this definition matches up pretty well with the first part of a more formal definition turned up by Google that says prayer is "the act of communicating with a deity (especially as a petition or in adoration or contrition or thanksgiving)." This week I'm going to take a look at the second half of the formal definition.
Bear with me for a moment while I briefly illustrate these four types of prayer with a somewhat facetious example. Suppose that a mutual friend of ours visited the Ohio lottery website to see if he had the winning ticket in a big drawing. Before he checked the winning numbers, he might pray, "Lord, please let me have a winning ticket." That would be a prayer of petition. If our friend took the time to click on the "About the Lottery" link, he might pray, "Lord, it is only because of you that the lottery has been able to provide more than $16 billion to public education." That would be a prayer of adoration. Of course, if our friend stopped to think about all of the good things that he could have done instead with the money he spent on the ticket, he might pray, "Lord, forgive my shortsightedness and greed in playing the lottery." That would be a prayer of contrition. Finally, if our friend found that he did have a winning ticket, he might pray, "Lord, thank you for guiding me to play the lottery this week." That would be a prayer of thanksgiving.
If you're like me, you might be skeptical that God takes an active role in choosing lottery winners, turning traffic lights green, or opening great parking spaces just in time for us to fill them. Prayers of petition can be much nobler. We might, for example, pray for the safety of our family, for the healing of a sick friend, for patience in dealing with work issues, for greater faith, or for our daily bread. God does answer "yes" to many prayers of petition, but even when we petition God with the noblest of intentions, God sometimes says "no." God's reasons are often a mystery to us, and many books have been written on the subject. For now, though, we'll just acknowledge the mystery and note that a prayer of petition should include a submission to God's will. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want." (Matthew 26:39, NRSV) When we pray the Lord's Prayer, we say, "Thy will be done."
The prayer of adoration is an expression of our love for God. When we marvel at the beauty of nature, the wonders of the cosmos, or the elegance of mathematics we are adoring the perfect creation of God. When we weep with joy at the birth, first steps, or first words of a child, we are adoring our life-giving God. When we celebrate the well-lived life of our church's saints, we are adoring the everlasting nature of God. When a tear comes to our eye as we read about people donating their kidneys to save a stranger's life because somebody did the same thing for their sibling, we are adoring the sacrificial love of God. My personal favorite prayer of adoration? That beautiful hymn, "How Great Thou Art."
For many people, the most difficult type of prayer is that of contrition, in which we confess our shortcomings, failures, or sins, and ask for God's forgiveness. It is difficult for many of us to recognize our own shortcomings, much less admit them publicly. However, we can be secure in the knowledge that God is our closest confidant, to whom we can safely tell anything. In fact, God already knows, even before we do. More importantly, the good news of the gospel is that God has already forgiven us.
The last type of prayer mentioned in Google's reported definition is that of thanksgiving. Next to prayers of petition, this is perhaps the most familiar type, given that the most common spoken prayers outside of worship are to give thanks before meals for the food and the hands that prepared it. The name is self-explanatory: we express our gratitude for God acting in our lives. As familiar and obvious as this type of prayer is, most of us could probably find more opportunities to use it if we opened our eyes (and hearts) as we go through our daily business. Did I accomplish a lot at work today? If so, I should give thanks to God for giving me the energy, talent, and opportunity for education that prepared me for my job. Did my child's behavior frustrate me tonight? I should thank God that I had parents who put aside their frustration with my behavior and raised me to the best of their abilities.
These four types of prayer (petition, adoration, contrition, and thanksgiving) are not exhaustive, and various writers use different categories. Nonetheless, I pray that thinking about different types of prayer might help you to strengthen your prayer habits and open those lines of communication with God.
Bear with me for a moment while I briefly illustrate these four types of prayer with a somewhat facetious example. Suppose that a mutual friend of ours visited the Ohio lottery website to see if he had the winning ticket in a big drawing. Before he checked the winning numbers, he might pray, "Lord, please let me have a winning ticket." That would be a prayer of petition. If our friend took the time to click on the "About the Lottery" link, he might pray, "Lord, it is only because of you that the lottery has been able to provide more than $16 billion to public education." That would be a prayer of adoration. Of course, if our friend stopped to think about all of the good things that he could have done instead with the money he spent on the ticket, he might pray, "Lord, forgive my shortsightedness and greed in playing the lottery." That would be a prayer of contrition. Finally, if our friend found that he did have a winning ticket, he might pray, "Lord, thank you for guiding me to play the lottery this week." That would be a prayer of thanksgiving.
If you're like me, you might be skeptical that God takes an active role in choosing lottery winners, turning traffic lights green, or opening great parking spaces just in time for us to fill them. Prayers of petition can be much nobler. We might, for example, pray for the safety of our family, for the healing of a sick friend, for patience in dealing with work issues, for greater faith, or for our daily bread. God does answer "yes" to many prayers of petition, but even when we petition God with the noblest of intentions, God sometimes says "no." God's reasons are often a mystery to us, and many books have been written on the subject. For now, though, we'll just acknowledge the mystery and note that a prayer of petition should include a submission to God's will. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want." (Matthew 26:39, NRSV) When we pray the Lord's Prayer, we say, "Thy will be done."
The prayer of adoration is an expression of our love for God. When we marvel at the beauty of nature, the wonders of the cosmos, or the elegance of mathematics we are adoring the perfect creation of God. When we weep with joy at the birth, first steps, or first words of a child, we are adoring our life-giving God. When we celebrate the well-lived life of our church's saints, we are adoring the everlasting nature of God. When a tear comes to our eye as we read about people donating their kidneys to save a stranger's life because somebody did the same thing for their sibling, we are adoring the sacrificial love of God. My personal favorite prayer of adoration? That beautiful hymn, "How Great Thou Art."
For many people, the most difficult type of prayer is that of contrition, in which we confess our shortcomings, failures, or sins, and ask for God's forgiveness. It is difficult for many of us to recognize our own shortcomings, much less admit them publicly. However, we can be secure in the knowledge that God is our closest confidant, to whom we can safely tell anything. In fact, God already knows, even before we do. More importantly, the good news of the gospel is that God has already forgiven us.
The last type of prayer mentioned in Google's reported definition is that of thanksgiving. Next to prayers of petition, this is perhaps the most familiar type, given that the most common spoken prayers outside of worship are to give thanks before meals for the food and the hands that prepared it. The name is self-explanatory: we express our gratitude for God acting in our lives. As familiar and obvious as this type of prayer is, most of us could probably find more opportunities to use it if we opened our eyes (and hearts) as we go through our daily business. Did I accomplish a lot at work today? If so, I should give thanks to God for giving me the energy, talent, and opportunity for education that prepared me for my job. Did my child's behavior frustrate me tonight? I should thank God that I had parents who put aside their frustration with my behavior and raised me to the best of their abilities.
These four types of prayer (petition, adoration, contrition, and thanksgiving) are not exhaustive, and various writers use different categories. Nonetheless, I pray that thinking about different types of prayer might help you to strengthen your prayer habits and open those lines of communication with God.
posted by ManOfManyInterests at 4:31 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home