Lies concerning prayer: part one

There are those that want to leave teaching on prayer in the hands of a “just do it” approach. This view does not fit well within the larger Christian tradition on spiritual formation and prayer. Numerous saints, many of them living the monastic life, have had no qualms in teaching their Christian brothers and sisters how to pray. Certainly there is value saying a person needs to learn by doing, but that only goes so far, similar to learning to play an instrument without any outside help. I see how this analogy could quickly fall apart.

Summed up, this means prayer can be done poorly.

“But wait, we should applaud attempts at communing with God.”

This is true, though it’s lazy to not try and do it better or learn as much as we can about it. If you don’t believe me, then read the parable of the pharisee and the publican, or Cain and Abel’s offerings to God.

There are three great lies concerning prayer in our time.

“I never pray for myself.”

It sounds holy on the surface. It is not. Where would such an idea come from? What we’ve done in our time is take an odd stance on virtue in saying the more a person focuses on others, the holier they are. It’s simple math, if a person who thinks of themselves all the time is not good, then the complete opposite is far better, right?

The problem with this is that in order for us to become holy, we need to bring all of who we are to God, which means the way we are regardless of what we think we should be. This might be the biggest impediment to genuine prayer. Someone who becomes a completely different person when they approach God in prayer is not being honest with God and is missing the greatest part of prayer. It’s an issue of the will. The purpose of prayer is to bring who we are, which is closely tied to our will, and presenting it to God to be changed to have God shed light on us. It’s creating space for us and God to interact. Anyone who has kept the habit of prayer will tell you this. Entering a state of prayer changes a person. Openness to God is fundamental to prayer.

But wait, what about the publican, he was so self-effacing in his prayer. This is true, and self-effacement is not the same as never praying to become more holy, or for God to work good in our lives. Two key ingredients that must be present for good prayer: our will and God’s will. If either are shirked or fudged, it loses much of its power. Dishonesty is our worst enemy when we pray.