By Rev. David J. Griffiths (Chaplain, Baptist
Social Services, Victoria, Australia)

Most of us know someone who is to us our "conscience
about prayer." These people, once called "pietists,"
seem to have no problem about prayer. On their several schedules
they go to work and pray with ease and enthusiasm. They can do
us good. They can also result in our thinking about ourselves
to no good. Christendom has always acknowledged that some persons
are endowed with special gifts of prayer. Such people are no proper
standard for the rest of us. Feeling guilty about prayer in comparison
with a person who has special gifts is wasteful. It denies our
own gifts. Most of us are unremarkable pray-ers. Well, why not?
God takes us this way. Why should we not accept ourselves? Certainly
we need the discipline of set occasions for prayer.

Across the ages God’s people have found it profitable
to set aside a time, or to enter a sanctuary, or to meet with
friends in order to give themselves to prayer. Knowing their wavering
moods, they applied the stimulus of unwavering commitment. And
we acknowledge their wisdom.

But our praying need not conform to any rigid pattern.
We must have the courage and realism to be ourselves. Re-thinking
prayer could result in our finding a happier and more creative
inner life.

We all are Different

Every one of us must feel free to pray in our own
way – and to pray in the way that comes most naturally in the
circumstances. Consider the prayer of Augustine: "Let my
soul take refuge from the crowding turmoil of worldly thoughts
beneath the shadow of thy wings; let my heart, this sea of restless
waves, find peace in thee, O God." It is like a jewel, carefully
shaped and polished.

And then contrast the prayer of Sir John Astley before
he charged at the battle of Edgehill, situational and terse: "O
Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget Thee,
do not Thou forget me."

We must be ourselves when we pray.

Time in Prayer

The time involved in prayer may be brief or long.
If I am normally talkative then my prayers may well consume many
words. If I say little then it will be so when I talk with God.
Whitfield, the famous preacher contemporary with the Wesleys,
used to lie all day prostrate in prayer, and Luther in a crisis
of his life said, "I am so busy now, that if I did not spend
two or three hours in prayer each day I could not get through
the day." But Spurgeon, no less outstanding an evangelist,
said of prolonged prayer, "I could not do it even if my eternity
depended upon it. Besides, if I go to a bank with a cheque, what
do I wait loafing around the premises for, when I have got my
money?"

The length of time spent upon it is not the decisive
criterion in prayer. We may pray most when we say least. We may
pray least when we say the most. The depth of our "sincere
desire" is the all-important thing.

Bible Prayers

Notice how individual are the prayers and the ways
of praying recorded in the Bible. Paul kneels when he prays. Jeremiah
stands up. David sits down. Jesus lies prostrate. Hannah prays
silently. Ezekiel prays aloud. They prayed in the temple, in their
private rooms, in the open country. Some prayers are about practical
matters – like those of Nehemiah; others, devotional and poetical
– like David’s; melancholy – like Jeremiah’s; radiantly hopeful
– like Isaiah’s; concerned with people’s personal problems – like
some of Paul’s.

Study these Bible prayers and you find how widely
they differ in content, language and style, reflecting the individual
temperaments of the people who offered them. The Bible recognises
that each may pray according to the kind of person they are, the
problems they face, the needs or delights of the hour. So with
our own prayers. We must each pray as best we can, by experiment
discover our own technique, and have a robust respect for our
own perfectly natural way of praying.

Times are Changing

If George Gallup were to conduct a poll of Christian
families today it would probably show that the traditional pattern
of prayer has largely disappeared. It consists of private quiet
time, a few minutes set aside for family prayer at breakfast,
and closes the day with Bible reading and prayers with the children
and, for adults, kneeling at the bedside. Today’s families rise
in haste, breakfast cafeteria-wise, and sit down to ‘grace’ before
a meal only once a day except, perhaps, on Sundays. Personal devotions
and even prayers with the children tend to be crowded, like TV
commercials, into gaps at the end of the programme.

Prayer in the Situation

Some of us are increasingly finding the value of
what we may call "situational prayer" – the kind Nehemiah
suddenly offered before answering the question the king asked
him while he was serving the king’s wine (Nehemiah 2:1-6). Most
of the reported prayers of Jesus arose spontaneously out of the
immediate situations he faced. For example: when he had to decide
whom to appoint as his apostles (Luke 6:12-13); when he felt sorry
for 5,000 hungry people (Matthew 14 :19); when his friend, Peter,
faced temptation (Luke 22:32); when a party of Greeks sought to
interview him (John 12:27); when he served the last supper (Matthew
26:27).

Situational prayers are the brief, spontaneous ones
evoked by the passing events of the busy day. You know how it
might go: "Lord as we now set out on this journey in this
car, please . . ." "O God, I put down this phone and
now know with you that Clive is under pressure at work. Please
. . ." "O God, Malcolm is a great eight-year-old, but
. . ." "Lord, that music makes me feel good. Thank you
for . . ." "Lord, what a magnificent view! Thank you
for . . ." "Lord God Almighty, even if I do get this
vehicle to the children’s school on time, do help me not to be
too preoccupied with it. Help me instead to be open to your truth,
and to honest communication with my children." "Lord,
please take Mandy safely across this busy road!" "Lord,
I feel on top of the world today! Thank you for . . ." "O
God, as I wash these dishes, please make me feel clean inside
. ." "Lord, use me to help Jan pull through her depression
. . ." "Father, make me into the kind of person you
want me to be . . ."

If prayer does not relate to real situations, we
ought to question whether it is real prayer. It is no less real
if it goes on in twenty-second bursts peppered throughout the
day instead of for two hours on end. In the busyness of our days
our prayers may have to be of the milk-bar kind, and not a three-course
type. Throughout every day occasions arise when we may strengthen
our fellowship with God and other people through what Mrs Ruth
Graham calls, "prayers on the hoof."

Call of the Media

The media bombard us incessantly with news – mostly
bad. A child is lost. Later he is found. A car smash robs children
of their parents. Families lose their homes in a tragic flood.
Trade union leaders or diplomats meet in tense mediation roles.
A search is out for men overdue in a fishing boat. We Christians
can mentalgram instant prayers as we look up from the newspaper
in the train, listen to news-in-brief on the car radio while waiting
at traffic lights, or during a news telecast at night. The media
bring to our notice so much we can thank God for, so much we need
to ask God for. In the modern world the media are the tribal drums
calling our attention. But Christians can do more than simply
give attention. At least some times we ought to be so moved that
we vibe off a prayer.

Pray about Everything

Other situations similarly evoke our prayers. The
phone rings and forty minutes later we are still listening to
the sad details of a crumbling marriage. A neighbour up the street
is interviewing for a new job that is critical at his age. Betty
is finding it hard to get motivated about her high-school studies.
They are lifting an injured person into an ambulance as we drive
past a smash on the way home. Johnnie brings home a glowing school
report. The new baby arrives at the Gordon’s across the road.
This is all the stuff prayers are made of.

Jesus urged, "Keep on praying and n ever lose
heart" (Luke 18:1 NEB). Paul reminds us, "In everything
make your requests known to God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving"
(Philippians 4:6 NEB). We need to consider prayer in the "secular"
sense of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Our prayer is not to tell God what
to do that he had not thought of before. Nor is it to arouse his
attention as though he were asleep or at lunch. It is, instead,
to get ourselves into the position of accepting his ever-present
help ("nature, plus grace") towards the ends we desire
– with some "filtering" through his will.

We need to remind ourselves constantly that "God
is not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move, and
in him we exist." (Acts 17:27) and that he is "a timely
help" (Psalm 46:1). Prayer, however brief and spontaneous,
is our means of drawing upon that help in the immediate situation.

Prayer, the Difference

In the variety of situations we are involved in every
day we tend to say about them, "I did my best." In fact,
that is all God wants us to do. But doing our best is not the
same as simply blundering through. Immediate and honest prayer
should make the difference, and not leave us feeling guilty –
as if that were the end of the matter. Every day brings a kaleidoscope
of experiences. Some of these by their very nature, can and ought
to call for on-the-spot prayers. Such prayers remind us a dozen
times a day that, as with mobile phones, we are always within
calling distance of our home. We learn in a new way what it means
to "live in the shelter of the Most High and lodge under
the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1 NEB).

Questions to Consider

You may consider these questions in private, but
will enjoy them even more if you can share them with a group of
friends.

1.Think back over the various methods and times you
have used for prayer and compare how you feel about them and about
your present practice of prayer. Does this bring to mind any personal
needs and opportunities or suggest that you will benefit by further
re-thinking your praying?

2.Look through a current newspaper and mark any reports
of incidents where you feel that people involved could have found
help in offering an instant "mentalgram" prayer. Compose
very short prayers which could have suited some of the incidents.

3.Consider what has happened in and around you today,
yesterday, and through your week. Tell the Lord (and the group
if you are with one) about any mentalgrams you now see that it
would have been good to offer if you had thought about it at the
time. Look again at Luke 18:1 and Philippians 4:6 and go on to
offer the short prayers now.

4."We must each pray as best we can, and discover
by experiment our own technique."

Discuss this statement.