LUKE 11:1–4

 

People often ask: “What is prayer?” The answer to that question is not easy because there is no one definition of prayer that is exhaustive. Most definitions have some element of truth to them, but none of them says it all. Because of this limitation, one definition may be more accurate and helpful to some people, while another definition may be more accurate and helpful to others. It is useful to share different ideas on the meaning of prayer because such sharing can help us to clarify what it is we think we are doing when we pray. It can also help us to become aware of definitions that are not very accurate or helpful. We can only grow or go forward if we are aware of where we are presently standing.

Here are two traditional definitions of prayer that are sometimes criticized today. The first is this: “Prayer is the raising up of the mind and heart to God.” Some spiritual writers criticize this definition because it seems to imply that the primary initiative in prayer is ours and not God’s, that we decide to pray. It would be more accurate to say, “Prayer is ourresponse to God’s touch in our lives.” We pray or call out to God becausehe has moved us to pray and not because we think it is a good idea to make contact with God. The initiative is always with God. In him we live, move, and have our being. We call out to God only because he has first called out to us. We find God only because he has been looking for us (see Genesis 3:8–9). A key truth to remember in the spiritual realm is thatall is gift. We move toward God only because he is inviting us to come and enabling us to move in his direction (see Luke 10:21).

A second, frequently used definition of prayer describes it as “talking to God.” Again the danger here is that we may think th