Lord, because you are full of love and justice, I make this vow:

I will be blameless.

I will expel evil from my life.

I will rescue my neighbor from injustice.

I will remedy whatever is wrong in my home, my city, and my land.

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Making Our Last Resort the First Resort

I was recently talking to a friend who is a preaching minister.  For several months he had faced an immovable impediment in his ministry.  One person was frustrating every move he made to pursue the path he believed God wanted his congregation to take.  He and other leaders had discerned bold visions for the church’s future, but all plans were on pause because of this single stubborn person.  My friend tried everything to pass the impasse.  He sought to reason with the man.  Then, he asked his mentors what to say and do.  And, he sent other church leaders to speak to the individual.  But all this work produced no progress.

Finally, one day, a colleague from another congregation asked my friend, “Have you fasted and prayed about this?  If I were you, that’s what I would do.  Fast and pray.”  My friend had not.  That week he began.  He decided to spend each Thursday fasting and praying.

Four weeks later, that intractable individual holding everything up and holding everyone hostage took a job offer in another state.

Prayer had been my friend’s last resort.  It should have been his first resort.  Because, in the end, it was his only resort.

Jesus makes a similar case in his Sermon on the Mount.  In Matt. 6:1-18 Jesus speaks specifically about piety, about growing more intimate with the Father.  Jesus draws attention to three practices of piety: giving, praying, and fasting.  Of the three, Jesus shows prayer to be the most indispensable.

First, Jesus spends greater time speaking on prayer than on the other two practices which are mentioned in his section on piety.  Giving receives three verses of Jesus’ speech.  Fasting similarly receives three verses.  But prayer receives eleven verses.  Jesus devotes nearly four times the space to speaking on prayer as he does highlighting these other practices.

Second, when we consider that fasting (Matt. 6:16-18) by its very nature centers on prayer, two-thirds of Jesus’ piety presentation contain instruction and inspiration regarding prayer.  Of the eighteen verses in this message on spirituality, fourteen focus on prayer.

Third, when Jesus speaks of fasting and of giving, he identifies mistakes which other Jewish spiritual leaders are making.  But in his section on supplication, Jesus additionally identifies mistakes which Gentile spiritual leaders are making.  Jesus is so intent on ensuring that we experience prayer as originally intended that he doubles his efforts to reveal flawed approaches to it.  That is, Jesus spends twice as long clarifying wrong approaches to prayer as he does clarifying wrong approaches to giving or to fasting.

Finally, only in the portion on prayer does Jesus give us a “formula.”  Only here does Jesus spell out in detail exactly how to do prayer.  It’s here we find the “Lord’s Prayer.”  Though never intended as something which must be said word-for-word, its words nonetheless have become the pathway to richer prayer for centuries.  Countless Christians have grown more in tune with the Father and more in line with his will through the words of this prayer than any other prayer.  No other section in Jesus’ piety presentation contains this level of detailed instruction.

If we wish to dive deeper into the spiritual life, prayer must never be our last resort.  It must always be our first resort.

Ready Made Prayers

And Jesus’ model-prayer introduces something which Mark Thibodeaux calls “ready-made prayers.”^[i] Ready-made prayers are those which someone else has authored for us.  We pray using someone else’s words rather than our own.  And by praying them, we are led into experiences we may have never reached by relying solely on our own prayer-words.

Scripture is full of these ready-made prayers.  In fact, Adele Calhoun writes that “In the early centuries of the church, believers were taught to pray the Scriptures.  Since the Bible is divinely inspired, they believed that praying Scripture deeply connected them to the mind and heart of God.  Furthermore, as Scripture was repeatedly prayed, it became memorized.  This was a wonderful benefit for those who were illiterate.  It also meant that memorized Scripture could lead them to pray at any hour of the day or night.”[ii] For centuries Christians have relied heavily on the ready-made prayers found in Scripture.

In upcoming posts, we’ll explore three sources of these “pre-packaged” prayers in the Bible: the Psalms, Jesus’ prayers, and the prayers and writings of Paul.

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[ii] Adele Calhoun Spiritual Disciplines Handbook (IVP Books, 2005), 246.

The word “examen” comes from Latin and refers to the weight indicator on a balance scale.  It carries the idea of “an accurate assessment of the true situation.”[i] The Examen gives us an assessment of the true situation between us and God.  This spiritual practice forces us to pay attention to matters we may normally remain oblivious to.  It empowers us to see the small but significant things that get in between us and God.

Another name for the Examen is the Prayer of Examen.  Traditionally, the Prayer of Examen has two aspects.[ii] The first is an “examen of consciousness” through which we recognize the ways in which God has been present to us during the day and how we’ve responded to that presence.  We examine how conscious we have been of God throughout the day and in what ways God may have been speaking to us or reaching out to us during the day.  Because our spiritual lives are so often unexamined, these moments of divine consciousness are often invisible to us.  The Examen makes them visible.

The second aspect of the Prayer of Examen is an “examen of conscience” through which we recognize the moral and spiritual areas of our character which need cleansing and purifying.  Here, through a detailed review of the past few areas, we bring into vision what may ordinarily be out of vision.  We notice the “big” and “small” habits and customs which have either helped or hindered our drawing near to God.

Writing about this examen of conscience, St. Ignatius of Loyola writes, “Let him go over hour by hour, or period by period, commencing at the hour he rose, and continuing up to the hour and instant of the present examen, and let him make…as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect.  Then let him resolve anew to amend himself up to the second Examen which he will make.”[iii] In other words, Loyola actually envisioned us making a visually tally of the times we had fallen into a particular sin or defect over the course of several hours.  Then, with God’s help, we resolved to live anew for the remainder of the day.

If you choose to spend an Examen reflecting on character issues, it may be helpful to think through think through different categories of sin.[iv] For example you could consider the list of the seven deadly sins: pride, anger, lust, envy, greed, sloth, and gluttony.  You could use the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20).  Or you could reflect on lists in Paul’s letters in which he contrasts sins to avoid with qualities to pursue (Rom. 12:9-21; 1 Cor. 13:4-8; Gal. 5:16-23; Col. 3:5-14).  With these in mind, during your Examen you can consider your answer to two questions: In what ways did I struggle with the sins in this list today?  In what ways did I experience the positive qualities in this list today?

If, during an Examen, you find that a particular sin shows up again and again, you might choose to dig more deeply by asking yourself, Why did I do what I did?  What happened as a result of my sin?[v] Exploring these two questions can help get at some of the profounder issues underlying that particular sin.

Marjorie Thompson writes that when using an Examen to focus on character issues it is very important to “put on neither the rose-colored glasses of naïve optimism nor the gray-colored glasses of needless pessimism.”[vi] That is, some of us are so positive and uncritical that it’s difficult for us to discern any character struggles during our day.  Others of us are so negative and critical that it’s difficult for us to discern any character successes during our day.  This is why the Examen necessitates an examination of both highs and lows, successes and failures, steps forward and steps backward.

This kind of daily self-examination can be difficult.  Yet it is worth it.  Thompson reminds us of three benefits which flow from it.[vii] First, it leads to greater self-awareness.  The more we truly know ourselves the better able we are to truly know God.  Second, it leads to greater truthfulness and honesty about ourselves.  We can now let go of pretense and humbly accept ourselves as we are.  Finally, it leads to greater compassion.  The more clearly we see ourselves, the less likely we are to judge and critique others.  Seeing our brokenness helps us identify with the brokenness in others.

Take Ten

Ruth Haley Barton provides the following as a way of conducting both an examen of consciousness and an examen of conscience.  Take ten minutes today and follow her pattern of prayer:[viii]

1. Look back on the events of the past twenty-four hours, asking God to guide you in seeing what he wants you to see.
2. As you reflect on the events, ask God to show you where he was present with you, even though you may not have recognized it at the time.
3. Ask God to show you the places where you are growing and changing.  Thank him for evidence of his transforming work.
4. Ask God to show you places where you fell short of Christlikeness.  Be careful not to succumb to shame or morbid introspection; instead, simply name your failure honestly, confess it to God, and receive his forgiveness.
5. Finish by thanking God for the day and for his presence in your life.

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[ii] Foster, Prayer, 27-28.

[iii] St. Ignatius Loyola and Father Elder Mullan, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (Saint Benedict Press, 2010), 21-22.

[iv] John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted (Zondervan, 1997), 123-124.

[v] Ortberg, Life, 126.

[vi] Marjorie Thompson, Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life (Westminster John Knox, 1995), 86.

[vii] Thompson, 98-99.

[viii] Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rythms Participant’s Guide (Zondervan, 2011), 62.

A fixed focus on the persistent presence of God is central to the piety Jesus speaks of in the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus introduces his message on spirituality in Matt. 6 by urging us to consider our audience.  Too many of us, Jesus warns, think only of “other people in order to be seen by them” rather than concentrating on our “Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 6:1).  Throughout his message, Jesus contrasts this audience of One with the audience of many whom some in Jesus’ day sought to impress with inflated acts of piety.  But God, Jesus teaches, is always present and is to be the only spectator with whom we are concerned.

Thus, when we “give to the needy” in order to honor God, we recognize our “Father who sees in secret” (Matt. 6:4 ESV).  When we pray in order to commune with God, we acknowledge our “Father who sees in secret” (Matt. 6:6 ESV).  And when we fast in order to draw nearer to God, we accept the attendance of a “Father who sees in secret” (Matt. 6:18 ESV).

Jesus speaks often in this message about the “reward” of spirituality (Matt. 6:1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 16, 18).  He suggests that piety is at its most rewarding when we experience God as a constant companion and an enduring escort.  Even when we are “in secret” (or, especially when we are “in secret”) the Father is present and aware of all we are doing.  He never forgets us.  He is never oblivious of us.  The primary problem Jesus addresses is that we are often just the opposite.  We do forget God.  We are oblivious of him.  This leads us to then seek feedback from the only audience of which we are aware, the people around us.  But Jesus calls us back to a devotion which is grounded in the soil of one vital reality—God is at hand.

The Examen is a simple and structured way to live into this reality.  It is a means by which we can remember and experience the companionship of God throughout the day.  Twice or three times a day we pause all other activity and attend to the God who walked with us each moment of the day.

David Fleming provides a wonderfully simple translation of the Examen.[1] Take ten minutes right now and fall back into the arms of the one who’s never left your side.

God, thank you.

I thank you, God, for always being with me, but especially I am grateful that you are with me right now.

God, send your Holy Spirit upon me.

God, let the Holy Spirit enlighten my mind and warm my heart that I may know where and how we have been together this day.

God, let me look at my day.

God, where have I felt your presence, seen your face, heard your word this day?  God, where have I ignored you, run from you, perhaps even rejected you this day?

God, let me be grateful and ask forgiveness.

God, I thank you for the times this day we have been together and worked together.  God, I am sorry for the ways that I have offended you by what I have done or what I did not do.

God, stay close.

God, I ask that you draw me ever closer to you this day and tomorrow.  God, you are the God of my life—thank you.

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I once heard Dallas Willard interviewed at a California congregation.  He was speaking about the way that intolerable times of pain become unexpected times of praise by experiencing the presence of God within them.  Willard said “Experiencing the presence of God in one’s life is something you’ve got to have before you need it, like water before a fire.”  If you wait for a fire to spark before you secure water, you’re too late.  In the same way, if you wait for pain to hit before you cultivate an ongoing sense of the presence of God in your life, you’re too late.  Willard stressed that we must constantly “practice the presence of God.”  Throughout every day we must nurture a conviction that God is with us.  Then, when we encounter times which suggest God is not present, our minds and hearts will know better.

But how do we do this?  How do we nurture a constant sense of the companionship of God in our lives?  A recent conversation in a church hallway with four friends focused on this very question.  Cary told about an overseas flight he took to Ukraine.  Hours into the flight, he left his seat and walked the aisles to exercise his legs.  Eventually he bumped into a man who was exercising his soul.  The man, clasping a small prayer rug, was a Muslim seeking someplace on the airplane to engage in “salat.”  Like one-and-a-half billion Muslims worldwide, this traveler was dedicated to an exercise of praying five times each day.  Even on an international flight, he was trying to tend to this prayerful practice.  While “salat” serves many purposes, above all, it simply reminds the one praying that God is present and that God seeks ongoing interaction.  In a CNN profile on this practice, one Muslim shared: “It reminds you about God throughout your day.  At fixed intervals, no matter how busy you are, all of a sudden you have to take out a few minutes and you’re remembering, OK, why am I really here?”[i] After Cary shared this story, my friend Joe remarked, “I need something like that.  I know when I’m working it’s hard for me to think about anything but work.  I need something that reminds me of God throughout the day.”

Can you connect with his statement?  We so often forget God during our day.  We need some way to unforget God.  Some way to turn our mind back to him when our thoughts have wandered from him.  Some way, as Brother Lawrence counseled, to “Forget him the very least you can.”[ii]

This is one of the provisions of the Examen.  It creates a structure through which we are not only reminded of God through the day, but we are guided, in very specific ways, to interact deeply and significantly with God throughout the day.  Whether it is practiced twice-a-day (e.g., morning and noon), or three-times-a-day (e.g., morning, noon, and evening), the Examen pauses all other activity and invites us to drink deeply of God and his Spirit.

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[ii] Brother Lawrence & Frank Laubach, Practicing His Presence The Library of Spiritual Classics, Volume 1 (Christian Books Publishing House, 1988), 91.

There is one final fundamental key to laying down the air-hockey and following Jesus out the door to his larger-than-life-sized plan: focus on training harder rather than trying harder.  Dallas Willard writes, “As disciples, we are not trying to be different people (which is the road to failure, legalism, and bondage), but we are training to be different people.” You will not become victorious over vice by just trying harder.  You will not subdue sin merely through brute force.  As you peer up the slopes of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, do not think “If I just push myself really hard I’ll make it to the top.”

Effort is required, as we learned earlier.  But no significant spiritual growth takes place through effort alone.  The effort must be expended in the right way.  What’s called for is not trying harder, but training harder.  John Ortberg succinctly states, “Respecting the distinction between training and merely trying is the key to transformation in every aspect of life.”

Most of us have accepted this truth in the realm of physical fitness.  I have a group of friends who regularly run the half-marathon or full marathon in Memphis which serves as a fund raiser for Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  Many of these friends have run the race multiple times.  And each year they enter into a familiar rhythm.  Months prior to the event they begin training.  While they may have been actively running throughout the year, in order to prepare for the Saint Jude half or full marathon, they know they must do something different.  They must train.

Slowly, methodically, over a period of months, they run longer distances and log greater numbers of miles.  At training’s beginning, their “long run” may be only eight miles.  Two weeks later it’s ten miles.  Not long after that the “long run” progresses to twelve miles.  Through the training, they are able to gradually build up their endurance, strength, and capacity for discomfort.  When race-day arrives, they are again able to do what they could not do just a few months earlier—run 13.1 or 26.2 miles.

Once in a while, a friend will try to by-pass training.  A few years ago after the half-marathon, I exited the baseball stadium where the race finishes and began walking to my car.  I saw one of my running-friends sitting on some steps near the stadium’s entrance.  She was pale, sweaty, and breathing hard.  “What’s wrong?” I asked.  The race had completed over an hour ago.  Her body should have recovered by now.  She confessed, “I didn’t make time to train this year.  I only had a handful of long runs and figured I could just push myself to the finish line this year.  Boy, was that a mistake!”  She didn’t train hard in the months prior to the race and instead just tried hard on the day of the race.  It left her body such a wreck she vowed never to do that again.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is showing us the entire race.  It’s not a 5K.  It’s a marathon.  Complete the 26.2 race and this is what your life will look like.  But this race is not something we can complete in our present state of spiritual fitness.  We must humbly accept that none of us possesses the spiritual muscle and stamina to successfully cross that finish line.  Instead, we must enter into training.  We must discover ways to slowly, methodically, and intentionally build up our spiritual muscles over time.

This is precisely the purpose of the spiritual disciplines.  Engage in them and eventually, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, you will become capable of doing what you may have never been able to do before.  You will find yourself living into this amazing vision Jesus has for your life.

Paul points to this progressive growth when he urges the Philippians to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phi. 2:12-13 ESV).  We do not work for our salvation.  But we do work out our salvation, partnering with the God who gives us both the desire (will) and ability (work) to live “for his good pleasure.”  Spiritual training is how we work out the saving work of God within us.

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There’s good news and bad news in Alan Hirsch’s and Lance Ford’s book Right Here, Right Now (Baker, 2011).  And the bad news is quite bad:

1. Christianity is quickly fading in the Western world, especially in North America.
2. Most churches and Christian organizations have either turned inward or have been come ineffective in re-engaging the changing culture with the gospel.
3. Even outward oriented congregations and organizations who have embraced more effective approaches face significant limitations in their ability to impact a post-Christian culture.

But here’s the good news: you and every Christian you know are the key to reviving the Christian faith.  The ultimate solution to the bad news is not just stronger churches or more effective Christian organizations.  They solution is a wave of ordinary and average Christians who infiltrate and impact the culture on a day to day basis.  The authors believe that “All Christians, whether suburban or urban, blue collar or white collar, have already been sent by God on a mission and they have tremendous kingdom potential in the here and now of their current situations.”  For the Christian faith to radically impact the Western world, each and every Christian must learn once again to live every sphere of life on mission for God.

What does this look like?  Hirsh and Ford propose that we embrace four “moves”:

1. Move out (find ways to get into contact with non Christians, wherever they may be).
2. Move in (better understand the post-Christian culture of these people).
3. Move alongside (create genuine friendships with non-Christians).
4. Move from (clearly live in contrast to the dehumanizing and sinful aspects of the culture).

Moving out is critical, Hirsch and Ford state, because too many Christians operate with a salt-block mentality.  Just like a farmer places a salt block somewhere expecting the horse or cow to come and lick, many Christians rely solely on church events to which non-Christians are to come and “lick.”  What’s needed is a salt-shaker mentality.  Similar to the way we place a salt-shaker at the table where people gather, Christians must learn to go where people gather.  They must bring the salt to the people rather than asking the people to come to salt.

Moving in is important because many Christians have become so disconnected from the post-Christian culture they no longer understand the values and lives of those who live within it.

Moving alongside may be the most difficult because Christians and non Christians alike live within compartmentalized “silos.”  We have separate home lives, work lives, church lives, exercise lives, recreation lives, etc.  As a result there are few opportunities for relationships to easily form and faith conversations to take place naturally.  Hirsch and Ford urge Christians to do whatever it takes to swim against this tide and form authentic friendships with non Christians.  Ultimately, they charge each Christian to practice hospitality as a way of reaching out.  They write, “People should be able to experience a foretaste of heaven from our families and our homes.”

Most of Hirsch’s and Ford’s attention is directed at “Moving from.”  The authors fear that too many Christians in North America have unwittingly adopted sinful practices from the culture.  Their salt has become salt-less.  This section is thus filled with a prophetic call for Christians to regain their distinctiveness.  They write, “The most consistent way to challenge the destructive forces in popular culture is to live contrary to them—to actually be the change we want to see.”

The authors especially target our view of and use of money.  They argue “the average American Christian is just as drunk on consumerism as the non-Christian at the other end of the bar.”  This section is filled with practical ways that Christians can pursue simplicity and generosity and thus have more resources available for blessing others.

The book has weaknesses.  It reads like the script of a conversation and thus frequently backtracks, overlaps, or jumps ahead in ways that can cause a reader to wonder where the conversation is headed.  In addition, the book needs more practical application regarding the first three moves.  The greatest application is given to the fourth move, leaving the reader with questions about how to truly engage in the first three moves.  Finally, the authors give little attention to how readers might not only live out the gospel but also share the gospel.  How does the average Christian talk about Jesus in a post-Christian world?  This question is not answered in this book.

Weaknesses aside, the book is an excellent beginning point for Christians who want to know “What can I do?”  It provides a helpful first-step for considering a practical and comprehensive model for living out God’s mission “right here, right now.”

When we stop seeking you, God, we start serving ourselves.

I’ve seen it again and again. 

Person after person marginalizes you.  And before long, they marginalize those around them.

We simply do not love neighbor when we do not first love you.

When we write you out of our Story everyone suffers.

Especially you.

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Simplifying Our Lives

In 2009 results were released from a significant study on simplicity.[i]  Father and son Thom and Art Rainer asked more than one thousand Americans about their pace, their schedules, and their quality of life.  The Rainer’s found that a vast majority of us are longing for simpler lives.  We long for more balance and less busyness, for increased flexibility and decreased complexity.  We yearn for time to just enjoy life.  We long for simplicity. 

Specifically, the Rainer’s found that we seek simplicity in four areas:

• Schedules.  We want a better balance in our schedules so that we have time for areas of life that really matter to us.
• Relationships.  We long for better and closer relationships and friendship.
• Finances.  We dream of a life free from past-due bills, diminishing income, or increasing debt.
• Spirituality.  We are too busy for God and need a simpler life in order to get closer to him.

The authors write: “Busyness has consumed us. In our survey we were amazed to see that approximately 44 percent of respondents agreed that if their daily life continued at the current pace, they would probably have health problems…Of course, not just our physical health is suffering. Our families are also impacted…Some 57 percent of married survey respondents admitted that they rarely are able to go on a date with their spouses…We asked if their family members were able to relax and enjoy one another. Only 13 percent agreed strongly that they could…In our survey more than 45 percent of the respondents admitted that they did not have enough income for their lifestyles. For many of us, money is a ball and chain attached around the ankle, limiting our life’s movement. Nearly seven out of ten…said that they needed to spend more time on spiritual matters.

Many of us are seeking simplicity in our schedules, relationships, finances, and spirituality.

How about you?  What do you wish were more simple about your life?

Simplifying Our Prayers

This same pursuit can be useful when applied to our prayers.  An important component of our prayer life is to keep things simple.  Jesus urged us to “not heap up empty phrases” when we pray “as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matt. 6:7). 

Non Jews believed the gods could be/had to be manipulated through words.  If the pray-er could find just the right word and/or say them in just the right way, the god would be obligated to grant the request.  This made the gods begrudging givers and made prayer a labor and burden.  Only “experts” could pray correctly and with desired results.

Have you ever struggled with feeling that only “experts” can pray in a way that is effective?

Jews, in a similar manner, were conditioned to believe that there were strict and specific guidelines to prayer.  Frederick Dale Bruner quotes Adolph Schlatter:

What became the beautiful standard Jewish “Eighteen [Petition] Prayer” was first prayed twice daily, then three times a day, and represented a huge accomplishment.  When combined with the twice daily She’ma Confessions, table prayers, and the doxologies at every opportunity, the people of God in Jesus’ time were confronted by Jesus not as a prayerless community but as a people overburdened with prayer. 

In other words, prayer was a burden and a labor.  It was always a formal affair.

Here is one version of the Amidah or “Eighteen Petition Prayer” (with a later-added 19th petition):

1. THE GOD OF HISTORY:Blessed are you, O Lord our God and God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the great, mighty and revered God, the Most High God who bestows lovingkindnesses, the creator of all things, who remembers the good deeds of the patriarchs and in love will bring a redeemer to their children’s children for his name’s sake. O king, helper, savior and shield. Blessed are you, O Lord, the shield of Abraham.

2. THE GOD OF NATURE:You, O Lord, are mighty forever, you revive the dead, you have the power to save. [From the end of Sukkot until the eve of Passover, insert: You cause the wind to blow and the rain to fall.] You sustain the living with lovingkindness, you revive the dead with great mercy, you support the falling, heal the sick, set free the bound and keep faith with those who sleep in the dust. Who is like you, O doer of mighty acts? Who resembles you, a king who puts to death and restores to life, and causes salvation to flourish? And you are certain to revive the dead. Blessed are you, O Lord, who revives the dead.

3. SANCTIFICATION OF GOD:[Reader] We will sanctify your name in this world just as it is sanctified in the highest heavens, as it is written by your prophet: “And they call out to one another and say: [Cong.] ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’” [Isa. 6:3] [Reader] Those facing them praise God saying: [Cong.] “Blessed be the Presence of the LORD in his place.” [Ezek. 3:12] [Reader] And in your Holy Words it is written, saying, [Cong.] “The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah.” [Ps. 146:10] [Reader] Throughout all generations we will declare your greatness, and to all eternity we will proclaim your holiness. Your praise, O our God, shall never depart from our mouth, for you are a great and holy God and King. Blessed are you, O Lord, the holy God. You are holy, and your name is holy, and holy beings praise you daily. (Selah.) Blessed are you, O Lord, the holy God.

4. PRAYER FOR UNDERSTANDING:You favor men with knowledge, and teach mortals understanding. O favor us with the knowledge, the understanding and the insight that come from you. Blessed are you, O Lord, the gracious giver of knowledge.

5. FOR REPENTANCE:Bring us back, O our father, to your Instruction; draw us near, O our King, to your service; and cause us to return to you in perfect repentance. Blessed are you, O Lord, who delights in repentance.

6. FOR FORGIVENESS:Forgive us, O our Father, for we have sinned; pardon us, O our King, for we have transgressed; for you pardon and forgive. Blessed are you, O Lord, who is merciful and always ready to forgive.

7. FOR DELIVERANCE FROM AFFLICTION:Look upon our affliction and plead our cause,and redeem us speedily for your name’s sake, for you are a mighty redeemer. Blessed are you, O Lord, the redeemer of Israel.

8. FOR HEALING:Heal us, O Lord, and we will be healed; save us and we will be saved, for you are our praise. O grant a perfect healing to all our ailments, for you, almighty King, are a faithful and merciful healer. Blessed are you, O Lord, the healer of the sick of his people Israel.

9. FOR DELIVERANCE FROM WANT:Bless this year for us, O Lord our God, together with all the varieties of its produce, for our welfare. Bestow ([from the 15th of Nissan insert:] dew and rain for) a blessing upon the face of the earth. O satisfy us with your goodness, and bless our year like the best of years. Blessed are you, O Lord, who blesses the years.

10. FOR GATHERING OF EXILES:Sound the great shofar for our freedom, raise the ensign to gather our exiles, and gather us from the four corners of the earth. Blessed are you, O Lord, who gathers the dispersed of his people Israel.

11. FOR THE RIGHTEOUS REIGN OF GOD:Restore our judges as in former times, and our counselors as at the beginning; and remove from us sorrow and sighing. Reign over us, you alone, O Lord, with lovingkindness and compassion, and clear us in judgment. Blessed are you, O Lord, the King who loves righteousness and justice.

12. FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF APOSTATES AND THE ENEMIES OF GOD:Let there be no hope for slanderers, and let all wickedness perish in an instant. May all your enemies quickly be cut down, and may you soon in our day uproot, crush, cast down and humble the dominion of arrogance. Blessed are you, O Lord, who smashes enemies and humbles the arrogant.

13. FOR THE RIGHTEOUS AND PROSELYTES:May your compassion be stirred, O Lord our God, towards the righteous, the pious, the elders of your people the house of Israel, the remnant of their scholars, towards proselytes, and towards us also. Grant a good reward to all who truly trust in your name. Set our lot with them forever so that we may never be put to shame, for we have put our trust in you. Blessed are you, O Lord, the support and stay of the righteous.

14. FOR THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM:Return in mercy to Jerusalem your city, and dwell in it as you have promised. Rebuild it soon in our day as an eternal structure, and quickly set up in it the throne of David. Blessed are you, O Lord, who rebuilds Jerusalem.

15. FOR THE MESSIANIC KING:Speedily cause the offspring of your servant David to flourish, and let him be exalted by your saving power, for we wait all day long for your salvation. Blessed are you, O Lord, who causes salvation to flourish.

16. FOR THE ANSWERING OF PRAYER:Hear our voice, O Lord our God; spare us and have pity on us. Accept our prayer in mercy and with favor, for you are a God who hears prayers and supplications. O our King, do not turn us away from your presence empty-handed, for you hear the prayers of your people Israel with compassion. Blessed are you, O Lord, who hears prayer.

17. FOR RESTORATION OF TEMPLE SERVICE:Be pleased, O Lord our God, with your people Israel and with their prayers. Restore the service to the inner sanctuary of your Temple, and receive in love and with favor both the fire-offerings of Israel and their prayers. May the worship of your people Israel always be acceptable to you. And let our eyes behold your return in mercy to Zion. Blessed are you, O Lord, who restores his divine presence to Zion.

18. THANKSGIVING FOR GOD’S UNFAILING MERCIES:We give thanks to you that you are the Lord our God and the God of our fathers forever and ever. Through every generation you have been the rock of our lives, the shield of our salvation. We will give you thanks and declare your praise for our lives that are committed into your hands, for our souls that are entrusted to you, for your miracles that are daily with us, and for your wonders and your benefits that are with us at all times, evening, morning and noon. O beneficent one, your mercies never fail; O merciful one, your lovingkindnesses never cease. We have always put our hope in you. For all these acts may your name be blessed and exalted continually, O our King, forever and ever. Let every living thing give thanks to you and praise your name in truth, O God, our salvation and our help. (Selah.) Blessed are you, O Lord, whose Name is the Beneficent One, and to whom it is fitting to give thanks.

19. FOR PEACE:Grant peace, welfare, blessing, grace, lovingkindness and mercy to us and to all Israel your people. Bless us, O our Father, one and all, with the light of your countenance; for by the light of your countenance you have given us, O Lord our God, a Torah of life, lovingkindness and salvation, blessing, mercy, life and peace. May it please you to bless your people Israel at all times and in every hour with your peace. Blessed are you, O Lord, who blesses his people Israel with peace.

Imagine praying this prayer multiple times/day! 

Bruner then quotes Eduard Schweizer: Jesus released his people “from having to make a special effort to guarantee access to God.  He turns prayer once more into children’s conversation with their father.”  For Jesus, prayer was essentially a child’s conversation with a father.

There is a mondern tendency to believe that prayer must use certain words (thus there is a sanctified prayer language) and must be done in a certain way (thus there are sanctified prayer postures and prayer places).  This is reflected humorously in the film “Meet the Parents.”  Greg, the future son-in-law is visiting his future in-laws and is asked to lead the prayer before dinner.  Greg has clearly never lead a public prayer and likely does not pray at all in private.  Thus, as he prays over the food, he reaches for the most exalted words and titles he can find to address God and to communicate what he wishes to say:

Oh, dear God, thank you, you are such a good God to us. A kind and gentle and accommodating God, and we thank you oh sweet, sweet lord of hosts for the smorgasbord you have so aptly laid at our table this day, and each day, by day, day by day, by day oh dear lord three things we pray to love thee more dearly, to see thee more clearly, to follow thee more nearly, day, by day, by day. Amen

Here’s the video: Greg prays in “Meet the Parents”

Overcoming this tendency, according to Richard Foster in his book Prayer is key to experiencing a full prayer life.  Foster writes that something holds many of us back from prayer.  That something is not busyness.  It is, instead, “the notion…that we have to have everything ‘just right’ in order to pray.” (7)  We must embrace the picture Jesus gives of prayer as a conversation between child and father.  Foster writes, “In the same way that a small child cannot draw a bad picture so a child of God cannot offer a bad prayer.” (8)  Foster calls this Simple Prayer.

Do you believe this–that a child of God cannot offer a bad prayer?

What is Simple Prayer?  Foster writes:

In Simple Prayer we bring ourselves before God just as we are, warts and all.  Like children before a loving father, we open our hearts and make our requests.  We do not try to sort things out, the good from the bad.  We simply and unpretentiously share our concerns and make our petitions (9)…In the most natural and simple way possible we learn to pray our experiences by taking up the ordinary events of everyday life and [give] them to God…We must never believe the lie that says that the details of our lives are not the proper content of prayer. (12)

There are times when we simply make prayer too complex.  It can simply be us the children talking to God the father about anything and everything in our lives.

Oversimplifying Our Prayers?

Of course, it is possible to become too casual and too familiar in our prayers.  A contemporary example of this is the “Baby Jesus Prayer” in the movie “Talladega Nights.”  At one point Ricky Bobby, the Nascar driver, says grace.   His approach, however, just crosses the line past familiarity to disrespect.

Here’s the video: Ricky Bobby prays to Baby Jesus

Perhaps this is why Jesus teaches us to address God in this way: “Our Father in heaven.”  “Our Father” gives us permission to not use special prayer language but to use the ordinary and everyday language of life.  “Our Father” gives us permission to not pray only about “holy” or “exalted” things but to also pray about ordinary and every day things of life.  But “in heaven” reminds us that the one to whom we pray is greater than we are and is worth our highest respect and esteem.

How do you walk this fine line in your prayers?

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There’s a fascinating and downright convicting summary of Jesus’ ministry in chapter 5 of Luke’s account.  In the original language, Luke paints this picture:

1. Testimonies, reports, and “Did you hear?” about Jesus were spreading like wildfire.  The circle of people learning about the amazing stuff Jesus was doing was increasing exponentially.
2. Crowds and masses of people were showing up every day from everywhere.  They wanted to hear Jesus’ teaching.  They wanted to be healed of whatever was broken in their lives.  Day after day, week after week, the house was packed.
3. Jesus frequently walked away from the crowds to an isolated place and prayed.

I’ll be honest–number 1 and number 2 are something I drool at.  They are what I dream about.  Who wouldn’t want word-of-mouth about their ministry, their product, their organization, or their agency spreading like wildfire?  And who wouldn’t want the growth chart, sales chart, and quarterly report to reflect seemingly unending increase and effectiveness?

But do you know what I’d do when I got to number 3?  Put it off.  Delay it.  Postpone it.  I’d want to ride the wave of numbers 1 and 2 as long as I could.  I’d want to nurture that momentum as long as possible.  All in the name of being a good steward.  All in the name of wanting to serve the people God’s sending.  There would be plenty of time for prayer later, when things slowed down.

But not Jesus.  Frequently, in the height of “success,” Jesus would withdraw to isolated places and pray.  And it’s not like Jesus could just send in a replacement.  His bench wasn’t exactly deep.  When Jesus left the field, the game had to stop.  The crowds had to stand and wait until Jesus came back.  Any expert would tell you that’s the easiest way to kill momentum, to stop a growth curve.

But Jesus was so committed to the Father and so unconcerned about “success” that he often withdrew for these times of prayer.

I wonder–would you withdraw?

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