Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

• Matthew 6:5-8

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

• Luke 18:9-14

“The obvious obstacles to prayer live on the surface. You’re busy. You’re social. You’re (at least trying to be) successful and desirable and socially conscious. All of those things take time, so the competition for your undivided attention is stiff.
…
“I think it’s this: for most of us, prayer doesn’t resolve our anxiety. Scripture teaches, ‘Don’t be anxious. Just pray.’ Maybe we don’t because prayer comes with plenty of reasons to be anxious. Prayer itself makes us anxious because it uncovers fears we can ignore as long as we don’t engage deeply, thoughtfully, vulnerably with God.
“First, we must name the fears.
“1. We Don’t Pray for Fear of Being Naïve
“The scenes of my life play out against the backdrop of a fiercely logical, intellectual city. In that environment, there is no greater sin than naivete. In a city like New York or Portland (I’ve spent my entire adult life between the two), there is nothing less fashionable than a state school grad from a Midwestern suburb fresh off the plane and wide-eyed in the big city. Innocence is terribly out of style.
“2. We Don’t Pray for Fear of Silence
“Many people are pretty comfortable with the spirituality they’ve got, and prayer—as well as living like everything Jesus says about prayer is true—risks the possibility of silence. ‘Silence is frightening because it strips us as nothing else does, throwing us upon the stark realities of our life,’ writes Dallas Willard. ‘And in that quiet, what if there turns out to be very little to “just us and God”’?’
“3. We Don’t Pray for Fear of Selfish Motives
“We are paralyzed by self-evaluation. Prayer sputters when we evaluate and second-guess the words we speak to God as they come out of our mouths.
“Why do I really want this? What’s behind this request? Have I really put in enough time with God to ask for something like this, or am I just texting him when I need something? Is this desire really pure enough to bring before God?
“4. We Don’t Pray for Fear of Doing It Wrong
“Some of us are kept from praying because we listen to everyone else’s prayers and it makes us feel like we’re next up after Winston Churchill in high school speech class.
“I’m not eloquent. I’m not confident. I’m not comfortable. I hear other people pray out loud, and it only furthers the insecurity.”

• Tyler Staton, Praying like Monks, Living like Fools

In the first paragraph, Rev. Staton covered the big, obvious excuses.  These are not reasons, just excuses, but we may have all used them.

But then he comes to the anxieties.  Odd, we rely on anxiety instead of prayer due to our anxiety about prayer.  And I think he is right about most of this.

My father was a King James Version person. Everything in his prayers included “Thee”, “Thou”, and added the “eth” to all verbs, but he never talked that way.  Of course, his Dad did the same thing.  Thus the fear of “doing it wrong” in public prayer would spill over in private prayer.  Do I have to use KJV English in my private prayers for God to hear me?

The idea of the self-motive is self-correcting if you are humble.  All you have to ask is do I really need it?  I can do my ministry without the latest computer, a Mercedes Benz, and the yacht is absolutely not needed.  The problem is that many bargain with God.  “God, if I had a yacht, I could take people out on the lake and witness to them.”  But God might be saying to you, without the yacht, you could witness to so many more on dry land.  In some circles, this may be true.  And even in writing this blog, my scanner is starting to get stuck.  The printer ink is harder to find because the printer/scanner is an older model.  And the computer has many “issues,” but if you are reading this, those “issues” did not prevent me from writing this post, so, do I really need knew equipment?

Will God be silent?  Well, if we demand a Mercedes Benz, don’t expect an answer for a while.  If you pray for patience, do not expect an answer for a LONG while.  The fact that some prayers are treated with silence is God saying “Just listen to yourself for once?  Are you greedy?  Are you in touch with reality? Do you really think you need that?”

And as for being naïve, some of my prayers at the end of Sunday school garner snickers from the other people in class.  I am sure that they are asking, does he really talk to God that way?  Sometimes, I do.  God is always God, my Heavenly Father, a person that I respect and in terms of awe, I fear.  But God loves me and sometimes, I just have to be real.  It might come off as raw, but it might come off as comical.  “God, we just had a discussion on a side topic that was a bit unreal, please kick me up side the head next week to keep the class on topic a little better…”  Some people may think that flippant, but I meant it at the time.  Some side tangents are very instructive.  You never know where a teachable moment will lead the class, but sometimes people run in circles and no question is really answered.  So, maybe as the teacher, I need to openly kick my self up side the head to show them that I have that responsibility toward them.  It may sound like the wrong language (not done right).  Some might think I might get silence from God over THAT one.  But for the moment, it was what was on my mind and God not only knows what I say, but how I say it, and what I was thinking at the time.  So, why not say it in the same way I was thinking it?

Lord, guide me.  You are an awesome God.  We want our prayers to be acknowledging Your greatness and our weakness, but God let us be real.  Let us not fear talking to You.  As a pastor once said, “The only wrong way to pray is to not pray.” Let us not live in fear of the only one who loves us perfectly.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.