Prayer & Praise
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About
Prayer
This forum is
for your prayer requests and for praise
reports of answered prayer. For those
seeking encouragement, for those going
through trials. Share your experiences and
make your requests known to the Household of
Faith, that we can collectively touch and
agree and seek the Lord together. “Confess
your faults one to another, and pray one for
another, that ye may be healed. The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much.” James 5:16-16
If you do not currently have a prayer
partner, we encourage you to find one. To
link up, by phone, by eMail, in person, or
by any means, with someone who can pray for
you when you cannot pray for yourself. Don't
try to do everything on your own. Don't try
to bear every burden on your own, but let us
learn to bear each other's burdens and lift
each other up.
Legal disclaimer: it is unfortunate
that our society has become so litigious
that we must add this disclaimer:
PraiseNet.Org and its partners in ministry
are not licensed therapists. The views
expressed here are of a personal nature only
and are not intended for either legal or
therapeutic purposes. We encourage our
visitors to seek advice and counsel from
their pastors and from appropriately
certified counselors and therapists.
How It Works
The reason why prayer doesn’t work for most
of us is, simply, that we don’t know what
we’re doing. We receive precious little
instruction about prayer, about what it is
and what it’s not, about our responsibility
in the process, about how to apply this
resource. Most Christians understand the
function of God but don’t always understand
the role of Jesus Christ as our Intercessor.
We also have just a vague understanding of
the function and role of the Holy Spirit—Who
is a Person and not a “thing” or an “it,” as
many of us describe Him.
Praying for God to spare Mommy’s life, only
for Mommy to die a long and painful death,
often causes us to lose faith. Praying feels
useless, like we’re talking to ourselves.
But we miss the point that we are, in fact,
praying wrong; that we are in a wrong place
with God and we are asking God for the wrong
things—and asking them arrogantly, at that.
Then, when God doesn’t jump through hoops
we’ve eloquently laid out, we begin to doubt
His power and even His existence, not
realizing that God always answers prayer.
It’s just that His answer, His acts, are in
the divine realm and operate far beyond
human understanding. Trusting in this
process is called “faith,” a choice to
operate in a realm beyond what we can see
and touch and understand. But to trust in a
certain knowledge that God loves us and
knows what is ultimately best for us.
The Last Resort
How many times have I seen some TV show,
some soap opera, where the doctors give up,
shaking their heads as the music queue
swells, saying, “Now, all we can is pray.”
Well, you should have prayed in the first
place. Prayer is the most powerful weapon,
the finest resource, we have. Pastor Strauss
says, “Real prayer is spiritual warfare.”
Every time we drop to our knees, we are
lobbing grenades over the fence, charging
forward at the enemy.
Prayer operates on faith, and if our faith
was strong enough, we could accomplish
miraculous wonders through Jesus Christ.
But, like an athlete who rarely works out,
like a musician who rarely practices,
prayer, for most of us, is a rusty tool. We
rarely use it, so when crisis comes, we
barely even know the words. We blather on
and on and demand this and demand that and
pray really inappropriate and ineffective
prayers and then get mad at God when He
doesn’t perform the way we want Him to.
I grew up in the black church which failed,
in every measurable way, to educate me
properly about, well, much of anything. I
realize I’m really tough on the black
church, but that’s my calling. Somebody has
to be the one ordained of God to call the
black church to account. Having spent more
than a decade growing up in the black
church, I had to go to the white church—a
white summer camp to be more specific—to
learn the ways of God and the things of God.
To get to know Him and to learn to hear His
voice.
Unrepented Sin
One of the main reasons for ineffective
prayer is unrepented sin. Sins we are aware
of, sins we've committed by accident. Sins
we're not even aware we've committed or that
we've forgotten about. The Old Testament
Jews had to wait for the annual Day of
Atonement to get their records cleared. We
can do this—we SHOULD do this—every day if
not several times a day. Asking God to
forgive us our sins, those we know about and
those we don't know about. Those we've
forgotten. Those we've omitted. Those habits
we struggle with. Those people we struggle
with.
Starting your prayer with anything but a
confession of sin is an utter waste of time.
I'm not sure why most ministers and even
pastors don't seem to understand this and do
not, in my experience, model this behavior
in their public prayers. Maybe it's pride, I
don't know. But your best chance at an
effective prayer is to make sure you
yourself are not burdened by sins that
offend God.
When I pray, “Lord, please forgive my sins,”
is among the very first words I share with
Him. And I do this in the pulpit as well.
I'm not ashamed to admit I am a sinner. I
try my best and my intentions are to honor
God and do right. But I'm human. I fail. And
those are debts I am unable to pay. The very
least I can do is admit to God my faults
before demanding things of Him.
As I said, this concept is rarely, if ever,
modeled from a black pulpit. This might be
about arrogance or ignorance. There's not
much else between those extremes. As a
result, many if not most black churchgoers
don't understand how ineffective prayer is
without repentance.
Myths
1. Prayer Has To Be Long
This is patently untrue. This is, in fact,
anti-scriptural. I’m not sure why we, in the
black church, do these endless, dull, boring
invocations at the beginning of service.
This usually has the effect of pouring water
on a flame, bringing a service that may have
started well to a grinding halt while the
minister gasses on and on. A prayer of
invocation is simply an invitation to the
Holy Spirit to dwell among us, in this
place, at this time. It’s not a time for
long, supposedly eloquent, rambling prayers
for the mothers of children and fathers and
grampas and the sheep in the meadows and the
puppies and the birds in the air and fish in
the sea. I’ve heard invocations that went on
for a half hour, the preacher just babbling
on and on about Lord visit our soldiers
overseas and God look down upon the sick and
shut in and those in Africa and on Mars and
so forth.
This is not what a prayer of invocation is
for. And the length of your prayer has
absolutely no bearing on the effectiveness
of it. The prayer of a preacher who rolled
over Sunday morning with a woman who is not
his wife has absolutely no effectiveness.
Doesn’t matter how long the man preaches or
how hard he pounds on the pulpit, he is just
wasting time. Perhaps we have long
invocations because, well, we’ve always had
long invocations. It’s what we’ve been
taught. The example that has been set for
us. But it’s not only wrong, it goes against
the very teachings of Christ who warns us
against long, repetitious, vainglorious
public prayers [Matt 6:7]. Christ suggests,
rather, that effective prayer be done in
secret. Perhaps in quiet circles of
believers not seeking attention or position
within the political structure of the
church.
Rather than keep our seniors and others on
their feet for twenty minutes while you try
and impress us with your eloquence, it’s
perhaps best to pray effectively rather than
for a long time. And leave the line open.
Many if not most black preachers pray this
long, boring prayer that people tune out,
and end with “Amen,” closing the
connection—which defeats the entire purpose
of welcoming the Spirit in. Invoke the
presence of the Holy Spirit and then leave
the line open. Explain it to your folk so
they get the concept.
2. Prayer Has To Be Loud
Utterly ridiculous. I can’t tell you how
many times I’ve overhead church mothers
sniffing, “Humph. That man can’t even pray.”
Or, when a pulpit prayer has been
particularly stirring, “Well, that man sure
can pray!” I realize this should go without
saying, but, the volume of your prayer has
nothing whatsoever to do with the
effectiveness of your prayer. Praying loud
is more about you, about your emotional
state and emotional needs, about what you
need to do for you, in order for you to
reach the emotional level you need to reach.
You do not need to be a great orator. You do
not need to be particularly articulate, as
our concept of such things pale in
comparison to God’s holiness. No matter how
great a show you put on, it is, at best, a
pitiful Little Rascals sideshow that Jesus
Christ needs to interpret for us. We cannot
talk to God except that we speak to Jesus
[John 14:6]. Our prayers are to Him and
through Him. If the Father pays us any
attention at all, it is for Jesus’ sake—not
for any theatrical effort on our part.
As a teenager, I remember having shut ins
(what you country folk call “lock-ins”) and
praying all night. On one occasion, this
sister comes over to me while I’m praying
and starts screaming in my ear. PRAISE HIM!
PRAISE HIM! THANYA THANKYA THANYA THANKYA
THANKYA! HAH, GLORY!
I looked over at her and said, “Thank you,
sister, but please stop shouting in my ear.”
She said she was only trying to keep me from
falling asleep. I told her I wasn’t
sleeping—I was praying. Quietly. To myself.
She said I shouldn’t expect a breakthrough
like that and all but accused me of lying. I
couldn’t possibly be praying since I wasn’t
screaming at the top of my lungs.
Black Church Folk are loud. We like to be
loud. But good teaching needs to go forth as
well: volume doesn’t impress God. Our lives,
our hearts and our motives impress God. God
isn’t hard of hearing. All that blaring
music and screaming—that’s about us. That’s
about our emotional needs, about our culture
and our traditions. Being loud is not a sin,
Lord knows I like (and frankly need) to cry
out to Him on occasion. But I understand
that’s more about me than Him. He can hear
me just fine.
3. Prayer Has To Be In The King James
Utter nonsense. Our black preachers
struggling through all of these “these” and
“thous,” butchering the poetry of 17th
century English—a syntax that requires quite
a bit of erudition to reproduce on the fly.
Meanwhile, in most white churches the pastor
talks to God like He’s his buddy. Like He’s
Fred. “Well, Fred, we just love you. Fred we
just wanna thank you so much for what You’ve
done and what You’re doing, Fred.”
And, you know what? They’re right. Not that
God is Fred, but that God is our Friend. He
wants to be our friend, He wants to be known
to us. Not some obscure, abstract concept. A
God Up There Somewhere. That’s nonsense.
That’s a song we should never, ever sing
again because it is simply not scriptural.
The Bible teaches us that God dwells within
us [John 14:17]. He is not unknowable. He is
not ‘up there.” He’s right here. In you. In
me. We can’t fool Him by putting on a fake
accent or talking in the King James. We
can’t hide from His presence by putting on
our Prayer Voice. We should speak to Him
respectfully, sure. But we can use our own
words and our own voice.
Pretending to be someone you are not
completely undermines the effectiveness of
your prayer. God knows you. He understand
what you’re saying. God invented language.
You can’t trick Him. And the eloquence of
your prayer has absolutely no bearing on the
effectiveness of your prayer.
God Always Answers
Jeremiah 7:13-16: And now, because ye have
done all these works, saith the LORD, and I
spake unto you, rising up early and
speaking, but ye heard not; and I called
you, but ye answered not; Therefore will I
do unto this house, which is called by my
name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place
which I gave to you and to your fathers, as
I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you
out of my sight, as I have cast out all your
brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
Therefore pray not thou for this people,
neither lift up cry nor prayer for them,
neither make intercession to me: for I will
not hear thee.
Growing up Pentecostal, I was taught God
doesn’t hear the prayers of sinners. Which
is right and wrong. God hears everything.
That’s what “God” means. Saying there’s
something God can’t do limits His
omnipotence and confines Him to our human
understanding.
What the Bible means when it suggests God
doesn’t hear the prayers of sinners is that
God doesn’t act on their behalf. This is
because the proper way to pray to God is
beyond our power or comprehension. As mortal
beings, there is absolutely nothing we, in
and of ourselves, can do to please God or to
know God. This is why Jesus Christ came to
us, why He died for us and what He meant
when He said that no one can approach or
know God unless they come through Christ.
Jesus Christ is our intercessor [Romans
8:34]. Which means he untangles our
language, our arrogance. Talking to God is,
in and of itself, pure arrogance, the
creation demanding things of the creator.
Jesus runs interference for us, correcting
our grammar, discerning our true intent and
knowing our heart. He acts like a spiritual
translator, making sense out of our pitiful
rhetoric and lobbying God on our behalf.
People who do not know Christ, who have
rejected Christ—what we call “sinners,”
which, again, is a misnomer since we are all
sinners [Romans 3:23]—do not have access to
Christ as an intercessor and, therefore,
God, presumably, doesn’t act on their
behalf.
But, make no mistake, God hears everything.
That’s what “God” means.
Yes, No, Wait
God always answers prayer. It’s just that
the answers are not always what we want or
expect them to be. But the answers are
always what we need them to be. See, God
doesn’t promise us we’ll always get what we
want. He promises to meet our needs.
Strauss suggests there are three basic
answers (but God is, of course, not limited
solely to these three): Yes, No and Wait.
Our task is to pray for the wisdom to know
His voice when He is speaking and to know
what His answer is.
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