What are we saying when we pray like this — “I pray that you will make yourself known to us in this meeting”? We intend to ask the Lord for something, but we are actually telling the Lord what we are asking. Perhaps it is hard even to catch this problem because it so ingrained in our methodology. It would be wise to correct this.
There is a difference between prayer which is direct from believers’ hearts to the Father and telling the Father what we are praying. The Lord is reading our hearts, yes, but we still should train our mouth to conform to our intent. And, for me, praying directly adds more passion and presence to our requests.
To illustrate, in Acts 4, after John and Peter had been arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, then released, they went to their friends and began to pray. Note how direct their prayer was — straight to the Father.
“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness . . .” (4:29)
They did not say, “And now, Lord, we pray that you would look upon their threats . . .”
Jesus taught the direct method. He said we should pray like this: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
On the cross, he did not say, “I pray that you will forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
The lesson here is a very simple one, but such that could make a big difference. The Lord is here among us and invites us to talk with him intimately. I’m quite sure that God can decipher what we mean however we stumble through our prayers, but our “I pray that” prayers insert something of an unnecessary distance between us and God.
You will find that removing this phrase out of your prayers isn’t easy. Most of us have prayed this way for as long as we can remember, but the first time you pray with others when the “I pray that” phrase is removed will seem much more sincere and meaningful. I’m almost certain you will notice the difference.
Let’s improve.
_____
You may be interested in this brief primer on how we can be more genuine and direct in our praise as well. See a short primer on praise here: