Prayer is Giving

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6-7

Prayer is an action believers in God are held responsible by Him to practice ourselves.  While painting today I started thinking about the exhortation I have heard at the end of sermons, to find fellow believer and "get prayer."  The more I thought on this phrase, the less I was comfortable with it.  Prayer is not about receiving, nor should we look to others to pray for us:  we are called in everything by prayer and supplication (with thanksgiving!) to let our requests be known to God.  Corporate prayer is a wonderful blessing, to be led by the Holy Spirit in our praying together in unity.

It is a strange thing how a personal spiritual discipline that is to be embraced continually could be reduced to Christians being conditioned to seek others to pray for them.  Of course there is nothing wrong with having people pray for us, as this exhortation is seen in scripture many times.  Yet we ought to be careful not to convey prayer is something that we receive from others when it is something we ought to do ourselves.  It is good for us to humble ourselves before God and man when we make our requests to God.  We have God's full assurance of what He will do when we choose to cast our anxieties upon Him and pray with thanksgiving whether we are accompanied by others in prayer or not.

I believe it is important that people pray for themselves, not just submit to being prayed for.  Better for a person to simply say in sincere prayer to their Father in heaven, "God be merciful to me, a sinner!" than to have a brother or sister pray for 10 minutes over them.  We have the capacity by our embrace of routines and rituals to create a culture in church that veers from the main point.  Baptism in water is an example of this.  When Philip met the Ethiopian eunuch in the desert who desired to be baptised, he was not enrolled in a Sunday School class nor was there a public ceremony with family or friends invited.  We can put a large emphasis on a public display of faith before witnesses when Philip placed all the emphasis on personal belief in Jesus being the Son of God:  "If you believe with all your heart, you may." (Acts 8:37)  Baptism and prayer are personal acts of obedience as we align our hearts and lives with God.

A key to prayer is not making a public show but a heart humbled before God privately.  In the parable Jesus told the grandstanding Pharisee who prayed with himself was ignored, whilst the tax collector who would not even look to heaven due to his contrition for sin went home justified before God.  Prayer puts us in a humble posture before our God we desperately need for all things and prayer with thanksgiving aids our hearts, minds and lives align with His will.  God responds to prayer by guarding our hearts and minds with His perfect peace.  Prayer isn't something we "get" from others but what we give to God.  Praise the LORD we can pray with others as we give thanks and really give ourselves to the God who is our peace.