Christian Prayer For Dummies

Richard Wagner

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781118069851
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Advice and examples help you find your own prayer style Discover how prayer works and why you need it now more than ever Do you want to pray, but you're not sure how? This friendly guide explains the different kinds of prayer - revealing how and why to pray and how to discern God's answers. You'll see how to overcome hindrances, how to use a journal, and how to pray on your own. Discover what "Thy will be done" means and how to approach prayers that seemingly haven't been answered. The Dummies Way
* Explanations in plain English
* "Get in, get out" information
* Icons and other navigational aids
* Tear-out cheat sheet
* Top ten lists
* A dash of humor and fun

Part I

Signing Up for Basic Training

In this part . . .

**IN a DROPCAP**

Prayer is like a greased pig at a county fair—often pursued but rarely grasped. In this part, you discover the basics of prayer and how to get that lasso going in full motion. You find out what prayer is, how it works, and why it is such a pivotal part of how God works in the world.

Chapter 1

Discovering the Real X-Factor

In This Chapter

Defining prayer

Recognizing the benefits of prayer

Looking at examples of the power of prayer throughout history

Praying with the right attitude

C an you go anywhere these days without seeing someone talking on a cell phone? Take a look around, and you’ll see happy “cellulites” walking down the street, driving a car, or watching a movie. Even the church is not immune—on more than one occasion I’ve heard a cell phone ring in the middle of a service!

In this age of wireless communication, there are virtually no barriers to chatting with a friend on the phone, no matter where you are or what you’re doing. In fact, during a recent car trip across the United States, I was amazed to find my cell phone fully usable in the most remote and barren spots of the Nevada desert.

Prayer has many similarities to this wireless revolution; you can dial up God and talk as long as you like anytime, anywhere. At some point, nearly everyone turns to prayer in such a way—from the most devoted believers to the wildest prodigals. Some do so at the top of each morning, while others wait until they’re at the top of a cliff, perilously close to the edge.

Prayer is the most universal practice in all of religion. A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, and a Buddhist may not agree on the purpose of prayer or to whom one should pray, but they do all agree on the need for prayer. The reason for this instinctive drive to pray must be that, in creating humans, God embedded something like a cellular phone in you and me that is equipped with an unlimited calling plan to him (weekends and nights free, of course). Just as I naturally turn to my wireless device to call my wife in times of need and joy on the road, so do I intuitively turn to God during key times in my life.

The vast majority of both adults and teens in the United States pray during a typical week and believe that their prayers have an impact on what happens in their lives (Barna Research). However, although most Americans practice prayer, they’re not necessarily confident about how to pray or how prayer works. What’s more, don’t go asking one of them to pray in public, because you’re likely to get an evasive answer or see them sprinting frantically in the other direction. (See Chapter 15 for more on praying in public.)

If you’re in their camp and prayer remains somewhat elusive to you, be assured that you’re in good company. Even the most saintly of people, be it evangelist Billy Graham, the pope, or my mother, never have it fully mastered. In fact, prayer is something akin to a greased pig at a county fair—often pursued, but rarely grasped.

As you read Christian Prayer For Dummies , think of this book as your lasso for that hard-to-catch concept. In these pages, you discover how to throw the rope and harness prayer: You find out what prayer is and isn’t and how prayer can benefit, challenge, equip, and, above all, transform your life. However, a word of caution: After you lasso it, I can’t promise that prayer won’t still pull you along for a ride as you hold on for dear life. But such is the nature of this wonderfully mysterious thing called prayer.

Having a Chat with God

Prayer is simply communicating with God. There’s nothing magical at all about Christian prayer; it’s matter of fact. This book covers dozens of prayer methods and techniques, but don’t confuse these with the basic truth that prayer is simply an open invitation to talk to God.

However, Christian prayer is more than just telling God your list of requests and expecting him to answer your prayers like he’s some kind of cosmic vending machine. Yes, prayer is a way to share with God what’s on your mind. But even more important, it’s a way to get to know God and what he wants to do in your life and in the world. (Chapters 16, 17, and 18, which together form the heart of this book, focus on these critical issues.)

When you study the Bible, you find people praying left and right, but the subject of prayer itself is actually rarely addressed. I suppose that’s not too surprising when you consider that Basketball For Dummies probably doesn’t spend too much time talking about pumping up the ball with air. A filled ball is essential to playing basketball, but it’s also so obvious that nothing need be said about it. In the same way, prayer, or talking with God, is so natural that it’s a given in the Bible.

Although the Bible doesn’t talk specifically about prayer methods, you do notice that the manner in which people prayed changed through the ages. In the earliest of times, people like Adam, Noah, and Abraham prayed in a very familiar and direct manner to God and tended to focus on the practicalities of life. But from the time of Moses through the rest of the Old Testament period, prayers tended to be more formal and focus less on personal needs and more on national issues related to the Israelites.

Christian prayer has its origins in the prayers of Jesus, particularly the Lord’s Prayer (which I cover in detail in Chapter 5). Christian prayer in the New Testament becomes more focused on the spiritual needs of individuals, such as the cleansing of sins, physical healing, and equipping of individuals with spiritual qualities to live like Christ. Prayer in the New Testament is also quite intimate and even goes so far as to tell you to call God your Daddy. (See Chapter 3 for details on this topic.)

Nowhere does the Bible list any specific rules on how to pray. Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians each have their own distinct traditions of prayer. The refreshing and liberating fact is that God is not much concerned with how you pray; he’s more interested in what you pray about and what your attitude is while you pray (see Chapter 6).

Statistically speaking

Surveys of U.S. adults and teenagers by Barna Research Ltd. from 1991–2001 revealed the following statistics about people’s prayer habits:

Who prays?

82 percent of adults and 89 percent of teenagers pray in a normal week.

88 percent of women and 75 percent of men pray in a typical week.

People living in the South and Midwest pray more than those living in the West and Northeast (around 86 percent to 76 percent, respectively).

96 percent of born-again Christians pray weekly, while 72 percent of people not describing themselves as born again pray on a weekly basis.

What do people pray about?

95 percent of adults thank God for what he has done in their lives.

76 percent ask for forgiveness for specific sins.

67 percent spend time in prayer worshiping God by praising his superior attributes.

61 percent ask for help for specific needs.

47 percent are silen...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I: Signing Up for Basic Training
• Chapter 1: Discovering the Real X-Factor
• Chapter 2: Prayers: We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Prayers
• Chapter 3: Relating to God: More than the Sum of All Prayers
• Chapter 4: Taking a 24/7 Prayer Adventure
• Chapter 5: The Original Christian Prayer For Dummies: The Lord’s Prayer
• Chapter 6: Revealing Prayer’s Secret Recipe
• Part II: Turbocharging Your Prayers
• Chapter 7: Ready-Made or Do-It-Yourself?
• Chapter 8: Looking to the Scriptures for Help
• Chapter 9: Journaling the Write Stuff
• Chapter 10: Thinking Fast
• Chapter 11: Helping You Out: Prayer Enhancers
• Chapter 12: Avoiding the Potholes to Prayer
• Part III: Praying Well with Others
• Chapter 13: Going Nuclear (Family, That Is)
• Chapter 14: Praying in Small Groups
• Chapter 15: Overcoming the Yadda Yadda Yadda: Effective Public Prayer
• Part IV: Tackling Some Tough Issues
• Chapter 16: Thy Will Be Done
• Chapter 17: Ask and It Shall Be Given
• Chapter 18: Lost Prayers
• Chapter 19: Hearing That Voice in the Cornfield
• Chapter 20: Healing in a Modern World
• Chapter 21: Getting Tongue-Tied
• Part V: The Part of Tens
• Chapter 22: Prayers for Ten Occasions When You Need It Most
• Chapter 23: Ten or So Prayers to Teach Children
• Chapter 24: Ten Retreats and Ten Pilgrimages
• Chapter 25: Ten-Plus Recommended Web Sites