Learning to Pray by Adam Brewer

Are you struggling to pray? Have you often found yourself saying “the same ole things about the
same ole things” in prayer? Are you frustrated by your mind’s lack of focus during times of
prayer? If so, you’re not alone. Our gracious Lord offers help. God commands us to pray, invites
us to pray, and teaches us to pray. Packaged together, these three truths remind us that God
hospitably welcomes us to do what he knows is best for us. He doesn’t want us to live in our own strength, so he commands us to pray. He doesn’t want us to think that we are unwelcome, so he invites us to pray. And he doesn’t want us to approach him selfishly, so he teaches us how to pray.

Speaking to the Lord is foundational in the lives of God’s people. Prayer demonstrates delight in
God and dependence on Christ. Throughout God’s Word, we discover that his people
prayed…and prayed…and prayed. The prayers in Scripture are diverse. There are long prayers,
short prayers, individual prayers, and community-wide prayers. Some prayers mournfully plead
for God’s deliverance while others enthusiastically celebrate God’s goodness. In Scripture, we
never find a robotic, automated approach to prayer. Yet, for all the rich diversity found in various prayers throughout Scripture, we also recognize some unified themes in many prayers that must inform our hearts if we are to offer meaningful and Christ-honoring prayer.

1) Our Prayers Should Focus on God’s Glory, Holiness, and Goodness.
In a recent sermon about Solomon’s dedication prayer, I asked our church family, “Have we
considered the God to whom we pray?” Before Solomon ever uttered one request, he spent time acknowledging God’s uniqueness, faithfulness, steadfast love, mercy, and power (1st Kings 8). Nehemiah begins his prayer by praising God for being “great and awesome” (Nehemiah 1). Jesus instructs us to pray “Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy” (Matthew 6:9).

If we are honest, much of our praying can be self-centered, blinding us from the magnificence of God. Flannery O’Connor wrestled with this reality when she prayed, “Dear God, I cannot love
Thee the way I want to. You are the slim crescent of a moon that I see, and my self is the earth’s
shadow that keeps me from seeing all the moon…what I am afraid of, dear God, is that my self-
shadow will grow so large that it blocks the whole moon, and that I will judge myself by the
shadow that is nothing. I do not know you God because I am in the way” (Quoted in Tim Keller,
Prayer, 11). We should remember and magnify God for who he is.

2) Our Prayers Should Be Saturated with Scripture.
Years ago, Dr. Donald Whitney challenged me to pray the Scriptures. To that point, I had never
heard of reading a passage and turning it into a prayer offered back to God. It was odd and
difficult the first few weeks. However, praying the Scriptures has richly blessed and broadened
my prayers. As grateful as I am to Dr. Whitney for his insight and process, he was simply piggy
backing off the prayers we find in the Bible. In their prayers, the Old Testament saints
consistently refer to God’s law and covenant with Israel, asking God to act according to his
Word. In Acts, the early believers pray for boldness, quoting Psalm 2 as the basis for their plea
(Acts 4:23-26).

If we desire for our prayers to be God-honoring, what better words can we use than the words
God has given us? I encourage you to begin with the Psalms. Read a Psalm, take a couple verses
from the Psalm, and then offer them back to God as a personal prayer from your heart.

3) Our Prayers Should Include Very Specific Confessions of Sin.
Imagine how empty an apology would be if the person who had severely offended you walked
up to you and hurriedly said, “Hey, I’m sorry for whatever I did.” You would probably be
triggered for their lack of sincerity. Yet, we often treat God in the same manner. Not every prayer in the Bible includes a lengthy confession of sin, but many prayers do. Whether it is personal sin or national sin, those who prayed did not dodge the serious specifics of sin. Rather than hurriedly using the catch-all “forgive us of our many sins,” David, Solomon, Ezra, Nehemiah, and others lay bare their souls and the soul of the nation before God. Sexual sin, idolatry, impure worship, desecrating marriage, and greed are confessed regularly. If you and I are to see a work of God in our lives, we must not generalize the sin in our hearts. We must confess our sins, and the One who is faithful and just to forgive our sins will cleanse us from unrighteousness (1st John 1:9).

4) Our Prayers Should Be Offered with Humble Confidence.
As we better understand the glory of God, it both humbles us and provides us with confidence.
We are humbled by our unworthiness. We understand ourselves to be totally dependent on God for everything. When we think about our righteousness, we see only filthy rags. We bow low, acknowledging what we deserve yet what we have been graciously given. Understanding the glory of God also provides us with confidence. Based on God’s self-revelation, we know that our unworthy prayer is nevertheless heard by the God who is sovereign to act and accomplish what we ask. This confidence lies not in ourselves; it lies in the One to whom we pray. We call it faith.

Whether it is a king, prophet, psalmist, disciple, or the Lord Jesus himself, these four
perspectives are repeated in the prayers we find throughout God’s Word. If we slow our minds to consider these four emphases, we find that the final three grow from the first. If you are fatigued from “saying the same ole things about
the same ole things” in prayer, I encourage you to implement these four perspectives into your
prayers.


Just One More,
Adam Brewer