John Piper says that prayer is “intentionally conveying a message to God.”
Stanley Hauerwas says that prayer is “bending our will
toward God.” Eugene Peterson says prayer is, “dealing personally and seriously
with God as the central reality of life.” And Stanley J. Grenz has said that
prayer “is the cry for the kingdom.”
There are a myriad of ways we can answer the question, “What is prayer?”
Perhaps ‘what’ prayer is is less important than its purpose.
E.M. Bounds writes that, “Prayer honors God; it dishonors self. It is
man’s plea of weakness, ignorance, want; a plea which heaven cannot disregard.”
Oswald Chambers says, “Prayer is the way the life of God is nourished.”
In asking such a simple question we may quickly be confounded by a
plethora of legitimate responses. The question is actually so open-ended and
subjective.
What is prayer in a construct of thought? Let’s answer the question from
the viewpoint of six recognised Christian traditions:
What is prayer from the Contemplative
tradition? The contemplative is someone who engages mystically through
meditation. There is inward engagement in the experience of God. Prayer,
therefore, is a critically important in the inner world of the contemplative.
Prayer is a central engagement of life.
What is prayer from the Holiness
tradition? Virtuous life is the key to the believer who aligns to the holiness
tradition. This is the disciple of
Christ. Prayer is a key to life because it’s the way the disciple grows in God.
For someone who lives to become more Christlike prayer is both a resource and
tool, as well as a medium, for communicating with God.
What is prayer from the Charismatic
tradition? When our lives are immersed in, empowered by, and under the
direction of the Spirit of God, and we are prayerful, we find that prayer
connects us never better with the Spirit of God. Prayer is the lifeblood of the
person filled with the Holy Spirit – as every true disciple of Jesus Christ is.
What is prayer from the Social
Justice tradition? Such a life that is involved in advocacy is derived from
passion for the vulnerable. Prayer from the aspect of someone who lives for the
liberation of the oppressed is about intercession. Prayer from the social
justice tradition is about praying for the persecuted church, the Third World,
minority groups, and anything or anyone really needing support or a leg-up in
life.
What is prayer from the Evangelical
tradition? If you have a burden for ‘the lost’ you will probably be caused to
pray for those near and far who you think need Jesus. Prayer from the
evangelical tradition is about intercession; for the lost, for the hurting who
need Jesus; for anyone who does not know God. It’s about praying for those who
don’t know God.
What is prayer from the Incarnational
tradition? As we invite the Spirit of God within us to transform us, by healing
us, by turning our experience of God into something real by his Presence, we
experience something of the incarnational life. Prayer from the incarnational
tradition is about imploring God to help us experience more of Jesus’ life in
our own life; to become more essentially Christlike, by experience.
Prayer is many things to many people, but it should be about bending our
will toward God’s; to pray for others to be blessed and to pray for ourselves
to grow.
© 2014 S. J. Wickham.
No comments:
Post a Comment