Hey people, my parents raised me Catholic, and I grew up reciting prayers in church. Anyone been there? Standing in a church while everyone says the same prayer? (Sometimes I wonder what the room would look like if everyone had a bubble over their head which revealed their thoughts. Hmm.) On the contrary, “freelance prayer” can be scary. For instance, I’ve seen more than one person refuse to pray out loud. Well, blog peeps… you’re in luck. I have the biggest prayer tip you’ll ever need.
Being Saved
In truth, I never liked the phrase, “saved.” For some reason, it sounds so lofty, so high and mighty when people say it. But, what the hey? After I was saved and more active in church, I felt intimidated by people who prayed off the cuff. In Catholicism, we repeated prayers written in books…we didn’t have to make up prayers on the fly!
However, once saved, the Holy Spirit nudged me to grow in my prayer life. (Oh brother, growth again?). To practice, I would set a timer and pray for a set period of time. While helpful, this is not the biggest prayer tip.
The truth is, even after being a saved Christian for over a decade (okay enough of that), I still feel prayer intimidation. And let’s be honest here, I’m pretty a direct person. I don’t routinely have difficulty getting something off my chest. However, to hear someone use flowery, eloquent language to pray makes my directness seem inadequate.
The Biggest Prayer Tip
In a small group once, the Spirit prompted a little 4-line prayer into my heart. Three people in the group prayed before me for a total of 45 minutes! After all that time went by, I didn’t want to say my miniscule four line prayer.
But, wait. Maybe I should have.
Here’s the key: the biggest prayer tip you’ll ever need is to embrace the short prayer. The truth is, many times people love brevity…to the point, short and sweet. No muss, no fuss.
Let’s think about football (ahh, football). And, here’s the question… which is more important in a game, the long pass or the short pass? (Matt Stafford, care to weigh in?) Long bomb to the end zone? Ten-yard slant pass? The answer is both. Both are needed for first downs, both are needed to run a good offense.
We need both in football, and we need both in prayer. For example, I love prayer that stirs up the Holy spirit in the room, and I love a prayer which is a poignant balm on a wound.
If the Word is the meat and milk of our faith, then prayer is the water. While freelance prayer may feel unnatural, that’s okay. However, we have to sharpen our weapons if we hope to use them because, honestly, we run an offense as Christ’s Church. Thus, we must practice and we must get confident in using the words the Holy Spirit gives us. Every missed prayer is a missed chance at communication with our Father, a missed chance to give blessings, and a missed chance to grow in our faith.
The Final Say
God always has me give testimony on something in order to teach me. What I learned while preparing for this is that thoughts of my prayers being too short or not good enough are lies. Lies told to me by the enemy to keep me quiet (as if) because he knows the power of prayer.
So I’m going to embrace the short prayer. Not only that, I’m going to promote it. In groups, I’ll be the first one to pray, and I’ll keep it short because maybe that will take pressure off of someone else.
Need an example?
Dear Jesus, protect my nieces from harm and draw them closer to you. Amen.
Lord, be with me in every conversation that I have today. Be by my side. Amen.
Heavenly Father, show me the path I should take. Amen.
Holy Spirit, give me the words to say in this difficult conversation. Amen.
Dear Lord, help my unbelief. Amen.
All are prayers; all are valid. You don’t have to be flowery to be powerful. Holy God, please open the eyes of everyone who reads this to the miracles which surround them everyday. Amen.
Love, K.
Author of Ten Iron Principles, Contributor in The Power to Make a Difference
