Prayer--An Introduction
/Welcome to the Wednesday Recap!
What is the Wednesday Recap, you ask? Each Wednesday, I recap the discussion from the previous week’s Local table gathering. Each week, The Local meets in various homes around a table to eat, worship, read and discuss the Bible, and pray for each other and our community. Living on mission is our response to the grace and love Jesus has shown us. We share the Gospel and show love to those we encounter where we live, learn, work, and play. While this recap gives people a chance to review, it also gives folks who were unable to gather with us a chance to catch up on what we are learning and working on together. I hope you find it a blessing. Be well, and I will see at our Local table!
What Jesus Taught Us About Prayer
I remember sitting in the chapel at Madigan Army Hospital one fine Summer day. I had taken my dad to get his chemo treatment that day. I spent time with him by his seat as he was getting the treatment, but at some point, I excused myself to wander about the floors of the hospital. Earlier in life, I had spent six months volunteering for the Red Cross at Madigan out of the chaplain’s office. My post: the pediatric cancer ward. I would spend time sitting next to the babies or toddlers who had cancer. Parents couldn’t spend 24/7 with them, so when they did not have a parent in the room, I would simply sit by the bed or sometimes by the “case” as a baby might have to be insulated by a clear material to protect them from germs. My job was just to be a comforting presence. As you might imagine, this was a difficult duty, so I would make my way down to the chapel to pray and think when time permitted. Now years later, when I wandered away from my dad and his chemo, I went down to that same chapel to talk with my my heavenly Dad about my earthly one. It gave me comfort—if not any answers to the questions I struggled with.
If not in a hospital chapel, we’ve all been in prayer at some point in our lives wondering, ”Is anyone listening? Am I getting through?” Or maybe you sit down to pray, and suddenly your mind drifts to your grocery list. Or you feel like you are repeating the same five phrases over and over. You might have also thought to yourself, if God already knows everything, why do I even need to ask? At some point in our lives, we’ve all struggled with doubt or have become weary awaiting a response to our heartfelt requests. Last Sunday, we dove deep into Matthew 6 and the Gospel of Luke to discuss prayer. What we found is that Jesus didn't view prayer as a duty. He viewed it as a radical blueprint for connection.
What Is Prayer? (The Divine Direction)
In Matthew 6:9, Jesus gives a direct command: "Pray, then, in this way..."
The Command
The original Greek word used here is proseuchesthe (from the root proseuchomai). It is written as a grammatical imperative. This means prayer is not an optional suggestion for "super-Christians." It is a direct instruction for every believer.
The Blueprint
Notice Jesus says, "Pray in this manner." He does not say, "Recite this exact script." He is giving us a structural framework for a lifestyle of communication, not a speech to memorize.
The Word Study
To understand what prayer actually is, we have to look at the two Greek words combined to make proseuchomai:
Pros: Means "toward, close, or face-to-face closeness."
Euchomai: Means "to speak out, wish, or make a request."
“Biblical prayer is not a religious checklist. It is drawing intimately close to God for a face-to-face exchange of our hearts for His will.”
I’m reminded of a child who grabs their dad’s face with both hands, gets close, and says, “Dad, please pay attention to me. Can we talk?”
Why Pray? (The Purpose of Prayer)
If God is all-knowing, why do we even have to voice our prayers? Scripture reveals that the purpose of prayer is transformational, relational, and spiritual. Prayer does not change God; it changes us. It aligns our hearts with His desires:
"Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10)
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4)
God desires fellowship, not just informational updates. Prayer builds deep, trusting dependence. When you were a child, did you ever climb into an adult’s lap? Perhaps a parent or grandparen't’s lap. You just wanted to be close to them or perhaps you needed a measure of comfort or security. Whatever the reason, we can close our eyes during prayer and imagine ourselves climbing into our Heavenly Father’s lap to achieve a measure of closeness or comfort in a time of need or just because we love Him.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians 4:6)
"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." (James 4:8)
God has chosen to partner with His people. He uses our prayers to enact His power on earth. Sometimes the purpose of prayer is to get things done in the Kingdom. Sometimes it may be to take back ground the Devil has stolen. Like James says, "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him... The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." (James 5:14-16) What work do you need to get done today? Martin Luther was purported to have said, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer." Imagine that!
How NOT to Pray (The Negative Examples)
Before Jesus shows us the right way to pray, He uses Matthew 6:5–8 to expose two religious traps.
Trap #1: Praying for Performance
This is praying to receive human applause and validation.
The Warning: "They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others." (v. 5)
The Lesson: If you pray to be seen by others, their praise is the only reward you will ever get.
Trap #2: Praying with Empty Babbling
This is the belief that you can manipulate God through sheer word count and mindless repetition.
The Warning: "Do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." (v. 7)
The Lesson: God is a loving Father, not a vending machine you can trick with magic formulas.
How to Pray (The Character of True Prayer)
As Jesus explains it, prayer requires a completely different attitude than the kind of prayer above. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus uses two parables to show us what real prayer looks like in action.
In Luke 11:5–13, a man bangs on his neighbor’s door at midnight because he needs bread to feed an unexpected guest. The neighbor doesn't get up because they are friends; he gets up because of the man’s "shameless audacity" (v. 8). Jesus’ point is simple: If a grumpy neighbor will give you bread because you refuse to stop knocking, how much more will your loving heavenly Father give you? We are called to Ask, Seek, and Knock continuously (v. 9). Be bold. Be persistent. Don’t give up.
In Luke 18:1–8, Jesus tells a story specifically, so we "should always pray and not give up" (v. 1). A corrupt, heartless judge finally grants justice to a poor widow simply because she refuses to stop bothering him. Jesus ends this parable with a challenging question: "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (v. 8). This ties your persistence directly to your faith. Stopping your prayers means you have lost faith that God is listening. Continuing to pray, even when the answer is delayed, is the ultimate proof that you still trust Him. Do you still trust Him today? Then don’t give up. Keep praying.
I never stopped praying and believing my dad would be healed of his cancer—even up to the time of his death. Afterward, through the pain and loss, I continued to seek God for answers. Was there meaning to be found in this? What was the reason for it all? What was I to do now? These questions were prayers. Perhaps not eloquent prayers, but they were prayers of a child asking his Father questions from the heart. I am still praying for answers 20 years later.
Prayer is your open invitation to step out of the noise and sit face-to-face with your Father in Heaven. Drop the performance. Lose the empty words. Knock on the door with bold confidence, knowing your Father is ready to answer—no matter how long it takes. Let’s be bold this week. Think about something you gave up praying for years ago. Take a step of faith and begin to believe again, taking it to the Lord in prayer, even if the only answer you receive is the relationship you gain along the way.
Thank you for reading! If you are new to The Local, welcome! I hope you decide to stay. If you have stumbled onto this blog somehow, and you have gotten something out of these words, please share it with me. You are welcome at our table.