Beginning to Pray
This post is entitled, Beginning to Pray because we all are beginners. Sometimes, we may have
questions about prayer: why pray? how to pray? what about this or that related to prayer? But
here’s a perspective which may be helpful and encouraging:
Prayer is not a mystery to be solved. Prayer is a mystery of love to be lived.
Think about the Lord Jesus himself. He, the Son of God incarnate, regularly would retreat to a
desolate place or go up on a mountain to pray in secret (Mark 1:35; 6:46; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 11:1).
Sometimes, perhaps in a Bible study or a sermon, we may hear the question, “If Jesus needed to
spend time alone in prayer, then don’t you think we do too?” The point is well made and true as
far as it goes; but there may be more to it than merely “needing to pray.” Consider this: Maybe it
wasn’t merely that Jesus needed to pray; more to the point, Jesus desired to pray. The incarnate
Son of God desired to live in deep personal communion with his Father. Let that thought gently
shift your perspective on prayer.
Amidst all the demands placed upon Jesus in his public ministry, at the center of his life was his
love for his Father in response to the Father’s love for him. Jesus testified to this union of love,
saying, “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand” (John 3:35); and, “For
this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again” (John
10:17) – the laying down of his life being Jesus’ supreme act of love for his Father (John 14:31).
On the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus expressed this union of love in his great high
priestly prayer, saying, “you (Father) loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).
It was this love between the Father and the Son which continually drew Jesus into prayer. For
Jesus, then, prayer was the experience of deep communion with his Father: the reception of the
Father’s love for him and the expression of his love for his Father.
What if we prayed with that same desire, that same intention: to receive the love of the Father
through Jesus, his Son, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit? And, what if then, in response,
prayer was our way of expressing our love for and to the Triune God?
What if that were your starting point? “Prayer is, first of all, all about God’s love for me and, in
response, my love for God.” Would that change anything about your practice of prayer?
Could it really be true that we fallible sinners could share the same communion of divine love
which united Jesus and his Father? Yes. The Bible tells me so. Jesus said, “he who loves me will
be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21). With these
words, Jesus is speaking to and about his disciples (followers) in the same way in which he
spoke about his relationship with his Father: love received, loved expressed. Contemplate Jesus’
words on the night of the Last Supper: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you” (John
15:9). Jesus declares that we receive from him the love with which he himself has been loved by
his Father from all eternity! And, “…the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me
and have believed that I came from God” (John 16:27). In our union with Jesus through faith, we
are assured that we are indeed loved with the Father’s everlasting love! And then, on that first
Easter morning, the risen Lord said to Mary Magdalene, “…go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I
am ascending to my Father and your (!) Father …” (John 20:17, emphasis added). Having
received Jesus, the gift of the Father, having believed in his name (John 1:12), we have the
promise and assurance that the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is “our Father,” and so, by
the Spirit of adoption we cry out in prayer, “Abba! Father!” – dearly beloved Father! – just as
Jesus the incarnate Son prayed (Romans 8:15).
Prayer is not a mystery to be solved. Prayer is a mystery of love to be lived.
How do we live this mystery of love? Well, let’s begin by setting aside some time each day for
personal communion with God, to be renewed in our reception of his love for us and to renew
our expression of love for him. Don’t set yourself up for failure. It might be 10, 15, 30 minutes in
a secure and quiet place, with your phone OFF. Remember that the best of friends and the most
intimate lovers often savor simply being together in silence. There is no need to worry about the
right words to say; there is no need to chatter.
You may slowly read a Psalm or another brief passage of Scripture and then allow the Spirit-
breathed word of God to give voice to your own prayer. You may also pray the words of the
great hymns of the church, many of which are lyrical prayers. There are also rich resources of
prayer to be found in books which record the prayers of saints through the ages.
And, of course, I would commend to you the prayer which our Lord taught us, commonly called
“The Lord’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4). But, when you pray this prayer, pray
slowly. Give your close attention to each phrase, line by line, meditatively, as you personally
pray to the Father the very words which the Son of God has taught you.
So, let’s begin, and begin again, and again: Prayer is not a mystery to be solved. Prayer is a
mystery of love to be lived.