Professional Prayers Not Needed

We started up a Teen Church last week at our church. It meets in our Fellowship Hall during our main worship service in the church. The service is being structured to be led by teens. We will have teen musicians, ushers, leaders, speakers, etc. Today during the prayer time one of the preteens volunteered to take prayer requests and lead the prayer. The leader told me that the young man got several requests from kids whose grandmothers needed prayer. When he started to pray it was obvious he could not remember all whose grandmothers needed prayer so he stopped and said, “Lord . . . ., just bless all the grandmothers in general.”

Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7 NKJV). That is sure not the case for this young man! Prayer is the Christian privilege to converse with God. I think sometimes we take it for granted and at other times we really do not understand its impact upon our lives. It could be because it seems that prayer is not the same as a verbal conversation. Prayer sometimes gets mixed in with other thoughts; or maybe mine just do. Then there are the public prayers. Some are long and drawn out and are eloquently spoken. Others are loud and animated. Some are whispered and some are just thoughts directed to God. However one chooses to pray the aspect we must keep in mind is that the only rule Christ gave us was in regards to how many words we use. Don’t waste words and don’t try to impress Him with words; He knows what we are going to pray before we ever initiate it (Matthew 6:8). The Apostle Paul urged us to pray without ceasing! That simply means never quit and not continually praying a particular prayer. I believe the Lord would say that we do not need to be professional prayers.

One of the most powerful prayers ever prayed was spoken by a condemned criminal directly to Jesus as they both hang on Roman crosses. “Remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). He only used eight words and they gained him eternal life! He got right to the point because his breath was limited. It was enough for Christ. The next time you decide to pray; just do it. You do not have to be in a special place, at a special time, on a special occasion, or in a special pose. Make your petitions known to God. Prayer is a Christian privilege; do not abuse it but use it. My prayer is that all who read this will pray; in general.