Published by What about the amount or type of prayer that is expected for Christians? Is there a specific number of minutes-per-day requirement or a physical posture requirement? What about signs or actions during prayer? Prayer is considered a Christian element. Let’s look at Scriptural suggestions.
In the Gospel of Luke, a disciple asked Jesus Christ to teach His disciples to pray, just as John the Baptist taught his followers. At that time, Jesus introduced the Model Prayer, which some people refer to as the Lord’s Prayer. Actually, however, the Lord’s Own prayer is found in the Gospel of John, chapter seventeen, when Jesus prayed for His followers at the time as well as those people who would become His followers in the future.
The Model Prayer was not intended to be memorized and quoted over and over. It was an example to be followed when a Christian prays. The Christian’s prayer most likely would not be exactly like the Model but would contain similar elements as the Model.
Most devout Christians try to live as though Jesus Christ is walking beside them at work, at home, at play as well as in a worship service. Not only do they pray when they awaken in order to thank God for allowing them to awaken to another day. They often choose to pray before eating a meal and again at bedtime. Of course, they remember to go to God when significant problems come into their lives. This seems to be a natural reaction.
In the same chapter in the Gospel of Luke in which we find the Model Prayer, Jesus went on to describe a situation in which someone wanted to borrow some bread from a friend at night. The friend was already in bed and did not want to arise to grant the request. The one who wanted the bread kept asking until the friend got tired of the imposition and got up to give his friend the bread he wanted. Jesus suggested that there are situations in which Christians need to be more concerned than to simply ask one time for a request.
Jesus does not tell us to do special magical things, such as making the sign of the cross or falling on our faces on the ground when praying. The Scriptures tell us that He and the Heavenly Father are our friends. We can approach them as friends. In fact, Abraham, one of the Old Testament patriarchs, was called the Friend of God.
Jesus, by His own example, lets us know that prayer sometimes needs to be of longer duration and with more earnest implications. When he prayed in the garden at night, the disciples who were with Him slept. After he prayed a while, he came and rebuked them for not having enough interest to pray with Him. There seem to be times when longer prayers are in order. These are not the time for public displays of prayer but rather, when intense interest from deep within us prompts us to go to God for our immediate needs.
An old hymn of the Church, written by C. Austin Miles, expresses the outlook of Christians concerning prayer. The hymn is In the Garden. The chorus is enough to express the Christian’s feeling about prayer:
“And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own.
And the joys we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.”
Prayer is and should be the act of communicating with our Best Friend.
