I'm not talking about keeping in touch with family and friends, though this is vital to a healthy and fit spiritual life--for if we are awry in our human relationships we are ill at ease with God too. They can be distinguished but not separated; we need both the vertical and the horizontal relationship to be well spiritually. Many would assume that a long articulate prayer will automatically get results and since it impresses those in attendance, it expresses God's will more explicitly. We need not draw attention to ourselves; the best prayers get lost in the presence of God. Job said, "O that I might know where I might find him."
Prayer is like entering another dimension where we approach the throne room and God's gracious presence and the Holy Spirit just uses us as a channel or conduit of grace to pray on our behalf. "...The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." [Better feelings without words, than words without feelings, it has been said.] And so God translates our prayers in spite of ourselves--no need to impress God with high sounding words or thinking that with many words we will be heard. Recall the publican who simply prayed, "God be merciful to me the sinner!"
Preachers tend to sermonize and preach in their prayers and think that it is the time for a doctrinal exposition or want to elaborate the best they know-how even if the average Joe gets lost in the shuffle. Some believers have a special anointing of prayer-works and are the exception to the rule; J. I. Packer says that his prayers are feeble as it were and nothing to brag about but they are his private matter.
The test of prayer is the result, not that we are expedient, but we must realize that it is done to us according to our faith. The Pharisees were very articulate and pompous in their prayers and Jesus called them hypocrites. Psalm 116:1-2 shows us that the psalmist prayed because he knew God heard him. This is my experience: the more I realize that God hears me, the more I pray. Psalm 119 is the longest prayer in the Bible and shows that prayer can be refined and polished and doesn't always have to be spontaneous, extemporaneous, or be an ad lib effort.
Now the best players put the focus on God and not on ourselves; the more they dwell on Christ the closer we draw to the throne of grace. We are not to always be uttering prayers, but be in the attitude of prayer with the line open, as it were. Finally, it is important to "pray the Word" and by this, I mean utter the prayers of the Bible and personalize the text to your own life situation. Soli Deo Gloria!
Prayer is like entering another dimension where we approach the throne room and God's gracious presence and the Holy Spirit just uses us as a channel or conduit of grace to pray on our behalf. "...The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." [Better feelings without words, than words without feelings, it has been said.] And so God translates our prayers in spite of ourselves--no need to impress God with high sounding words or thinking that with many words we will be heard. Recall the publican who simply prayed, "God be merciful to me the sinner!"
Preachers tend to sermonize and preach in their prayers and think that it is the time for a doctrinal exposition or want to elaborate the best they know-how even if the average Joe gets lost in the shuffle. Some believers have a special anointing of prayer-works and are the exception to the rule; J. I. Packer says that his prayers are feeble as it were and nothing to brag about but they are his private matter.
The test of prayer is the result, not that we are expedient, but we must realize that it is done to us according to our faith. The Pharisees were very articulate and pompous in their prayers and Jesus called them hypocrites. Psalm 116:1-2 shows us that the psalmist prayed because he knew God heard him. This is my experience: the more I realize that God hears me, the more I pray. Psalm 119 is the longest prayer in the Bible and shows that prayer can be refined and polished and doesn't always have to be spontaneous, extemporaneous, or be an ad lib effort.
Now the best players put the focus on God and not on ourselves; the more they dwell on Christ the closer we draw to the throne of grace. We are not to always be uttering prayers, but be in the attitude of prayer with the line open, as it were. Finally, it is important to "pray the Word" and by this, I mean utter the prayers of the Bible and personalize the text to your own life situation. Soli Deo Gloria!