Surely that which ranks next in important to listening to the voice of God through the daily reading of His Word, is our response to it in prayer. Prayer is part of the preacher’s essential equipment and needs to be thought about carefully.
We live in the age of the ‘trained talker.’ Our children are taught, not simply to speak, but to be competent conversationalists. They leave school brimming with self-confidence to a degree that would have been considered forward and impudent by past generations. Salesmen are trained to talk in a constant stream of persuasive eloquence, and even some preachers have developed a ‘patter’ with which to greet their doorstep listeners.
But he who would speak to God must have none of this and will need first to strip himself of all that the world teaches him about being a good talker. He must come to God with as much thought and careful preparation as he would in delivering a speech to an earthly monarch, but must leave behind his ‘gift of gab.’ It is this preparation aspect that perhaps deserves a greater emphasis because it is so frequently neglected in our prayers. Too often we go down on our knees at the end of the day, too tired to think, and pour out a hurried supplication as a necessary precedent to putting our heads on the pillow. Yet, while prayer is part of the preparation for preaching, prayer itself must also be properly prepared.
So, we sit down first and ask ourselves what things we want to pray for and perhaps with the aid of pencil and paper, we make a list. It is a long list and it quickly becomes apparent that embracing it all each evening is largely impractical. Out of this has grown a habit, which some have found useful, of making a ‘Prayer Diary’. This involves thinking in greater detail about a particular function of our prayers each day so that, for example:
Friday/Saturday: Prayer is for the work of preaching. It involves thinking about the preachers who will go out on Saturday and Sunday; mentally listing the campaigns of the week ahead; thinking of the towns and people involved.
Saturday/Sunday: Prayer is for counting one’s blessings; for asking for blessing on the events of the week; for supplicating help to overcome weaknesses and sins (these need more than a general plea for forgiveness; they require listing and thinking about that one might truly repent of them). Prayer is to prepare for the Sunday service and for partaking worthily of the emblems.
Sunday/Monday: Prayer is for the ecclesia, all its members, many of whom one will want, for special reasons, to mention by name, whose circumstances will need to be thought about; and all ecclesial work in different fields—Sunday School, Youth Circle, etc.
And so on. Other evenings will include special prayers for the sick and lonely, listing those known personally; for those involved in mission work — some again to be mentioned by name—and of course one evening or morning will need to be devoted to self-examination, praying for spiritual growth and character, and seeking guidance in different departments of one’s life and career.
Some of these will overlap.
And some things may need to be included in daily prayers.
And many more you will need to add. But this is a framework only. It must not become a mere ‘shopping list’ of wants to lay before God, but a thoughtful and careful outline of what to say to our Father. It need not in any way lessen the sincerity of prayer, for it is not the phraseology that must be planned but the prayer — what it wants to talk about, where it wants to go, and why, The heart will decide how to say it, and its outpourings will be the more effective for its prior meditation.
And so the petition is presented. There is no place for prayer — save everywhere. There is not time — save always. But there is an attitude, an attitude characterized by a humble reverence for the King of heaven and earth as we dare to address Him, a frankness as we lay bare our hearts, and a simplicity as we put aside fair speeches and meaningless cliches to say what we mean.
This sort of prayer is a preparation. It prepares, in the immediate sense, for a life more consciously lived in the company of God, for the problems that we meet along our way, and for our services before Him. But it is a preparation in the long term too. It establishes a working relationship between ourselves and God, and for the preacher particularly this is important. Preaching after all is his business, and that does not mean in special campaigns but in his way of life. He is a worker, a partner in God’s business, and he cannot therefore allow his preparation to be the last-minute committing of arrangements to God in a superstitious endeavor to sanctify his labors. Prayer must be the basis of all he does.
Abroad, more than at home perhaps, the preacher needs to be in contact with God. There are many places he will go where he will be alone, unable to experience the fellowship of nearby brethren and sisters and unable to enjoy the ‘security’ that their presence somehow always supplies. There will be many situations in which he will be thrown back on the only source of strength there is, and the only Supplier of his need. It is these circumstances that develop faith. There is no-one near upon whom to rely, and the preacher is driven to trust more wholly in God and to depend entirely on Him. Communication with God is his lifeline then, and prayer an all-important part of his life.
And so it should be now. The ideal is not beyond us, and whilst it may take an experience abroad to prove it to us, we ought to be aiming at this ideal now. God is as desirous now of receiving our wholehearted confidence and trust and as willing to listen to our present prayers. What better time to begin than right away with the request for help and guidance in our endeavors to improve our prayer-life? Lord, teach us to pray.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One