On Prayer

When it comes to prayer, I am not much of an expert on the subject, more of a pilgrim who is still making the journey to grow deeper. I am blessed as I listened to sincere prayers offered in the worship services or the prayer times. I am blessed listening to the manner in which the prayer is crafted and prayed, and while we might say it is also an art, the deep beauty lies in the sincerity and the conviction with which the prayer is said.

There are five images that come to my mind when I think of prayer. The first is a song that I sang as a kid in Sunday School: "Read your Bible pray everyday, you will grow, grow, grow." This simple chorus goes on to say "leave your Bible forget to pray, you will shrink, shrink, shrink." I must say I have sung this song full-throatedly but have not practiced this full-heartedly. When it comes to prayer, there is a mismatch between what I know to be good and what I practice. It is not that I do not understand that prayer is a good spiritual discipline, it is that I fail to practice this with the same sense and passion that I know about it. My lunch prayers have been the most revealing about me and my prayers: my mouth knows the exact shape and sound it should make and like muscle memory performs the task devoid of my mind. There is still the need for intentionality as I say my prayers.

The second image is the phrase that James uses of Elijah, as "a man just like us" and yet as Elijah prayed, the rains stopped and when Elijah prayed again, the rains returned. "A man just like us." one who was discouraged, felt defeated and had to be restored if we look back into his story. What does Elijah teach me on prayer? Prayer is not a monopoly of the super-spiritual or the supernatural; it is open for every one of us because when we pray it is not us but God who acts.

The third imagery is that of my former late professor who taught us a short course on prayer a the seminary. His favorite line being "prayer changes things." Why is this significant for me? Because my late professor was almost semi-paralyzed in one hand, he could not walk like us nor help himself at the dining table like us. And yet, he would with conviction repeat that line, or rather sing the lines in the chorus, "prayer changes things." I have always wondered if he ever prayed for "full" healing or for getting better. And yet as I saw him, something got ingrained in my mind, prayer does not always mean having it my way. Yes, prayer changes things, it changes the way we see things if not the things themselves.

The fourth is from the movie The War Room in which the wife goes into a series of intercession for her family and especially her husband. She clears a closet and makes it her space for prayer. What did I take away from this? It is that of one wrestling with God and asking Him to act on our behalf. A prayer I am reminded is not just random words whispered off halfheartedly; it is a decisive weapon given to us to both fight against evil and to plead with our Father. Prayer requires energy, not in the sense of loudness but earnestness. 

The last and the final imagery is that of two trees. Imagine two big trees standing tall. Maybe the trees you are imagining are blooming, maybe they have fruits, maybe there are birds chirping and skipping along the branches or maybe they are two big trees with lush green leaves swaying slowly in the breeze that blows through it. Let us suppose that a storm hits the area and the two trees are battered by the strong winds. After the storm dies, you look out for the trees and see that one of the trees has fallen down, it lies uprooted in the ground. The other tree has broken branches, dangling in the air, some on the ground. One tree has succumbed to the force of the storm; the other has withstood the storm, yes it is has been battered, it has broken branches but the important thing, it is still rooted and in time it will grow new leaves and branches. It will hopefully, when spring comes grow new shoots and flower and bear fruit again. The other tree as mighty as it was, because it is already uprooted, will not rise again, it will not flower again, it will slowly die off. What is the lesson that we learn from these two trees? If you are to survive a storm, you have to be deeply rooted in the ground—the deep rooted tree may be battered by a howling storm, it may lose some or most of its branches, but in due time it will flower and fruit and thrive again. Why? Because the roots go deep and the tree is sustained by these deep roots. A man rooted in prayer (and also to the reading of the Word too) is like that tree, one that withstands the storm, battered but still standing its ground.

I am still a pilgrim when it comes to prayer. I need to devote much more time to the practice of this spiritual discipline. But the little that I know,  God is not a genie in a bottle. But when I pray,  I get the sense of who God is and who I am and what I want to be - the battered but still standing tree.