"Thou hast made us promises, thou hast commanded us to pray; and here I am, coming not with pious ideas or because I like to pray (perhaps I do not like to pray), and I say to thee what thou hast commanded me to say, 'Help me in the necessities of my life.' Thou must do so; I am here." -Martin Luther It is not permissible to consider prayer as a good work to be done, as a pious, nice, and pretty duty to be performed. Prayer cannot be for us a means of creating something, of making a gift to God and to ourselves; we are in the position of a man who can only receive, who is obliged to speak now to God, since he has no one else to whom he may address himself. Luther has said that we must all be destitute, for we are faced by a great void and have everything to receive and learn from God. - Karl Barth This is from Prayer According to the Catechisms of the Reformation by Karl Barth. Transcripts from a series of seminars which Barth made in 1947, 1948, and 1949. Interesting and probing stuff. Thoughts?
I live the way Luther phrased it, "and I say to thee what thou hast commanded me to say, 'Help me in the necessities of my life.' Thou must do so; I am here." It appears that Luther was simply doing what God told him to do, pray. So it seems natural that if Luther did his "part", it was only natural that Luther expected God to do His "part". Just my initial thought. Prayer is very interesting to me. I've never really felt I truly understood it completely. Interested to see what others opine. (ooh. I'm getting fancy)
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to hear Jesus pray ... evidently He prayed in such a way that had the disciples ask Him to teach them. I think the Lord's Prayer gives us certain principles that, when combined with the right heart attitude, can produce a powerful connection to a God who in fact hears and answers. I do think prayer, when done right, makes the world go round. I really do.
Jesus knew that we needed to know how to pray. It's a necessity because it's what our Lord told us to do, but it was never meant as a burden. Nor was it intended to be a ritual. And Jesus most certainly told us to ask in His name and nothing would be denied us in God's will. Spurgeon said: "We know not what prayer cannot do!" Hope I'm not rambling here.
One of the most effective prayers I have ever prayed (and I have prayed it several times) is also one of the shortest. It goes like this: HELP!!!