Prayer - my connection with God, my soul's lifeblood, my river of peace. Prayer fascinates and, yet, baffles me. How does it work? Why does it work? What does prayer actually do? When do answers come? How does one differentiate between the results of prayer from basic coincidence?
My response to these questions - whether others have asked them of me or I asked them of myself - has most often been, "I don't know, but by faith and experience, I know it works." I still come back to that response, even in the midst of deepest doubt or questions. Remembering when God has miraculously intervened in my life and the lives of those around me gives hope and deepens my faith.
Several books have been helpful in forming my current thoughts: The Prayer of Jesus, by Ken Hemphill; Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home, by Richard Foster; and Quiet Talks on Prayer, by S. D. Gordon. I have been practicing prayer in many different ways over the past few weeks and have become convinced that there is not just one way to pray. Often we are told that praying during a daily "quiet time," in our "prayer closet," while "on our knees" is the most appropriate (and essential) method for all growing Christians. To say that there is one model or method to pray negates the very different personalities with which God has endowed humans. Studying personality theory (particularly Myers/Briggs) and the applications of that theory on spirituality has shown me that there are many different methods to pray, some of which are more comfortable or natural for certain personalities than for others. There are extroverted prayers and introverted prayers. There are prayers that are more appropriate for people who are logical and systematic and others for those who are more emotional and laid back. And that is a good thing! In most churches, when we have taught children to pray we teach one way (bow your head, close your eyes, fold your hands in front of you....). How tragic! People who are not comfortable praying like that often grow up feeling unspiritual. Those of us who are spontaneous and who like change grow up feeling we are not disciplined spiritually because we don't have a specific time each day when we pray for a specific amount of time. We don't have a prayer journal that traces our prayer for the many years since we have called ourselves Christians. Does that make us any less Christian, any less spiritual than those who find such prayer practices natural?
This morning I found a message in my inbox from the Bruderhof community (http://www.bruderhof.com/articles/jca/Painting.htm?source=DailyDig) that speaks to this issue. It was rather refreshing! Foster's book on prayer teaches several different methods of prayer discipline and practice. There are some great resources written by those who have worked with the Myers/Briggs Personality Inventory from a spiritual perspective. These are very helpful and enlightening to the students I work with. It is very freeing to discover that our natural tendencies are not weird or radical, but are normal outcomes of who God has created us to be.
Instead of locking ourselves and others into a tightly defined definition of prayer, lets pray with freedom and playfulness, learning to communicate with God in ways similar to the way we communicate with others. Lets help others discover ways they can find freedom in Christ through prayer!
