Draw near… HEBREWS 4:16
Prayer is a holy art that is better caught than taught. The best way to learn to pray is to start praying. But there are some things that can be learned.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a little book called Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible, in which he said, “It is a dangerous error… widespread among Christians, to think that the heart can pray by itself… Prayer does not mean simply to pour out one’s heart. It means rather to find the way to God and to speak with him, whether the heart is full or empty.”
Many of us have been brought up in a tradition of prayer that emphasises the wonderful truth that we can come to God in the name of Christ at any time. You don’t need an appointment. You don’t need a priest. You do not need to have a special gift with words to speak to God. Through Christ, you can come to God, and you can say to Him whatever is on your heart.
You can shoot an arrow prayer to the Lord in a nanosecond. Arrow prayers are like sending a text message to the Lord. It’s marvellous to be able to do this as you walk into a difficult meeting, a hard conversation, or other situations where you don’t know what to do.
Just as texting is not the only form of communication, arrow prayers are not the only form of prayer. There is much more to praying than instant, “top of the head” requests to God.
How much of your prayer life would you say is made up of “arrow” prayers? 10%? 25%? 50%? 95%?
Written by Colin Smith
Read by Sue McLeish
