by Elder Mike Chon
Most Christians know that we should pray. We pray before meals and before we sleep, and even during the day. We also pray when times are difficult and when we need a “favor” from God. Did God tell us to pray so that we can ask for “favors?” Is prayer just to thank God before we eat or before we sleep? There are so many misconceptions regarding prayer that for most of us we never thought about what prayer is actually for.
For those that have been involved in the prosperity gospel movement, you may have thought that prayer is for our own good. If you have a need, especially a physical or materialistic need, that we are called to ask God in faith and that He will answer our prayers. If for some reason we don’t receive what we ask for, the only person we have to blame is ourselves since we apparently didn’t ask without doubting, per passages like Matthew 21:21-22 and Matthew 7:7-11. Is this really why God calls us to pray to Him? Is prayer only use to communicate our needs to God so that He can be our supernatural gift-giver? The problem with this understanding of prayer is that it shifts the focus on our needs and our own desires. It makes prayer into a one-way communication with God that demands our needs to be fulfilled and instead of bringing glory to God, it promotes self-centeredness (and self-deception, if we’re believing that God must answer our prayers). Those that support using prayer in this way, conveniently forget to mention a passage in Scripture that may explain the real reason why those prayers are not being answered. It can be found in James 4:3, and it explains why God does not answer selfish prayers and compares those who pray them to adulterers in verse 4. They have taken what was meant to bring glory to God and used it to glorify themselves.
Another misuse of prayer is as a means to bring attention to your own spirituality and maturity. You’ll find this in superficial churches where they find more value in outward appearances and actions than inward character. They are more concerned with how they appear than what they really are. Most are hypocrites who appear to love God, but instead hate their neighbor, disregard the needy and poor, and forsake their family for recognition and material gain. In these churches you’ll find public prayers to be long, elaborate, and very wordy. Instead of praying out of contrite and humble heart, they sound more like prayer professionals being able to use “spiritual” words in a way that they have never been used before. These are those that pray only when others are around and never alone with God. These are those that would pray a 10-minute prayer for a meal yet never pray for their children’s salvation privately. These are those that would pray with lofty words yet are in constant conflict and strife with fellow members of their own church or family. Prayer was never meant to be a means to bring attention to ourselves. Jesus Himself warned of this type of practice when He spoke about the Pharisees and Gentiles in Matthew 6:5-8.
So what is prayer for? The main focus of our prayer is not for our needs or even the needs of others. Primarily prayer is not just praying for others, even though Christ calls us to do that. Prayer is primarily meant to direct us to God Himself, therefore our prayers should be God-centered and God-focused. It is part of our worship of Him. We are called to glorify God in our prayers. When we see the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 5:9, it begins with “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” God is the focus of our prayer. We are called to praise Him, we are called to worship Him, and we are called to exalt Him in our prayers. Prayer is a call for us to exalt our heavenly Father. The most intimate worship service that each of us should be having is when we are on our knees communing with our Father in our prayers. If you are not praying biblically to God, you are not worshiping God.
May we be a church that worships our great God each and every day of our lives, and not just on Sundays.