Why and How Do I Pray? Stories and Illustrations

I heard about this atheist who fell over a cliff. As he was falling over this cliff he managed to grab hold of a tuft of grass. He was holding on to this tuft of grass, dangling, seeing nothing but rocks below him. There was nothing between him and the rock 250 feet below. So in spite of the fact that he was an atheist he cried out. He said, "God, if you're up there, help me!" And to his amazement he heard this deep voice; "I am here. Just let go of the tuft of grass and trust Me." And he thought about it for a moment and he said, "Is there anybody else up there?"

I guess we all sympathize with a student who was coming out of his geography exam, and in desperation he was praying, "Oh God, please make Los Angeles the capital of California."

Sometimes we ask for things that perhaps are not good for us. It's a bit like with our children. Suppose you have two children, aged 3 and they come to you and say, "Oh we'd really like to have a fight with real knives!" Could we play with real knives?" You might be able to explain to them why it's not a good idea; on the other hand you might feel they're too young to understand. You might just have to say "No." And sometimes i think God does say "No to us because he loves us. And he doesn't want us to get hurt.

I heard of one mother, called Monica, a relatively young mother, praying for her teenage son. Her teenage son was a revel. Hew as dishonest, hew as lazy, he was a cheat and he was a thief. And this mother despaired about him and she prayed and she prayed and she prayed for him, but his life just got worse and worse. He had very loose morals, hew as sleeping around, he became the father of a son by a woman he wasn't married ot. And as she prayed, still things didn't seem to be beginning to happen. He joined some weird cult and got involved in all kinds of strange practices. But she just kept praying and praying and praying. She'd been praying for nine years and she'd had a vision during her prayer of this face. And the face was of her son having come to Christ, alive, full of the Holy Spirit. And that kept her going. When the son was 28 years of age, he gave his life to Christ. And was later ordained, he became a bishop. He became perhaps the greatest Theologian in the history of the church. His name is St. Augustine. He came to Christ on 386 A.D. He always attributed his conversion to the prayers of his mother. Her prayers literally changed the course of history.

In late 2003, Debs Paterson was involved in a car crash which almost killed her. This quote is taken from her article, "The day I nearly died" (The Independent, September 2004) where she describes how the incident changed her outlook on life. "As I came round to this new and horrible reality of intensive care and quite terrible pain and fear, hearing that friends were praying was genuine balm. I felt as though I was in a huge storm with no umbrella, but was safe because a crowd of people were holding up theirs over me. In and out of consciousness, unable to communicate, I was trapped in my own corpse. And there is a remarkable clarify there as to what will and what won't sustain you.... The resounding realization that even with a loving family, incredible friends, achievements, accolades, adventures - int the end it's only me, myself, and God."

Some sayings of Jesus leave us with the impression that prayer is a little bit like rubbing Aladdin's lamp. We get whatever we wish for. Some Christians suggest believing this is evidence of a higher plane of spirituality. This isn't true- rather it is a chance to learn an important lesson about how to read and listen to the Bible. Often we treat the Bible like a graphic equalizer or stereo system. We turn up the bass because we like it and turn down the treble. We pick and choose how we hear what we hear. But it is so important to listen to the Bible as a whole, and not just turn up the volume of one or two of your favorite verses to drown out the rest.

Our motives can be completely wrong in prayer. Poet John Betjeman wrote - "Gracious Lord, oh bomb the Germans, spare their women for Thy sake. And if that is not too easy, we will pardon Thy mistake, But, gracious Lord, what'er shall be, don't let anyone bomb me." - from Lady's Cry (1940) The IRA plotted to kill the poet John Betjeman but called the gunmen off because they liked his poetry 9Guardian, April 2000) - but this poem hints at self motivation in prayer.