What about our prayers in public? Longer prayers are, for the most part, for the secret place (Lk 6:12). However, it is generally better to make your public prayers brief (Lk 10:21). When you pray in public you expose the quality and depth of your fellowship with God.
The following are some suggestions that I feel it good to remind myself of before I take part in prayer publicly:
Have a “prepared heart” for prayer. We learn from 1 Ch 17:25; 2 Ch 19:3; 2 Sam 7:27 and Job 11:13 that we should “prepare our hearts to seek God”. We don’t come to the meeting without first preparing our testimony; wouldn’t it be profitable also to prepare our heart and mind for taking part in prayer? Wouldn’t it be good, before we enter the meeting, to search our own heart, discover one or two things that you are especially thankful for, also one or two petitions that you are especially desirous of, and then mention these in your prayer?
Pray a “live prayer”. A “dead prayer” or a “routine prayer” is a prayer that we pray from memory, and not from our heart; something we “say over” most every time we pray; others who hear you regularly will always know just what you are going to say in your prayer. You might as well have a little recording made of your prayer, and when you pray just start the record player and let the machine do your praying! A “live prayer” is one from your heart, something you feel and desire first and foremost at that very time and place.
Pray “specifically” (Mt 9:38; 11:25-27; Jn 11:41-42) Aren’t those wonderful “example prayers” of “praying specifically!” In each opportunity where we pray we should be equally as awake and alive and understanding of the situation and the occasion; we should fit into the Christ-like atmosphere that the Holy Spirit would prompt us to be, and pray accordingly. If you express one of the prayers at the communion part of the meeting, pray “specifically” for that occasion, for what that means to you and to the church. When you give thanks at the table for the meal, you needn’t make a “prayer meeting” of your thanksgiving; rather, a brief simple expression of thanks is more in order. Some of us have been guilty sometimes of, mentioning almost everything else but “thanks” for the food when we give thanks before a meal!
My prayer needn’t be a complete prayer. In the Sunday morning or Wednesday night mtg. my part in the prayer needn’t be “complete”. I needn’t “go around the world and back” in my petitions and thanksgiving. There were many things Jesus could have mentioned in the example prayers, but He didn’t mention them. He prayed for what was the most suitable for that specific occasion. All the prayers offered in the little fellowship meeting blend together to make the “complete prayer” of the church and arise to God as sweet Incense. Yours and my part in this prayer should be just a small part of the overall prayer ascending to God. If we are listening to the prayers of others we won’t again pray for the sick, those alone and not able to get to meetings.
Not “vain repetition” (Mt 6:7) If another has prayed, for example, for the absent members, you needn’t repeat this petition. It has already been prayed, and if you have been “in the Spirit” you have already said, “Amen” in your heart to that petition. In like manner, this should be true of other petitions and expressions of thanks that others have already mentioned in their prayers. You needn’t mention these again to God.
Moreover, in connection with “vain repetition”. I could be guilty of telling the Lord the same thing in many different ways in the same prayer. But God isn’t dumb, and He’s not slow to catch on! One suggestion to Him is sufficient in regard to any petition or expression of thanks.
Putting in excess words, or phrases is just “padding” and makes public prayers long and boresome, and perhaps robs others of time they might use to better advantage when they pray after you are finished.
Don’t “preach” while praying. This seems hardly in line with the spirit of prayer. Some have developed the habit of “preaching with their eyes closed” or, “doing a little preaching while they are praying”. This seems hardly in line with the spirit of prayer. If we are “preaching at another” or “preaching at others” while praying, we aren’t praying or getting in touch with God ourself. We should not “pray at another”, but rather, with divine love in our hearts, “pray considering them”. Our public prayers should express our heartfelt love for God, for His Kingdom, for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and for those who do not as yet know Him. Our prayers in public should be edifying to those who listen. Hebrews 10:24 And let us CONSIDER ONE ANOTHER to provoke unto love and to good works:
Speak loud enough and distinctly enough in prayer so that all can hear and understand (Neh 8:8). One is only wasting the time of others when their prayer cannot be heard or understood. Each of us need to check up on ourselves along this line. If you know of a brother or sister in your group that you have difficulty hearing, it is your duty to kindly and graciously tell that person that you appreciate their efforts and you realize they are praying helpfully, but that you cannot hear them. You would like them to speak a little louder in order that you can be able to enter more fully into their spiritual fellowship with God.
Truth Archive 