Another of the “practices” that John Wesley emphasized that enhances our walk with Jesus is prayer. Wesley specifically clarified that he meant “family and private prayer”. An important clarification for our individual journeys as followers of Jesus, as those who are intentional about growing closer to Jesus.
It is probably true for many of us that most (if not all) of our praying is when we gather for worship. We pray a prayer together with others, either in unison or responsively. The prayer is already written for us. We pray the Lord’s Prayer together—a wonderful prayer that certainly is a model for what we should be praying most of the time when we do pray—but again, given to us. We can certainly benefit from prayer together with others—but Wesley addressed praying that wasn’t in a public setting, and most likely not already prepared prayer, such that you are not as invested in your heart in the prayer you lift. Family and private prayer are of a different kind than prepared public prayer.
A few years ago I did a sermon series for Lent on “When to Pray”. It was based on when Jesus prayed, which seems like a pretty good model to work from. Ash Wednesday addressed the instructions from Jesus to pray in private—Matthew 6:6 says “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Of the next seven sermons, five were from Jesus praying by himself in private, and two were from when he was with his disciples, which to me could be termed “family” prayers.
Why such an emphasis? Two quotes to me address this. The first is from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “Morte D’Arthur”: “More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of.” What prayer is bringing about is beyond our control, and very often beyond our awareness, and we all know stories of miraculous medical healings and life transformations that were answers to prayer. And the other quote, from Mother Teresa: “I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I'm praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.”
Prayer does change us. We will most likely find that the more we do it, not only will it become more natural, it will also become more instinctual, and we will find ourselves praying more often and more spontaneously. As Mother Teresa also said, “Love to pray. Feel often during the day the need for prayer, and take trouble to pray. Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of Himself. Ask and seek, and your heart will grow big enough to receive Him and keep Him as your own.”
Family and private prayer truly are practices that sustain our growth as followers of Jesus.
PSALTER Psalm 40:1-3
1I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2He drew me up from the desolate pit,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.
NEW TESTAMENT 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
GOSPEL Matthew 6:6
6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
GOSPEL Luke 18:2-5
2 He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” 4 For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.”’