by Jill Roberts and Michael Canale
Recently, Michael and I were talking about how each of us prays. Michael spoke of the best setting for prayer as being important – “finding your quiet space and talking to God.” His thought has significant affirming Scriptural authority, so much so that it made it into the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is speaking:
“…when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6) NIV
The Message explains even better the actual reasons for seeking solitude. Again, Jesus is speaking:
“Here’s what I want you to do. Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage.” ( Matthew 6:6)
Avoiding this kind of role-playing is so critical, that Jesus used a parable to teach how to part ways with such a practice. Juxtaposing a good prayer with one that is ineffective, Jesus said,
“ Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to Heaven but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.” (Luke 17:10-14) NIV
Often counter-intuitive, what Jesus spoke was not hyperbole. Perhaps not to the degree of this pompous Pharisee, but role-playing in its more subtle forms is a danger to all in prayer.
The first error of the Pharisee’s prayer was that he stationed himself in a very public setting, a striking departure from the “quiet and secluded place” advocated by Jesus. On the other hand, Scripture notes that the tax collector “stood at a distance.” Luke 5:16 sets forth that “…Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” While most would not pontificate in prayer as the Pharisee did, the point remains that place is often determinative of directness and candor with God.
Also, as discussed in an earlier blog about the Lord appearing to Elijah, God is in the “gentle whisper.” (1 Kingd 19:12) NIV First and foremost, this is what we need to be able to hear. In the peace and still of “lonely places,” this whisper is audible; the soft hush of His voice perceptible and clear.
Contemporaneous with this parable is another that centers on a landmark teaching of Jesus as to prayer. Have you ever prayed for someone for years, even decades? Jesus would say that you are on the right track:
“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said, ‘In a certain town, there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
For some time, he refused. But, finally, he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come back and attack me!’
And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off?” I tell you, He will see that they get justice and quickly.” (Luke 18:1-8) NIV
In an article on this parable, Nadia Bolzweber writes so eloquently that,
“These prayers are like gossamer threads connecting us to God and God’s people. When we pray on another’s behalf, we become connected to that person through God and we become connected to God through that person. These gossamer threads of prayer, woven through the space and time of our lives…”
Is there a time span to which we should limit prayer? Jesus makes it clear that there is not. We must persevere. Paul wrote that we should “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16) KJV In speaking of Moses, Michael says, I’m sure Moses prayed for things for 40 years that won’t happen until the end of time!” How profound a thought this is. Until the end of time…Revelation affirms this. There must be no self-imposed cap or time constraint on our prayers. God is working out all of it in His own timing.
In addition to prayer’s setting and persistence, there are two other essential points to make. The first is practical, the second, ethereal.
Practically, we look to Philippians in this storied reminder to make thankfulness a centerpiece of our prayer:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, WITH THANKSGIVING, (emphasis added), present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:5) NIV
Michael takes an oft-quoted commercial term and turns it into theology when he says how crucial it is “to appreciate all of God’s goodwill toward man.” How many are like myself and praying petition after petition, without ceasing, often to the exclusion of thanking the author of every blessing? How readily we can forget to be gracious in prayer.
Finally, the ethereal and the explanation behind the title of this blog – the gossamer threads, the heavenly, the celestial of this blog. Michael spoke of it when he associated the one praying and their face while in the midst of this, with the “smile behind the smile” of the Mona Lisa. Da Vinci’s most famous paintings are arguably “The Last Supper” and the “Mona Lisa.” The latter’s smile has been studied down the centuries and yet remains mysterious. What conclusions can we, nevertheless, draw about what this iconic artist wanted to convey and what this has to do with a blog on prayer? We believe that this smile has as its impetus bliss and that we, also, can experience it while realizing that prayer is, as Dallas Willard wrote, “…talking to God about what we are doing together.” It is what we are doing with I AM, God, the Father, the One who has never not existed. This God has asked to have an audience with the likes of us through prayer! Mona Lisa’s “smile behind the smile” is visible on the face of the prayer as we experience this sublime connection with Him. Da Vinci knew this. He painted it; we can know it. The transcendency is breathtaking!
Let us never take for granted the association that we enjoy, the eternal gift – this miracle called prayer. As it was spoken of the Early Church, may it be said of us that we prayed and, in so doing, we “turned the world upside down!” (Acts 17:6) KJV