THE BURDEN OF PRAYER

For most of us Christians, prayer is a heavy burden. We know its importance for spiritual life, but we have not been able truly devote ourselves to it. We want to live a godly life, but we run into the difficulty of making it a common practice in our expression of worship. And so we carry this weight on our conscience or, as many do, we try to live a serious Christian life, but without enjoying greater intimacy with God through prayer.

It may seem too strong to say that prayer, for many Christians, is a burden. However, I would dare to say even more: many of us who follow Christ have no pleasure in prayer. This is because we do not know what prayer is and how to pray. Evangelist Luke records that “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray... ”(11.1). That disciple was undoubtedly a person of prayer. The Jew at that time prayed three times a day. However, he asks Jesus to teach them to pray.

Prayer in our day is viewed in a very pragmatic way. Teaching about speaking to God has a utilitarian bias and a concern with the outcome. It is common to hear phrases such as: “the prayer that works”; "steps for your prayer to be answered". It is as if prayer were a technique that could move God's heart on our behalf. This kind of teaching practiced in certain Christian circles is, at bottom, an attempt to manipulate God. But the great Christian philosopher Sören Kierkegaard once said that prayer changes man, not God.

Immersed in a consumer society, we are tempted to use prayer as a means to achieve things and sometimes even our ambitions. In this context we become the center of prayer. We turn to God with more attention to ourselves than to Himself. Anxiety, for see our prayers answered, makes us think more of ourselves than the Lord. We talk to Him out of pure interest and despise His will towards us for what we ask. This is where frustration comes with the act of praying, for our prayers are not answered, since the Creator is not our servant.

Of course, it is biblical that we can ask God for things through prayer. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7: 7). However, this is only one side of the prayer. The other, more important, according to Matthew and Luke, is that it is a means of relating and intimacy with the Lord. In this sense, our needs and shortages are minimized, because we realize that we are facing a Father who loves and cares for us. The view that praying is entering into God's presence changes everything. Including ourselves. Intimacy and communion with the Lord in prayer make us stronger in facing the difficulties of life and gradually we discover the pleasure of prayer.

Antonio Maia – Ph.B., M. Div.

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