I recently made a maintenance appointment for my car. One of the things they’ll check is wheel alignment. Good alignment prevents uneven tire wear, improves steering, and can even increase gas mileage. This is normal maintenance, but it’s absolutely necessary when you’ve hit something in the road. Interesting, I thought, that’s basically what prayer is!
Important Questions
I recently heard, “Prayer is the most accessible and yet most underutilized facet of our faith.” We can pray any time, any place, for any reason, for any length of time, in any posture, silently or out loud, alone or with others. But many people, even life-long churchgoers, have sincere questions: What actually happens when I pray? What’s the best way to pray? Can I pray for that? And sometimes, why pray at all? These questions are very important.
Think about a conversation with your best friend. Why do you talk to them? What actually happens when you do? Those questions seem silly! A conversation with your best friend is something you really look forward to. “We have so much to talk about!” It makes life so much better that, when you have to put it off for some reason, you really miss it. Prayer is conversation with God—who loves you and cares about you infinitely more than your best friend ever could.
But Does God Care—Really?
Speaking to a man who was asking this question, Jesus said, “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). You’re saying, “Yes, yes, I know that….” But do you really?
At every turn the Bible tells us that God’s desire is for relationship with us. And yet, somehow many people still manage to mix up God with the Great and Powerful Oz. That can really mess up your prayer life! If you’re afraid to approach God, you’re about as ready to pray as Frank Baum’s characters were to actually talk to the Wizard. Jesus went on to say, “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17). There is nothing to fear in talking with God—who cares deeply and passionately about you and about the things that matter to you. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said, “[God] has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. … You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created.”
What Should I Pray About? What Can I Pray About?
If it’s important to you, it’s important to God. In another conversation Jesus said, “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7–8).
“But I prayed. Why didn’t God answer? Why didn’t God give me what I asked for?” For many people, that question can be a huge obstacle—a pothole that knocks them out of alignment with God. The answer requires a deeper level of faith. It’s a popular myth that if you pray hard enough and long enough God will eventually say, “Fine—have it your way.” Fortunately, that’s not how prayer works! The purpose of prayer is to align our hearts with God’s will.
Trusting God
Jesus’ best-known prayer came at a time he’d have given anything to change God’s mind. Facing crucifixion and death, Jesus prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Matthew 26:39). It’s these last words that must be part of every honest prayer. Tim Keller once said, “God will either give us what we ask for in prayer, or give us what we would have asked for if we knew everything he knows.”
Spiritual peace comes in trusting that God knows best. When he was teaching about prayer, Jesus said, “If your children ask for bread, do you give them a stone? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:9–11). Basic faith invites us to pray. Deeper faith assures us God hears and will always answer our prayers. But it takes a maturing faith to trust that God’s answers are what we need even if they aren’t what we think we want.
What’s the Best Time to Pray?
You don’t need to make an appointment for realignment with God. In fact, the more you pray, the more can you develop an ongoing conversation with God—like a text thread you can access any time. Paul wrote, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), meaning you can turn every thought or worry into an opportunity for thankfulness or intercession. What an incredible invitation!
So, Why Pray?
It’s realigning your heart with God, recentering youself in God’s will, God’s plan and purpose for you and for his world. Prayer is critical when you hit a spiritual pothole, but prayer is also a treasured conversation with your best Friend—one of the greatest gifts God gives to those who believe.
As church musicians and worship leaders, prayer is not optional. We have been entrusted with far more than simply leading music or orchestrating the mechanics of the liturgy. Our ministry plays a crucial role in nurturing and sustaining the spiritual health of the people we serve. Align your heart with God before each rehearsal and before each gathering for worship. Then, teach your musicians and worship leaders the importance, the potential, the spiritual peace, and the beauty of a flourishing life of prayer.
Pray with me: “Lord, I worry because I forget your wisdom, I resent because I forget your mercy, I covet because I forget your beauty, I sin because I forget your holiness, I fear because I forget your sovereignty. You always remember me; help me to always remember you. Amen.”
—Tim Keller, The Songs of Jesus: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms, © 2015, Viking Press
