THE SCRIPTURAL MEANING OF PRAYER

Prayer is usually said to be a 'communication between a person or a group of persons and God'. But it might interest you to know that the meaning of prayer can be derived from the scriptures.  When I newly gave my life to Christ and was asked to give a talk on 'Praying Without Ceasing' during a Bible study programme in a church in kaduna, I embarked on a deep personal bible study and personally discovered a comprehensive definition of prayer. The Spirit of God opened my eyes and I discovered that the definition of prayer was hidden in some verses of the scriptures and also in our 'Lords prayer' as written in Matt 6: 9-13. However, they needed to be put together to make a comprehensive definition. The revelational definition of prayer I was led by the Spirit to discover in the scriptures, is as stated below

WHAT IS PRAYER?
Prayer is a communication between a person (Matt 6:6) or group of persons and God (Matt 18:20), which involves making utterances to God with your mouth (Matt 7:7...i.e. ask and you will receive) or in your heart, in secret (Matt 6:6), spirit and in truth (John 4:23), acknowledging God's supremacy (Matt 6:9-10), giving thanks (Ps 107:1, 1Thess 5:18) and asking for favour, forgiveness and deliverance (Matt 6:11-13)

SCRIPTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE ABOVE DEFINITION:
1. The definition of prayer as stated above, captured that 'prayer is a communication between one or a group of persons and God'. If you check the bible, you will realize that this part of the definition is in line with what Jesus said in Matt 6:6 saying "if you want to pray, go to your room, close your door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father who sees what you do in private will reward you". This scriptural verse have proved right the part of the above definition that said prayer is a communication between one person and God. Similarly, there is also a scriptural evidence that prayer can be between more than one persons and God. The evidence is in the book of Matt 18: 20, where Jesus said ..."when two or three are gathered in 'His' name, that 'He' will be there with them". This is what we refer to as cooperate prayer or 'prayer of agreement' like we fondly call it.

2. The second part of the definition that was derived from the scriptures is 'making utterance with your mouth or heart, in spirit and in truth'. A scriptural backing for this part of the definition was found in Matt 7:7 where Jesus said ask and you will revieve'. So when you are asking, it will require you to make utterances either with your mouth or in your heart. Matt 6:6 also addressed the issue of praying in secret, as instructed by Jesus. As for evidence of praying in spirit and in truth, Jesus said to the samaritan woman in John 4:23 saying, "but the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God's 'Spirit' people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the 'true' worship that he wants". These are scriptural evidence which shows that prayer involves making utterances with the mouth or in the heart and should be done in secret, spirit and in truth.
However, we should also note that there are moments we may have to pray in the open considering the circumstances surrounding us. If we consult the scriptures, there were moments Jesus had to pray in public for specific reasons. For example in John 6:11 Jesus prayed in the open, over five loaves of barley bread and two fish by blessing it before it was shared to about five thousand men. In addition, Jesus said a long prayer for his disciples in the open in John 17:1-26. 'He' also prayed for dead Lazarus in the open and not in secret, to bring him back to life in John 11:41-44.

3. The third part of the definition derived from the scriptures is 'acknowledging God's supremacy'. This part of the above definition is in line with how Jesus taught us to pray using 'Our Lord's Prayer'. In Our Lord's Prayer according to Matt 6:9-10, Jesus taught us to start our prayer by acknowledging God's supremacy. For instance when we say to God, "Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven' ..... This line of the scriptures is simply acknowledging that God is in heaven and reigns as the supreme God. When we say 'hallowed be thy name' it means that the name of God is sacred, consecrated, sanctified or holy.
This is an evidence to show that this third part of the above definition is scripturally appropriate to be part of the above definition of prayer.

4. The above definition of prayer also captured that prayer involves 'giving thanks'. Psalm 107:1 says "O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good". And also 1Thess 5:18 says "be thankful in all circumstances".
Therefore, prayer should involve giving thanks to God.

5. The last part of the above definition of prayer captured that prayer involves asking for favour, forgiveness and deliverance. This part of the above definition of prayer, is in line with the teaching of Jesus in Matt 6:11-13 on what we should ask God in prayer. If we read Matt 6:11-13, we will see that Jesus included asking for favour, forgiveness and deliverance as part of our prayer points while praying. This scriptural evidence shows that the last line of the above definition of prayer is appropriate.

I pray that this teaching will help you to have a perfect understanding about prayer.

Written and Published by

Bro. Aligwekwe Nnamdi

To the glory of God and for the good of men.