Historically, spiritual
revival most often begins with intensive, focused prayer. I believe all
Christians (especially me) can improve in their prayer life (particularly in the area of public or
corporate prayer) so in addition to practicing praying I often seek advice to
improve my prayer. I found the following
very informative regarding public prayer and want to share it with you.
Prepare Your Public Prayers:
Helpful Advice from D. A. Carson
"If you are in any form of spiritual
leadership, work at your public prayers. It does not matter whether the form of
spiritual leadership you exercise is the teaching of a Sunday school class,
pastoral ministry, small-group evangelism, or anything else: if at any point
you pray in public as a leader, then work at your public prayers.
Some people think this advice
distinctly corrupt. It smells too much of public relations, of concern
for public image. After all, whether we are praying in private or in
public, we are praying to God: Surely he is the one we should be thinking
about, no one else.
This objection misses the
point. Certainly if we must choose between trying to please God in
prayer, and trying to please our fellow creatures, we must unhesitatingly opt
for the former. But that is not the issue. It is not a question of
pleasing our human hearers, but of instructing them and edifying them.
The ultimate sanction for
this approach is none less than Jesus himself. At the tomb of Lazarus,
after the stone has been removed, Jesus looks to heaven and prays, “Father, I
thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I
said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe
that you sent me” (John 11:41-42). Here, then, is a prayer of Jesus
himself that is shaped in part by his awareness of what his human hearers need
to hear.
The point is that although
public prayer is addressed to God, it is addressed to God while others are
overhearing it. Of course, if the one who is praying is more concerned to
impress these human hearers than to pray to God, then rank hypocrisy takes
over. That is why Jesus so roundly condemns much of the public praying of
his day and insists on the primacy of private prayer (Matt. 6:5-8). But
that does not mean that there is no place at all for public prayer.
Rather, it means that public prayer ought to be the overflow of one’s private
praying. And then, judging by the example of Jesus at the tomb of
Lazarus, there is ample reason to reflect on just what my prayer, rightly
directed to God, is saying to the people who hear me.
In brief, public
praying is a pedagogical opportunity. It provides the one who is praying
with an opportunity to instruct or encourage or edify all who hear the
prayer. In liturgical churches, many of the prayers are well-crafted, but
to some ears they lack spontaneity. In nonliturgical churches, many of
the prayers are so predictable that they are scarcely any more spontaneous than
written prayers, and most of them are not nearly as well-crafted. The
answer to both situations is to provide more prayers that are carefully and
freshly prepared. That does not necessarily mean writing them out verbatim
(though that can be a good thing to do). At the least, it means thinking
through in advance and in some detail just where the prayer is going,
preparing, perhaps, some notes, and memorizing them.
Public praying is a
responsibility as well as a privilege. In the last century, the great
English preacher Charles Spurgeon did not mind sharing his pulpit: others
sometimes preached in his home church even when he was present. But when
he came to the “pastoral prayer,” if he was present, he reserved that part of
the service for himself. This decision did not arise out of any priestly
conviction that his prayers were more efficacious than those of others.
Rather, it arose from his love for his people, his high view of prayer, his
conviction that public praying should not only intercede with God but also
instruct and edify and encourage the saints.
Many facets of Christian
discipleship, not least prayer, are rather more effectively passed on by
modeling than by formal teaching. Good praying is more easily caught than
taught. If it is right to say that we should choose models from whom we
can learn, then the obverse truth is that we ourselves become responsible to
become models for others. So whether you are leading a service or family
prayers, whether you are praying in a small-group Bible study or at a
convention, work at your public prayers."
D.A. Carson, “A Call to
Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (Baker, 1992),
34-35.
Originally posted by Brian Hedges on
Wednesday, September 25, 2013.
