Prayer Alphabet

“Lord, teach us to pray.”

Luke 11:1

This past Easter, I attended the Easter Prayer Breakfast at the White House along with some two hundred religious leaders from across the country. Before breakfast, a seventy-six-year-old African-American preacher who had served alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights movement offered a prayer. I was expecting a perfunctory pre-meal prayer, but it was anything but. To be honest, I usually pray short prayers before meals because I believe in eating food while it’s hot. So I certainly wasn’t expecting a pre-meal prayer that would make my entire prayer life flash before my eyes.

This seasoned saint prayed with such familiarity with the heavenly Father that I felt like I barely knew God, but it made me want to know God the way he knew God. And he prayed with such authority that it felt like he had just left the throne room of God. His prayers seemed deep-fried in the faithfulness of God. By comparison, my prayers seemed like weak sauce.

When this preacher had finished praying, I turned to two friends standing next to me, Andy Stanley and Louie Giglio, and I said, “I feel like I’ve never prayed before.”

I wonder if that is how the disciples felt when they heard Jesus pray. I wonder if that’s why they asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus’ prayers were so qualitatively different that the disciples felt like they’d never really prayed before.

Notice what the disciples didn’t ask. They didn’t say, “Lord, teach us to preach.” They didn’t say, “Teach us to lead,” or even, “Lord, teach us to disciple.” All of those endeavors are noble. But they have one request: “Lord, teach us to pray.”

If we change the way we pray, everything changes. It changes the way we work, the way we parent, and the way we lead. It changes the way we prioritize and strategize. It changes the way we think, the way we feel, and the way we speak. Prayer changes everything from the inside out.

A New Language

When you’ve written a book on prayer, people tend to think you have everything figured out. The truth is, there is so much more that I don’t know than I do know. I feel like it’s the first day of school in prayer kindergarten. But I’m hungry to learn.

The word prayer often induces feelings of guilt simply because we don’t do enough of it or because we feel inept when we don’t know what to say. For the record, I’ve never met anyone who felt that they pray too much or too effectively! All of us fall short. But instead of feelings of guilt, the thought of prayer should induce unbridled excitement because nothing is more potent than kneeling before God Almighty.

While my prayer batting average is no better than anyone else’s, I’m determined to get back into the batter’s box because I can’t get a hit if I don’t take a swing. And if I swing enough times, I’ll hit a few homers and accumulate a lot of RBIs. So quit worrying about striking out, and swing for the fences!

Don’t beat yourself up over past failures or present struggles. Simply do what the disciples did. Ask Jesus to help you, to teach you. Let their simple request become your modus operandi: “Lord, teach us to pray.”

It doesn’t matter how much you know. Do you have a teachable spirit? Are you hungry to learn? Are you open to change? Wisdom is knowing how much you don’t know. So you have to start there and ask God to teach you.

Not long ago, I went through a season of discouragement in my personal prayer life. I was using the same words over and over again because my vocabulary was so small. My prayers felt clichéd. So did my worship. If there weren’t lyrics on the screen, I had nothing to say. And then it dawned on me that those lyrics are like greeting cards. I might like what they say, but someone else wrote them. Can you imagine giving your spouse a greeting card whenever you wanted to tell them you love them, but never expressing love in your own words? Yet this is what we do with God. A greeting-card relationship with God isn’t enough.

One of the most meaningful worship experiences I had this year was in Ethiopia. The worship was in both English and Amharic. I enjoyed the English worship, but the Amharic worship was life changing because I couldn’t understand it. I couldn’t rely on someone else’s words. So I started worshiping God in spirit and truth. I found my own words to sing. Sometimes lyrics get in the way of worshiping God because someone else is mediating our praise. God wants to hear your voice, your words, your praise.

One day as I was on my knees praying about praying, I felt the Holy Spirit lovingly and playfully asking, “Did you think this was going to be easy?” Learning a spiritual language is like learning Spanish, French, or German. We don’t become fluent in a few minutes. Acquiring a prayer language is as arduous as learning a foreign language. Expanding our vocabulary of praise is as difficult as conjugating verbs in another language.

I love the story about the grandfather who walked by his granddaughter’s bedroom one night and overheard her praying the alphabet, literally. “Dear God, a, b, c, d, e, f, g.” She prayed all the way to “z” and said, “Amen.” The grandfather said, “Sweetie, why were you praying that way?” The granddaughter replied, “I didn’t know what to say so I figured I’d let God put the letters together however He saw fit.”

Sometimes I feel that way too. I have no idea what to say when I pray. And that’s OK. The first objective of prayer is praying about what to pray about. Prayer isn’t about outlining our agenda to God; it’s about getting into God’s presence and getting God’s agenda for us.

If you don’t know where to start, or if you get stuck, go back to the Bible. Start reading, and God will start speaking. That’s when you need to stop reading and start praying. Words, phrases, or verses will jump off the page and into your spirit. You need to circle them in prayer. And don’t be in such a hurry to get through the Bible that you don’t get the Bible through you.

The Difference

My friend Ross Hill is the founder and CEO of Bank2, a community-owned bank in Oklahoma City. I don’t believe I’ve ever encountered a businessman more devoted to the cause of Christ. The bank is his pulpit, and its customers are his congregation. Ross defines business as mission. And he’s great at both.

When Bank2 opened its doors, its leaders literally anointed the doors with oil and prayed for every person who would walk in and out of them. Board meetings begin with prayer. Whenever new employees need to be recruited, prayers are offered for the process. And it’s not uncommon for Ross to personally pray with customers or employees in his executive office. Prayer is the foundation of everything they do.

The bank isn’t immune to financial challenges. In 2008, Bank2 experienced a large loan loss due to fraud. In fact, that one loss was larger than the cumulative losses that Ross had suffered during his thirty-five-year banking career. But in Ross’s own words, “We prayed through it.” And God answered. The very next year, American Banking Journal rated Bank2 the #1 community bank in the country. In 2011, they were the #7 mortgage operation in the country. And in ten years, they have loaned more than a billion dollars.

It doesn’t matter what you do; prayer is the key to your business, your practice, your career. The anointing of God isn’t limited to pastors who preach. The favor of God is for everyone. If you’re an entrepreneur, you need innovative ideas. If you’re a physician, you need the discernment to diagnose. If you’re in politics, you need the wisdom to govern. If you’re in entertainment, you need the charisma to perform. All of these things are manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

Whether we write lyrics or craft legislation, sell homes or teach classes, design spaces or open franchises, prayer is a critical part of the creative process. Don’t just brainstorm; praystorm. Turn your classroom, boardroom, locker room, operating room, courtroom, and conference room into a prayer room!

Prayer is the difference between appointments and divine appointments. Prayer is the difference between good ideas and God-ideas. Prayer is the difference between the favor of God and the luck of the draw. Prayer is the difference between closed doors and open doors. Prayer is the difference between possible and impossible. Prayer is the difference between the best we can do and the best God can do.

Prayer is the difference between the best we can do and the best God can do.