Prayer is human address to God. It is a special communication genus, not understood or explained by general human evaluation of wholly human (natural) communication processes or contexts. There are similarities that have been included in language idioms, such as, I pray you to consider . . . Shakespeare sometimes used it for pleading discourse. (Shakespeare’s style had significant influence on the word choices used in the King James Version of the Bible.) In this grave style (as used in the text above), a communicator proceeds, in using the language, in setting a stage, perhaps with dignity, seriousness, and precision – unless adopting preferences for modernization. Culture change may create so great shift in both denotation and connotation that some words are no longer used in general conversation or literature, or the style may be used in something of a humorous, or derisive, context. This is now the case in the grave term pray as it may be applied to serious human communication. The words pray or prayer are currently and largely reserved to refer to address or thought directed to God. Even in that exclusive use, it may be used for humor. When a baseball player was asked about getting a hit in batting against a certain effective pitcher, his response was: Well I pray a lot. The idea has become a standing joke in the sport when a player is pitted against a star athlete. The batter does not refer to God in that his statement implies, in humor, not in reverence, that for him to get a hit, he needs some god’s help to counter his lesser ability.
Prayer then is communication of thought and emotion to God, but the situation is quite different from interpersonal conversation in the world of nature, that it requires special attention to be effective in its purposes in the divine context. Without assistance the person at prayer is achieving something, but it is only a sample, a taste, of what prayer ought to be. It achieves modest progress to purpose. There are several factors to consider in the matter to make it fully effective. One is given pause by the realization that there are hundreds of books published about prayer, and each is meant to move along to something meaningful in the understanding and uses of prayer. (I have my own manuscript on prayer occupying more than 200 pages, on this computer that may or may not see the light of day. I presume there are others also who have some personal contributions they would like to broadcast.) The matter of prayer is important, even for those who do not believe in God. There is something ingrained in human beings that drives them to some form of prayer, especially when the praying persons reach impasse, tragedy or fear in life. The most common of these is groaning. The impression for prayer also attends at high points in experience as when one sees a baby born, or on a wedding day, or a marked moment when one feels that there has been a blessing easing the pressure of living or in solutions of problems. There may be elevation bordering on ecstasy. There are miracle-like moments in our lives that may relate to prayer.
Meaningful prayer for self and the world is affirmed in the Scripture. It has a number of requirements that include faith, clear conscience in righteousness, right spirit and attitude, truthfulness, objectivity to the will of God, a conviction that prayer makes a difference, is attended with humility and a yearning for God’s blessing that gives approval to the context of the prayer. It is perceived as a different use of language, so to rely on the Holy Spirit to accent the prayer – to translate it into whatever is the language of heaven to meet the requirements of the kingdom of God. We are asking God of heaven to accept the prayer of mankind from a natural context to divine. When this is done the divine is not informed, but appealed to, accented by the Holy Spirit for response (results). We can be rather sure that not all of the many prayers in the Bible were approved by God, but they served a purpose in revealing the thought of the person at prayer, and the point of interest. An imprecatory prayer will not likely be answered by God in the spirit or in the appeal of the angry prayer person. God can amend our prayers to the best meaning, as parents interpret even the gibberish of their children. The out-of-sorts person can use prayer. God has a solution, but adjustment is needed in the prayer person. God will work with us, and amend our prayers for good. At least the person is honest-to-god. Prayer leads to humility leading to respect and change. The command of God for us to pray is sufficient to cover for our ignorance of some prayer meanings. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020