THE QUESTION OF PRAYER

Many times during my career and in my church activities I have been approached by students sincerely wanting to be assured of the veracity of engaging in the practice of prayer. As I have broadened my reading during the years I have found that the question of the reality of communication taking place between Deity and mortals seems to be universal and crosses the boundaries of creeds and denominations.

I relate the following words of Morris B. Margolies to introduce some thoughts on this problem which seems to bother most of us at one time or another during our lives.

In the early stages of medieval Jewish mysticism, the figure of the angel Sandalfon--a fiery angel in the "seventh heaven" who was always close to God's Throne and who brought the prayers of humans before Him--emerged. In a deeper sense, prayers are angels and Sandalfon is a metaphor for them. A prayer uttered to God from the heart of the petitioner will sprout wings and fly heavenward.
In the summer of 1952, peace talks between the Americans and the North Koreans were in progress at Panmunjom. I was stationed near Taegu, not too far away, as a chaplain for the Tenth Army Corps. From my headquarters, I set forth every morning in a jeep on the way to units miles distant, where I led Jewish soldiers in prayer. Because I covered about 300 miles every week along bumpy and narrow mountain roads, someone painted the legend "Rough-Ridin' Rabbi" on the back of the jeep. Above the words was a rough sketch of a Jew wearing a prayer shawl with his hands outstretched.

The week before I was to return to the States, I held my last service for the smallest of the congregations--four men and one woman (an army nurse), who also were the farthest to reach. For months, our attendance had been 100 percent. At the last service, one of the men was missing, as I soon learned, permanently so. He had been killed by a land mine three days earlier, and his body was already aboard a transport plane on the way home.

We could not get into a prayer mode in any routine fashion. The prayer book somehow failed to say what was in our hearts. The nurse, a lieutenant named Sarah, spoke: "Does God really listen to prayer, Rabbi?" And she wept. Almost immediately, the rest of us broke into tears. The tears flowed freely, punctuated only by sobs that still ring in my ears. When all was quiet, I said, "Sarah, I think you have the answer to your question."
Before adding my own thoughts about the question of prayer I wanted to provide a sampling gathered through the miracle of the internet on the subject:

Prayer is an end to isolation. It is living our daily life with someone; with him who alone can deliver us from solitude- Georges Lefevre

There is great power in prayer. As a son or a daughter of God, you can, as Joseph did, pray to God in the name of Jesus Christ for strength. - Boyd K. Packer

Prayer can assume very different forms, from quiet, blessed contemplation of God, in which eye meets eye in restful meditation, to deep sighs or sudden exclamations of wonder, joy, gratitude or adoration. - O. Hallesby

Oh, what a cause of thankfulness it is that we have a gracious God to go to on all occasions! Use and enjoy this privilege and you can never be miserable. Oh, what an unspeakable privilege is prayer! - Lady Maxwell

We look upon prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves; The Bible idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself. - Oswald Chambers

All the prayers in the Scripture you will find to be reasoning with God, not a multitude of words heaped together. - Stephen Charnock

What men usually ask of God when they pray is that two and two not make four. - Anonymous

I have lived to thank God that all my prayers have not been answered. - Jean Ingelow

Do I want to pray or only to think about my human problems? Do I want to pray or simply kneel there contemplating my sorrow? Do I want to direct my prayer toward God or let it direct itself towards me? - Hubert Van Zeller

Don't try to reach God with your understanding; that is impossible. Reach him in love; that is possible. - Carlo Carretto

Natural ability and educational advantages do not figure as factors in this matter of prayer; but a capacity for faith, the power of a thorough consecration, the ability of self-littleness, an absolute losing of one's self in God's glory and an ever present and insatiable yearning and seeking after all the fullness of God. - E. M. Bounds

By prayer we couple the powers of heaven to our helplessness, the powers which can capture strongholds and make the impossible possible. - O. Hallesby

Prayer alone doesn’t do the work – that is up to us. – Larry King

If we are willing to spend hours on end to learn to play the piano, operate a computer, or fly an airplane, it is sheer nonsense for us to imagine that we can learn the high art of getting guidance through communion with the Lord without being willing to set aside time for it. - Paul Rees

Grant us grace, Almighty Father, so to pray as to deserve to be heard. - Jane Austen

TO BE CONTINUED…

WRITTEN BY – WILLIAM L. RILEY
EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY