Lipping Your Prayers

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This week I’ve been reading a fine new book by J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom called Praying: Finding Your Way From Duty to Delight, and along the way I’ve been thinking about the challenge of writing about prayer. Or preaching about prayer. It’s easy to fall into one of two traps. Either you make the reader feel guilty (not hard to do) or you make extravagant promises that cannot be kept. Admittedly the last approach sells more books but ironically the end result is often the same. When you read books in the second category, you will no doubt be amazed at the stories of answered prayer that seem, well, supernatural and incredible and out of this world. And many readers (most readers? some readers?) end up feeling guilty because they see nothing similar in their own lives when they pray.Over the years I’ve read my share of books on prayer in both categories. I recall a paperback book by a well-known author who stated that preachers who don’t pray two hours a day are a dime a dozen. And I have read books filled with stories of amazing answers to prayer. I recall hearing Warren Wiersbe speak on prayer twenty-five years ago. He began his message by remarking that "all of us wish we prayed more than we do." I tuned in because he certainly spoke the truth about my own heart. That sort of plain-talking is what you find in Packer and Nystrom’s book on prayer. Early on the authors quote 19th-century Anglican author J. C. Ryle who wrote, "If I know anything of a Christian’s heart, you are often sick of your own prayers." The book contains some things you wouldn’t expect, including an entire chapter on "Brooding" and a chapter on "Complaining" and another one on "Hanging On." Packer is admirably frank about his struggles to find vitality in his own prayers. Coming from the author of a classic like Knowing God, this refreshing candor encourages the reader.I especially enjoyed the postscript note to "Christians Becalmed in Their Praying." What do you do when prayer bores you? There is no chiding here, indeed the authors confess they have sometimes been "becalmed" in their own praying. In just four pages, they offer a wealth of practical commentary. I found one piece of advice very helpful. When you pray, pray audibly. They mean even when you pray alone, pray out loud, or at least speak under your breath, mouthing the words, which some writers call "lipping" your prayers. They note that praying aloud helps you to concentrate and keeps your mind from wandering. "The idea that private prayer should always be made in total silence is quite recent, just as it is quite silly" (p. 287). They also advise punctuating your prayers by singing your favorite hymns or songs of praise.I read that this morning and put it to practice this afternoon as I biked along a country road off the Natchez Trace. Taking another of their suggestions, I used the Lord’s Prayer as a simple guide, making a "twisted strand" out of each phrase, following Martin Luther’s counsel to pray each phrase slowly, stopping to celebrate, give thanks, confess and then make whatever requests come naturally. I often pray and sing as I ride my bike, but usually I sing aloud and pray silently. Today I prayed and sang out loud–not that anyone could hear me on that country road–and took pleasure in praying a "twisted strand" based on "Our Father in Heaven," the very first phrase of the Lord’s Prayer. Packer and Nystrom have many other suggestions, but lipping your prayers interspersed with singing is an excellent way to jumpstart your praying.

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January 14, 2007, 7:27 AM jason woolever says:
	thanks for sharing the wisdom Ray. i’m going to give God some good “lip service” in my prayers today and give it a shot. appreciate your ministry.
January 14, 2007, 3:08 PM Paul Barreca says:
	Ray, You listed brooding, complaining and hanging on as types of prayers. Could we add “crying out” to that list? On a tear filled, speaking out loud walk Friday I asked the Lord for something that I thought I needed immediatly. He answered, but not until Saturday night. But He DID answer, and the result was a greater faith, and greater priase to Him!