‘Let us pray’ by Matt McChlery: 7 Ways to Pray blog series

Sometimes we get hung up on the mechanics of prayer – are we doing it right and what if we can’t find the right words to say. Matt assures us that God loves to hear from us, whatever words we use. I think you’ll be encouraged by his post, so please read on…

Just before lockdown here in the UK, a young lady I know bravely shared about some mental health challenges she had been facing. She didn’t go to church (I knew her through a secular job I used to do). So, I thought this was an opportunity to not only offer some support, but also a chance to share something of Jesus with her.

I simply asked if I could pray for her.

Her response completely took me by surprise. It was clear that she had no idea what I was talking about, what prayer was or why I would be offering to do some weird thing on behalf of someone else. She just didn’t understand.

It was a little awkward, so I didn’t push it. I still prayed for her on my own as I intended to anyway; it just didn’t provide the opening I was hoping for.

Another story I would like to share is one when my wife and I were newly married, just over ten years ago now.

A lady from my work had come to our wedding and had since met Jesus and joined our church. We had just started a small Bible study in our home, and she was attending regularly. One thing we liked to do was to invite others in the group to pray if they wanted to so that it wasn’t just my wife and me talking the whole time.

In the first few sessions some of the others prayed, but my friend from work remained silent. Some time later, we discovered that she felt unable to pray because she said she could not think of the big or ‘posh’ words that some of the others were using. She also felt nervous that she might say the wrong thing.

We explained that prayer is like having a conversation with God – a chat. You don’t have to use big or grand words. It doesn’t have to be something written down in a big heavy book somewhere for it to ‘qualify’ as an actual prayer. We also encouraged her that God knew her heart and even if she thought she may have said something wrong, she should not worry about it. God is bigger than our mistakes. He loves us and wants to talk to us. He desires relationship more than perfection.

Over time with a bit of encouragement and support, this lady began to pray in our Bible study group. Her prayers were simple, yet heartfelt. She stumbled over her words and said ‘Umm’ a lot. But she was praying – communicating with God.

Those humble, awkward prayers taught me something.

Firstly, some of the people we encounter may have no idea about the overwhelming possibility we have to communicate with God. They may have no concept of God, let alone any idea about prayer. We need to be prepared to show the love of God to them and to pray for them anyway.

If they do have some idea about prayer, they may have some misunderstandings that get in the way of them engaging.

Secondly, with a bit of understanding of what prayer is and is not, we can learn how to do it. I don’t mean we will all one day be able to pray grandiose prayers filled with thousands of words, most of which need a dictionary near by to make any sense of.

No.

Jesus tells us:

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:5-8, NIV)

We can learn how to pray.

We can learn how to listen and how to respond.

We can learn how to talk with God and be ourselves whilst doing it.

The best way of learning is by doing. Don’t worry if you think you can’t find the ‘right’ words. Don’t worry if you stumble and say ‘Umm’ a lot.

Right where you are now as you read these words, turn your attention towards God. What would you like to talk to Him about?

Come, let us pray…

Matt McChlery is an author, songwriter and an Overseer (elder) at his local church based in Wisbech, northeast Cambridgeshire, UK. He has written numerous songs for the church that can be found on digital streaming platforms and has penned three books, including the much-anticipated memoir about his journey through non-Hodgkin Lymphoma called Standing in the Storm: Living with faith and cancer (Instant Apostle), which will be released in May 2022. Find out more at www.mattmcchlery.com

Order 7 Ways to Pray here, including in the US, UK, and Australia. You’ll also find lots of resources for small groups – videos and a leader’s guide – here.