Some time ago, my wife visited an old man who was a member of her psychotherapy group. He had been taken ill and admitted into the sick ward.

On suggesting that he should have faith, so that the Lord would hear his cry and make him better, he replied with fear in his eyes: "I’m praying like the devil missus!"

Now although this may sound humorous, it just about sums up the attitudes of most people today. They only utter `panic prayers’ when in a tight corner, usually accompanied by frantic promises to serve God when they’ve recovered, or when the crisis has resolved itself.

Experience teaches ministers to believe promises about intending church attendance when he sees the person coming to church regularly. For a great many these days, it is often a `one off’ effort, and even following a funeral, the social custom of being present at the following Sunday’s `memorial service’ is rarely observed.

Printed prayers abound, and some books of prayers contain delightful passages which uplift and delight the soul, as one identifies with them. Perhaps one of my best-remembered spiritual experiences was in singing the `Te Deum’ as a choirboy, with the morning sun streaming in through the stained glass window.

How Saul of Tarsus much have felt `transported’ as he took his seat as a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, chanting his set prayers in the great temple in Jerusalem. Yet for the first time in his life, following his conversion, he began to really `pray’… as Ananias informed the naturally apprehensive Christians in Acts 9.11 "Behold he prayeth".

Certainly not, I would imagine, in the flowery language written by another person, but in simple earnest words, right from his own heart. Probably little more than a deeply grateful "Thank you, Lord for saving my soul."

The reader may judge for himself which type of prayer would have been most acceptable to the Lord.

Christian Definitions – Ken Bunting