To Publically Pray Or Not To Pray? That Is The Question.

Since 1952, the National Day Of Prayer (NDOP)has been a solid part of the public landscape of religion, Christianity in particular, in the United States. The first Thursday in May all around the country has been generally filled with high expectation and ceremony as the religious faithful call on the name of the Lord and discuss how irreligious ideas and concepts have damaged the nation taking it away from its foundational and biblically centered principles.

As you can see from the video, the prayer has become a complex legal matter. Legal pressures have challenged the celebration and a recent ruling by a federal judge may cause this years celebration to be the last time that public prayer receives the encouragement and endorsement of the Executive and Legislative branches of the federal Government.

Certainly Shirley Dobson, spouse of James Dobson and leader of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, isn't excited about this. Although President Obama, after not attending or seeming too excited about the NDOP in 2009, even refusing to acknowledge the gatherings by proclamations until late in the day, after most ceremonies were completed, has vowed that his White House will fight to maintain the Governmental endorsement of the NDOP.

Biblical Prayer vs. Public Prayer?

Matthew 6:5-7 ~ "5-And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites [are]: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6-But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7-But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8-Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Personally, I've never engaged in any local celebrations of the National Day Of Prayer and I haven't felt bad about it in the least. First, most individuals that pray publicly don't don't pray like I pray...When I pray I will speak in tongues as the Spirit Of The Lord gives me utterance and some of those who pray in many of these type of venues often reject or have very little understanding as it pertains to the perpetuity and application of spiritual gifts and praying with and in the Spirit. Secondly, many of the prayers in these venues are not petitions to God, they are petitions to men. I have managed to hear excerpts of prayers that sounded more like mini-sermons than petitions of prayer, worship or adoration to God. When the focus of the event leaves Jesus, the church should be encouraged to leave the event, because everything will be downhill from that point on.

The fact is that when we examine scripture, the encouragement of Jesus toward prayer was that prayer was directed towards God and that was for a purpose and that prayer was done in intimacy with God at the center of it. According to Jesus, prayer was not to be made in a hypocritical fashion or in a fashion that exposed the church or the believer to criticism. Jesus modeled how prayer should work as he often drew himself away to pray (Mt. 14:23, Mt. 26:36, Mk. 6:46, Mk. 14:32, Lk. 6:12, Lk. 9:28, Lk. 11:1) For Jesus, prayer was an intimacy that wasn't to be compromised by impressing others. In fact, based on what we see within scripture, and what we know about how the pious Jews of the day were misusing prayer; it doesn't seem that Jesus would have endorsed a National Day Of Prayer as highly as he would have endorsed a National Day Of Repentance.

Conflict

Because of this, there seems to be a conflict revealed. The modern church seems to be full of individuals who want to pray without repentance and further who want to do these these things without any biblical restraint or direction. The very lack of biblical focus minimizes the target and aim of prayer itself.

Now, I don't want to condemn public prayer, as at times public prayer is in order, however I do wish to point out the fact that for many, prayer is simply something that is en-vogue. It is fashionable or attached to a political or social statement. As the pious Jews in Jesus day prayer appeals to the fleshly desire to stand out for a seeming religious cause or in a 'special" state or union with God. This sort of prayer is based on arrogance and one must be careful, because Jesus never endorsed or encouraged his church to pray out of arrogance or to use prayer as a method of controlling society or physically subjugating individuals in any way shape or form.

Prayer, although certainly a valid tool given to the church and the individual, has a specific place within the life and relationship of the believer. The preaching of the gospel was to be used to save souls (Rom. 1:16) and prayer was to be used for the edification and building up of the church and believer, petition to God, worship, adoration to God, for all men according to the authority of Jesus. The church was never encouraged, nor endorsed by scripture to pray to people, whether dead or alive, in this world nor the next...The prayers of the Saints were to be directed toward God and subject to his sovereign will and plan for us.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, many use the NDOP as an evangelization tool instead of a tool to call the church back to intimacy with God. The church doesn't need the state nor an endorsement of the state to do in prayer what it is called to do.

This is a dangerous and slippery slope. What is an "allowance" or "encouragement" today could be a "mandate" tomorrow. In the hands of ungodly men, that mandate could create a restriction that none of us wish to live with.

Is prayer in order? YES! Men should always pray and not faint and without ceasing.(Lk. 18:1, 1 Thess. 5:17)

Does the church need the endorsement of the state to pray? NO! Absolutely not. In fact to gain such an endorsement could possibly be a two-edged sword that could compromise the church's mission to the world.

Are we giving up religious freedoms by not having a sanctioned NDOP? For many it may feel that way, but when scripture is superimposed upon what has been allowed and encouraged for many years there is certainly a conflict that issue that cannot be easily reconciled.

Whether the government knows I'm praying or not, I have a mandate from God to pray and fellowship with him. Personally, I don't need a NDOP to be known as a person of prayer. My life should speak as to that before prayers are made. It is there that the difference is made between those that talk faith and those that walk faith. If I can't pray in the streets, I can certainly pray in private. If for some reason that becomes restricted or impossible to do, there is a solid foundation of an alter in the heart that cannot be moved restricted or legislated against. I would desire that the church actually encourage the biblical methods that do make a difference in the lives of people and not simply something that gives the appearance of getting "one up" on the atheists or irreligious.

I may not be agreed with on this one, but that's OK, I hope that I too am entitled to my position.

Blessed!