Introduction	Preparatory ercise	Exercise 1	Exercise 2	Exercise 3	Summary	Material

to table of contents

In the last section we dealt with the question of which people have been entrusted to you in prayer.  Now we will consider the question of the content of prayer: for what can or should you pray?.  We will approach this question with a meditation in which we choose an image and then meditate on that image.  In order to let the power of imaging come forth we will begin with relaxation exercises.

Sit or lie completely still, completely calm and loose and do something ostensibly foolish:
Imagine yourself exhaling through the right arm and then through the left...
Remain completely relaxed letting your breath out this way...

Look for an image for: "A disciple of Christ is for me like..." (metaphor meditation)
 
• Then ask yourself what this image means in your life?
• What does it mean in the life of someone you love.?...


(Take about eight minutes in silence.)

Most participants chose the word, "excursion" as an image for disciple.
Other images were:
 
• a child holding its mother's hand.
• the yoke of an animal that is lightened by being shared.  "My yoke is light"...
• the studio of a famous painter with many apprentices all working together on alarge painting. The master provides the sketch but each student has the freedom to add his/her touch to the whole...
• a good actor. He/she thinks and feels himself/herself so deeply into the role identifying so completely with the character being portrayed as to perform the part from within...


This time I have cited the pictures myself that were discovered because we will be doing further work with them and there is much I would like to clarify.  I invite you, however, when you have an image you have discovered yourself, always use that image.

Also with this present question, "For what should I pray?", several questions arise:

• "Isn't it enough to just say the name?  God knows best what the person needs"...
• "When I ask for something specific do I always have to follow it up with 'Thy will be done' since God only gives us what is good for us in any case?"...
• "We have been promised that prayer done in faith and in the name of Jesus will be heard, but how do we know that this request is really in the name of Jesus and that we are not asking for something inappropriate?"...
• "Is there not a boundary in prayer beyond which lie unhealthy liabilities?  Is there not a danger in such prayers to get into the area of the powers of darkness?...

Let me suggest some possible answers to these questions:
• From the answer of Jesus to the blind man, "What do you wish that I do?", we can assume that God desires very specific requests from us.  All the promises to hear our prayers makes sense only on the basis of this assumption.
• There are prayers where one does not have to add, "Lord, not my will but thine be done" because it is clear that the petition complies to the will of God: "Holy be thy name" or "Thy kingdom come".  Jesus places no restrictions on answering the prayer for the Holy Spirit!
• You need not fear that you are asking for something wrong if your request is always for what helps the person to come in touch with Christ and become more like Christ.

All this brings us back to the meditation in the beginning of this section: Jesus said "I am the way" - this applies to everyone whether they know it or not.  To go this way, however, means following Jesus.  You can ask for that which make the people in your prayers followers of Jesus.

In this regard the subsequent images may help.

Select an or your own image you used for the "disciple of Christ" and insert the people for whom you are praying into the picture.  You could image that person as:
 
• a hiker following a guide...
• a yoked animal alongside a stronger one which is actually doing the pulling...
• an apprentice in the studio of the master who is determined to do his/her best for the whole project...
• an actor who wants to enter fully into the role being played...


(Take about five minutes in silence.)

From this image it become graphically clear what the person needs and what you need to pray for firm belief that such prayer is heard.  "Whatever you ask in my name I will do." (John 14:13).

I recently returned from a psychiatric clinic where a woman from our congregation had been for a long time.  She is among people where only a few are able to carry on a rational conversation.  It is only because of her strong faith that she has been able to endure a hard life since her childhood. Now she had come to the end of her strength.  She said, "I can't go on!  I can't survive in this situation.  Pray for me and tell all the people who know me that I need prayer reinforcement!"...

What might such prayers be like?

Meditate prayerfully on a person whose needs have especially touched you.
This meditation might continue in these three ways:
 
1. Name the concern ...(It is helpful if you write down a few points.)
2. Look at Jesus: "How did You (Jesus) overcome this need in Your life?"...
3. Pray for what would make the person like Jesus... .


(Take about five minutes in silence)

What happened in the first step?

From your perspective name the things which  would be healthy for the person and pray for these things.  It is often at this place that we end our prayer.

What happened in the second step?

Here we come to the essentials.  Point by point (it is best to write them down) in your prayer ask what corresponds to the life of Jesus.
 

• Test your concerns to see if they measure up to Jesus.
• Experience how the question makes the image of Jesus more and more visible.
• From this perspective you can see not only how Jesus bears the need of this one      person you are praying for but also how he bears the needs of all who are facing      the same situation.
What happened in the third step?
 
• Now perhaps your images of what it means to be a disciple of Christ make it more clear that in bringing others to Jesus in prayer you are:

 
• not only showing the lost traveller the right direction but also bringing them to the leader who takes them along -
• bringing a child to its mother -
• leading an animal to another animal who shares the yoke so that the load is lighter -
• directing an apprentice trying awkwardly to paint to the artist who demonstrates how and completes the most difficult part -
• giving the actor the roles best suitable for him/her -
• ...(add your own items).
• Our prayers are nothing other than pale copies of what Jesus does for us.  When we pray for something that seems good to us that prayer is like a tiny stream.  But if we pray for what Jesus himself has accomplished then our little stream becomes a flood powerful enough to move boulders.  We are then no longer praying alone but praying with Jesus.  Perhaps we are doing nothing more than transferring the everlasting prayer of the Advocate before God to a particular person through our little prayer like connecting a small circuit to the main power station.  However, Jesus prayed not only with words, his whole life was a prayer "for you".

You can pray for others and their particular needs in the following way:
 
• name the concerns and speak to Jesus who has a place in his life that in some way corresponds to this need (either positively or critically).
• pray for that which leads to an encounter with Jesus or to becoming like Jesus.

Such a prayer is possible through meditation and can lead us to the very depths of meditation.
After one group session a participant responded in this way, "I believe I have found it easier to meditate through this way of praying."
 
One more consideration.  We left open the question we raised in the beginning about the boundaries of prayer.  This question is likely to arise from the prayer needs of a psychologically troubled person.  Perhaps I should have chosen a different example, however I prefer to begin my prayer with what is the most acute need, and today this was the particular issue facing me.  It was this question which first made it clear to me why the second step of looking at Jesus is essential.  This is the place where we become one with Jesus, our protector against all the powers of darkness.  He is the victor!

Examples for praying in the form of petitions:

What can you pray for in the case of a psychologically ill person?
 

• that the doctor recognize the illness...
• that the patient has the strength...
• that the patient would remain inwardly calm...
• that the patient would be protected from others...
• that the patient would be a blessing to others and that blessing would return to them...
• that the patient would not cease in their infirmity to hold firmly onto the hand of Christ...


Look at Jesus
 

• who is the true physician who knows all our needs...
• who knows from his own life all our weaknesses...
• who remained calm when praying in Gethsemane...
• who never abandons anyone or refuses to protect them...


Prayer
 

• You  are the true physician.  Help the doctors know and do what is right...
• You have been weak, carried your own cross and had to receive help.  Send the   ill the help they need...
• You were calm and stilled the storm.  Grant this person your peace...
• You are one with all human suffering.  May your blessing go out from this person to others he/she lives with...