Prayer—Steering Wheel or Spare Tire?

Editor’s Note: This article was originally written as an Essay Assignment for the Gospels class at Florida Free BIBLE MISSIONARY & WORK Training Center

“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” (Corrie Ten Boom). In another words, does your prayer life steer you in the direction you want to go or do you only pray when you are in need? A lot of my life I only went to God when I was desperate. I never really thought about praying about everything in my life. It was not until I came to Boot Camp, in the summer of 2008, that I learned about how prayer is more than just a spare tire. The first thing I thought about Teen Missions was, “WOW! These people pray about everything!”

I thought that you were just to pray before meals and only when you needed something. This was the example I grew up with. But, I’ve learned that Jesus gives a different example. In Luke 11:1-4, it says:

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. He said to them, “When your pray, say: “Father hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us, and lead us not into temptation.”

All of us long to connect with someone who can identify with our circumstances and share in our day to day life. Prayer is just that. It is a personal experience and intimate connection with our our heavenly Father. Webster’s definition of prayer is, “to make a request in a humble manner; to address God or a god with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving” (Webster Dictionary).

Jesus had an order to His prayer. Notice that Jesus praised God first and foremost. We are to praise God. Also, prayer is not all about us and what we need. A note from my Bible says, “Too often our prayers are more like shopping lists than conversations” (NIV Application Study Bible). How true is that statement? Honestly, I do not pray like I should. I wonder what God thinks when I pray? Am I always praising Him? No, but I want to start by making sure He gets the praise.

Another big thing Jesus mentions is asking God for our daily bread. God will provide for us; He always does. We should pray before meals and thank God for supplying us with our daily bread. Everything in our lives is a blessing from God, too often we take things for granted. We should always be thankful and genuinely praise God for all He does.

Forgiveness is the key to our relationship with God. We are to repent and ask for forgiveness for our sins. Ouch! This next thing Jesus prays about is a touchy subject. We must forgive those who wronged us. Are you serious? Yes, Jesus says it- so we must! Maybe you are saying, “I’ve done nothing wrong. I’m not the one who is in the wrong. I’m not the one who lied. I’m not the guilty party here.” Perhaps you aren’t, but neither was Jesus. Of all the men in the room, only one was worthy of having His feet washed, and He was the one who washed the feet. The one worthy of being served, served others. The one who is innocent is the one who makes the gesture.

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:14-15).

“When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy!” (Corrie Ten Boom). Prayer is effective and the enemy knows that. When we stop praying we are cutting off our communication with God. We need to go to God daily and communicate with Him. He knows what we are going through but is waiting on us to give it to Him. God wants to be our provider. We just have to give it all to Him.

I believe prayer is very important in the lives of Christians. It is important to have a lifestyle of praying. Our prayers should be real. We should really mean them. Andrew Murray says, “ Some people pray just to pray and some people pray to know God. John G. Lakes says, “There is a mighty lot of difference between saying prayer and praying.” I definitely agree with both of these quotes.

God is not dumb. He knows when we are really praying to know Him more.

I want my prayer life to be genuine. I want my team members to notice how prayer is not just at meal times and in times of need, but it is a conversation between God and me. Prayer is so effective. God has shown me over and over again of how powerful it is. My desire is to pray to know God more. God’s desire for us was to make us in the image of Christ. God wants me to have a prayer life just like Jesus. I want my prayer life to be my steering wheel not my spare tire.

Cassidy Baxter