One of the wonderful things about prayer is that it is PROGRESSIVE. It is not a skill we master, but it is an unfolding relationship we enjoy. No one ever masters prayer because there is no limit to the depth of the relationship we can have with God. It keeps growing, keeps going deeper, keeps getting stronger, keeps getting more enjoyable. And as long as you are making progress, it really does not matter if you are creeping, crawling, walking or running – JUST KEEP PRESSING ON. Ephesians 6:18 commands to “pray at all times (under every circumstances, good, bad, or indifferent) in the Holy Spirit (praying God’s prayer rather than our own, thus in the Name of Jesus), with every kind of prayer (praise, petition, short, long, one sentences, etc.)
Moses prayed, “Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in your sight, show me now your way” (Exodus. 33:13a, NIV).
The Psalmist pleaded, “Have mercy and be gracious unto me, O Lord, for I am in trouble” (Psalm 31:9a).
The Lost Sinner cried out, “God be merciful to me the SINNER (Luke 18:13).
Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34).
You don’t have to be perfect to pray. EM Bounds writes, “Happy are those who have no righteousness of their own to plead.”[1] That’s all of us; we have no righteousness of our own. But if born again, we have His perfect righteousness imputed to our souls. Thus we may not do everything right; but we are 100% righteous all the time through Jesus Christ, of whom Paul writes, “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, in order that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21, NKJ). There is a difference between righteousness and “right” behavior. Righteousness describes our standing – our position before God in Christ – because of the perfect blood of Jesus. God thus views us as righteous even though we make mistakes, and because He sees us as righteous, we have a God-given right to approach His throne boldly (Hebrews 4:16) and expect to be heard.
Illus: Dr. Cho’s account of how he prayed and his poisoned son was healed while 30 other parents prayed and their sons died.
[1] EM Bounds, Essentials of Prayer, p. 21.