“Will you pray for me,” the man asked his friend. “Of course,” came the response. What else could his friend say? Prayer is so easy. It doesn’t even have to be verbal. And prayer is so personal that no one knows if it even takes place.
But to whom will his friend pray and how will his friend go about praying? After all, nationally, we are a diverse group demographically and politically, and our religious beliefs vary.
As Christians, we believe that there is one God and we’re likely to presume that praying means taking our petitions there. Yet we also believe that God lived among humanity and that we know God through Jesus Christ. And that God is ever-present through the Holy Spirit.
But according to a 2021 Pew Research Study, just under one-third of the U.S. population do not claim an affiliation with a particular religious group. Instead, they identify as atheist, agnostic, or simply respond “nothing in particular” when asked about their religious identify. And while the majority of U.S. resident self-identify as Christian, this percentage dropped 11 points over the past decade from 3/4 to less than a third.
Does this mean that prayer is a dying trend? The news is disturbing.
According to an article published in the Christian Post based on the Pew Study, less than half of Americans pray daily. This is quite a contrast to the prayer habits of Jesus. As a Jew it’s likely that Jesus prayed at least three times each day.
Doesn’t it make sense that, as Christians, our prayer life would resemble that of our Savior, Jesus Christ? Of course.
Our new series, Pray, examines the prayer life of Jesus by looking at each of the six actual prayers that we find in the Gospels. While there are numerous references of Jesus praying there are only six actual prayers preserved for our benefit.
Come learn how Eat, Pray, Love gets lived out when we try to emulate the prayer habits of Jesus.
Our series is based on a book written by the Reverend Dr. Robert L. Morris, Jr., a Presbyterian pastor for over 45 years. Our series will utilize his book titled Pray Like Jesus as a guide. Be sure to get your copy before or after Sunday worship, or find a copy at your local library or favorite source for books. And join us at Book Club each Wednesday at Noon for further discussions on each Sunday’s message.
Everyone is invited to submit prayer requests for each worship. Each prayer request will be dedicated during worship and be included in our prayers. Prayers requests can be submitted through the homepage of our website or filling out a prayer request form.
I pray that you will join us each Sunday morning at 10:30 am. We share our weekly episodes on our YouTube channel. We go live at 10:30 am. You can find these links along with more information about us, or join our live broadcast on our website at FlintAsbury.org.
Pastor Tommy
Robert L. Morris, Jr.. Pray Like Jesus: What We Can Learn From the Six Recorded Prayers of Jesus.. Bloomington, IL: Westbow Press, 2019.