{"id":13247,"date":"2024-12-02T07:12:50","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T13:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?p=13247"},"modified":"2025-02-07T09:32:36","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T15:32:36","slug":"does-god-hear-our-simple-prayers-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2024\/12\/does-god-hear-our-simple-prayers-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Does God Hear Our Simple Prayers Too?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

This post is the voice of Pete Greig, author of How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People<\/em>. Here, Pete encourages us to not overthink or over-spiritualize the activity of praying. Why? Because that’s how Jesus taught his first disciples to pray.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best bit of advice I ever received about how to pray was this: keep it simple, keep it real, keep it up.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’ve got to keep it simple<\/em> so that the most natural thing in the world doesn’t become complicated, weird, and intense.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus warns us quite specifically against getting overcomplicated in prayer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world is full of so-called prayer warriors . . . peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don\u2019t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. <\/p>Matthew 6:7-8 The Message Bible<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He then goes on to give the Lord\u2019s Prayer, which was just thirty-one words long in its original language. It also originally rhymed\u2014Jesus wrote us a poem! Having advocated simplicity in prayer, he modeled it with a short, rhyming prototype that takes about thirty seconds to recite in English and fits in a single tweet.<\/strong> As Archbishop Justin Welby says on ChurchofEngland.org, the Lord\u2019s Prayer is \u201csimple enough to be memorised by small children and yet profound enough to sustain a whole lifetime of prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re new to faith, you will probably have all sorts of sensible questions about prayer. I remember a sophisticated-looking lady coming to speak to me one Sunday after a service. \u201cI\u2019m new to Christianity,\u201d she said. \u201cIs it all right if I talk to God in the shower?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was driving a friend across town. He was a brand-new believer, and I suggested we pray. \u201cNo way!\u201d he screamed and tried to grab the wheel, terrified that I was about to close my eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are very few rules for Christians when it comes to prayer.<\/strong> Yes, of course we can pray in the shower or while driving. We are not required to close our eyes, to adopt a particular posture, to dress in a certain way, to wash ourselves ritually, or to use a fixed form of words simply to be heard by God. Some of these things can on occasion be helpful, as we shall see later, but the writer of Hebrews is clear that God\u2019s presence is freely available to us all at any time, in any place, through Jesus. (See Hebrews 10:19)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God invites you to pray simply, directly, and truthfully in the full and wonderful weirdness of the way he\u2019s made you.<\/strong> Take a walk in the rain. Write prayers on the soles of your shoes. Sing the blues. Rap. Write Petrarchan sonnets. Sit in silence in a forest. Go for a run until you sense God\u2019s smile; throw yourself down a waterslide, yelling hallelujah if that\u2019s honestly your thing. Just pray!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Pete<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Pete Greig<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pete is a best-selling author, pastor and bewildered instigator of the 24-7 Prayer movement which has reached more than half the nations on earth. He is also the Senior Pastor of Emmaus Rd<\/a>, Guildford, England, an Ambassador for the NGO Tearfund<\/a>, and teaches at St Mellitus Theological College<\/a> in London. For 7 years Pete served with the senior leadership team at HTB<\/a> and Alpha International<\/a>. Pete\u2019s publications include The Prayer Course<\/a>, Dirty Glory<\/a>, How to Pray<\/a>, and How to Pray: A Guide for Young Explorers<\/a>.  He loves art galleries, live music, and knocking down walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
PETE GREIG<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The best bit of advice I ever received about how to pray was this: keep it simple, keep it real, keep it up. You’ve got to keep it simple so that the most natural thing in the world doesn’t become … <\/p>\n

Read moreDoes God Hear Our Simple Prayers Too?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":13430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"Of course you can pray in the shower or while driving.","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[613,617,3,9],"tags":[704,268,395],"yoast_head":"\nDoes God Hear Our Simple Prayers Too? - The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2024\/12\/does-god-hear-our-simple-prayers-too\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does God Hear Our Simple Prayers Too? - The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The best bit of advice I ever received about how to pray was this: keep it simple, keep it real, keep it up. 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