“What Is the Role of Prayer in Our Daily Life and Work?” - Dale Bruner

This book really influenced me when I was a young Christian, E. M. Bounds, it's called Power Through Prayer. I read in there that Luther prayed three hours every day, and I thought, "I'm lucky if I pray three minutes." So, I was under terrific guilt for years, until I read Luther and now I have finished . . . (Those are Luther's works up there). He has a section where Jesus says, "Don't go on and on like the pagans, you're father knows already what you need." Prayer should be brief, frequent, and intense. That's a quotation from Luther. We shouldn't go on and on and try to wear God out; God can hear us. That little thing, "Prayer should be brief, frequent, and intense," boy did that . . . In other words, we can pray several times during the day in about ten seconds, "Dear Lord, help me. I need a lot of help in this meeting I'm going to have. Amen." That's a real prayer. That's better than ten minutes just looking at your watch, you know.

I think The Lord's Prayer is the main thing every Christian---lay, clerical, or whatever---should pray. Because, Jesus said, "When you pray, don't go on and on like the pagans. They think the more they pray the more answers to prayer they'll get. Don't you be like them. Your Father knows the things you need before you even ask Him. So, when you pray, pray this." Then, He gives us that marvelous prayer. And I think all of us Christians should pray The Lord's Prayer daily.

Want to hear more? You can find our conversation with Dale over at The High Calling Youtube Channel.