Prayer List – Can you go off book?

Every Monday my organization has chapel and a time of prayer for our mission workers all over the world. It’s a time we spend in fellowship with one another and it starts the week out centered in the Spirit. Today as I sat in my prayer group circle, with the prayer list paper in hand, I began to wonder about the nature of prayer lists and prayer requests. Are they helpful or do they hold us back?

Today, as I read the prayer sheet and people around me prayed and ticked off each prayer, like ticking off boxes on a check list, I wondered, “Can I go off book?” The prayer requests are laid out before me in a neat little paragraph, wrapped up in a tidy, direct package.  No one would care if I read the sheet word for word, as long as each box was ticked and I meant what I said.

When something is presented before me, the words fed to me, I tend to not branch out from what is given. My mind focuses in on it. In doing this, do I limit spontaneous prayer, the movement of the Spirit? Do I have the freedom to just pray? Let it all loose, pray about what He leads me too?

Do I have the freedom to not pray? I’m expected too. I’m expected to read of the list. Complete the task at hand. But can I pray silently? Can I pray for myself or my family during the time of community prayer? The script is given. Do I dare change it?

I think prayer lists and prayer requests are important. As believers we are prayer warriors. There is immense power in prayer. They give us opportunity to lift up others in prayer, they share the need. But do we rely too heavily on lists? Do we go through the motions, lifting up prayers like reading off a to-do list? Do we allow the Spirit to drive us? Do we listen when He speaks?

Let this be a challenge – don’t be afraid to be spontaneous in your prayers. Use the lists and requests as a spring board for real, deep prayer. Heart prayer. Don’t stop. Keep praying when all the boxes are ticked.

One time a mission worker told me of an analogy he heard when he was a part of a 24-hour prayer meeting – that’s straight; just prayer, 24-hours. He said prayer is like an ocean wave, the struggle, the challenge, the distraction comes on the way up, where lists and requests are necessary for momentum. But the beauty, the fluidity, the movement, the driven, impact prayer comes after the crest, where the Spirit takes a hold and you just ride the wave.