Is Prayer Teachable?

Someone was talking with me the other day about a prayer seminar. It sounds like a good idea. Who wouldn't want to sign up for that? I used to be a part of a church that offered prayer conferences and seminars from time to time. I went to a couple of them.

After talking with this individual, I looked on-line at the prayer resources (there are a lot of them ... including conferences and seminars). I've also done some thinking about my own prayer life and experience. It seems that people spend a lot of time (and money) seeking prayer tips, prayer resources, prayer advice, prayer guidance, etc. I confess to having done some of that myself.

But I believe I've reached a conclusion about prayer. It is a conclusion about prayer that is born out of my own experiential learning and thus my Holy Spirit led understanding.

I now believe that prayer cannot be truly taught by principles and seminars or conferences. It has to be born out of a whole environment of felt need. If I say, "I ought to pray," I will not do it. Why? Because I will run out of motivation. My flesh is too strong. I have to be driven to pray. Usually I experience that as need --- my needs drive me to pray.

But sometimes, the felt need isn't my own. Rather the Holy Spirit seems to impart someone else's need on my heart and calls me to prayer. You can see that it (prayer) is not something that I'm choosing to do then. Instead, I am driven or called to prayer by the Father whom I pray to. I wonder how much I would pray if He didn't lead in my life like that.

One more think I notice about prayer. It seems that the more I pray, the more I sense my need to pray. Of course that leads to more effective prayer. And more effective prayer leads to more enjoyable prayer. In the end, the more I enjoy prayer, the more I want to pray.

Boy, I would not want to be the guy who runs a prayer conference or writes a book on prayer. Without the efforts of the Holy Spirit, I'm not sure what could be said or done!