Need for Prayer

In a culture that feels increasingly disconnected, here’s something surprisingly encouraging: Nearly half of Americans still pray every single day.

According to new data from Pew Research, 44% of U.S. adults say they pray at least once a day, and another 23% say they pray weekly or a few times a month. That means two-thirds of the country still turns to prayer with some regularity—a practice that remains deeply embedded in American life.

Prayer habits also vary by race, gender, and age. Black Americans are the most likely to pray daily (64%), while women are more likely than men (50% vs. 37%). Older adults continue to lead the way in daily prayer, while younger generations are less consistent—but still showing up.

For many Americans, prayer isn’t just a habit—it’s a lifeline.

As pastor and theologian Tim Keller once wrote, “Prayer is the way to experience a powerful confidence that God is handling our lives well, that our bad things will turn out for good, our good things cannot be taken from us, and the best things are yet to come.”

In a time when faith trends often point to decline, this data is a reminder that spiritual rhythms haven’t disappeared—they’re just shifting.

Ten years ago, Nathaniel Miller was at a vocational fork in the road. He had spent years praying and dreaming about pastoring a church, but Miller was short on cash. A pastor at his church suggested he connect with one of the congregants who owned a plumbing company. A decade later, he’s still plumbing.

In an article in Christianity Today, Miller writes:

It turns out that work, manual labor in particular, had been sitting right under my nose as perhaps the most direct route to learning the skills needed by those who desire to lead the church. I suspect I’m not alone. Any of us can become better at following Jesus by focusing on the demands and spiritual realities of our work. Rightly understood, work is the training ground where good Christians are made.

When I’m installing a water heater … every facet of my being is involved in the execution and completion of the work …. Over the past decade as a blue-collar worker, I have accidentally found a way of life that, far from keeping prayer at bay and hindering me from being with God because of my duties, has put me in the middle of a centuries-long, devout experiment. It teaches me at least these two things: In Christ, I am praying precisely because I am working, and I am becoming better at being a pray-er because I am a worker.

My hands participate in the work of bringing order to the world around me, and they thumb through theological works; they bring peace between homeowners and their homes, and they build the kingdom; they’ve learned to turn wrenches, and they’re learning to pray without ceasing.

I’ve discovered that practicing being in God’s presence and growing in the Christian life is something any of us can do in virtually any line of work, not just as pastors or church leaders. My plumbing vocation certainly isn’t the life I expected, but it’s turning out to be the life for which I prayed.

Pastor Andrew Wilson writes in an issue of CT magazine:

Most of us pray the Lord’s Prayer backwards. (A few) years ago, my wife and I were on an Air New Zealand flight that felt like it was falling out of the sky. Approaching the Queenstown airport, we were caught in a giant wind tunnel. The plane was shuddering and sporadically dropping 50 feet at a time. The cabin filled with shrieking and praying. Many people were crying out to a God in whom they did not believe. Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there certainly aren’t many on buffeted flights.

Thirty minutes later, after having landed safely, the group of strangers waited at baggage claim, looking awkwardly at each other. No doubt, many of them felt silly.

The content of those prayers fascinated me. I suspect it reflects the way many of us intuitively pray. The most common petition I heard was some variant of “Deliver us from evil.” “Help!” “Save us!” and “Oh, God, please don’t let me die!” Crises prompt cries for deliverance, with the immediate need for safety drowning out all other concerns.

The other prayer I heard, though more infrequently, was “Forgive us our sins” in some form or another: “I’m sorry” and “God, please forgive me.” People want to be at peace with God when they die. So, after crying out for rescue, they apologized as they prepared to meet their Maker.

After these sorts of petitions, most of us pray, “Please.” This is probably the most frequent type of prayer we utter. “God, please give me this job.” “Fix my marriage.” “Keep my children safe.” “Provide for my family.” Or, more traditionally, “Give us today our daily bread.” Life comes first, then forgiveness, and then physical provision.

Left to our own devices, we pray the Lord’s Prayer backwards. Without being taught, we say help, then sorry, then please do X for me, and then please do Y for others. And then we begin to appreciate more fully the One to whom we are praying—not just as the One who dispenses safety, redemption, and material goods, but for his own sake.

Yet Jesus taught us to pray it forwards. The topsy-turvy order of the Lord’s Prayer is one reason it is so remarkable. Jesus wanted to make sure (the disciples) never forgot that prayer is not intended to move from action to relationship. Instead, it is intended to move from relationship to action. “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father …’” Forget your formulas and your intercessory cards for a moment, and begin praying with one of the most basic words in a child’s vocabulary. You are God’s child, and he is your Father. Start there, and the rest will flow accordingly.

Most of us are probably so familiar with the Lord’s Prayer that we never stop to think what an amazing thing it is that we have this prayer. What if you had the opportunity to ask the greatest basketball coach of all time to teach you how to shoot a basketball? Or if you were able to ask the greatest chef to teach you how to cook? Or if you were to ask the greatest fighter pilot to teach you how to fly a plane? You'd be on the edge of your seat ready to hear what the expert has to say and then to put the advice and example into practice.

How much more should we be ready and eager to hear from Jesus. He is much more than an expert in prayer, and prayer is infinitely more important than any hobby, skill, or vocation. Prayer is absolutely indispensable for the Christian. We can't live without it.

Singer/Songwriter Sandra McCracken writes in CT magazine:

There’s a call button above every seat on commercial airplanes. In all my travels, I don’t think I’ve ever used it. I’m not sure if that is due to shyness or to pride, as there have certainly been times when I acutely needed help while seated.

While traveling recently, for example, I endured some delays and was thirsty. Yet I waited to ask for anything until the plane reached 10,000 feet, when the flight attendants came row by row to grant our drink requests. I didn’t press the call button. It always seems more courteous to wait.

As Jesus hung on the Cross, one of the last phrases he spoke out loud was “I am thirsty” (John 19:28). This three-word inclusion in the Gospels is a subtle yet significant acknowledgment of Jesus’ human need. His thirst dignifies our humanity. He offered up this holy complaint, a declaration of his physical need. He pushed the call button.

God is the one who is responsible to supply our needs (Ps. 23:1; Phil. 4:19). Jesus invites us to participate, to receive, and to ask. Sometimes we are to ask and ask again (Luke 11:9; 18:1–8).

Jesus invites us to hit the call button. And he invites us to wait for him, sometimes well beyond when the plane has reached 10,000 feet. Ask and wait. Hope and receive. The springs of living water that he gives will never run dry.

In a book titled Faith For Exiles, David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock looked at what separates young people who grew up in church and remain actively engaged in their faith and those that are no longer committed to core Christian beliefs and behaviors.

One thing they noticed is that “resilient disciples,” their name for the ones who stayed committed to core principles of the faith, experience far greater joy and intimacy with Jesus.

Compared to those that simply attend church, “resilient disciples” are far more likely to say that their relationship with Jesus brings them joy (90% vs. 48%), shapes their whole life in body, mind, heart, and soul (88% vs. 51%), and impacts the way they live every day (86% vs. 49%).

They also have a richer prayer life. Resilient disciples are more likely to say that time with Jesus reenergizes their life (87% vs. 46%), reading the Bible makes them feel closer to God (87% vs. 44%), listening to God is a big part of their prayer life (78% vs. 48%), and prayer does not feel like a chore but a vibrant part of their life (64% vs. 39%).

Car thieves have been around forever, and used to just smash out a window to steal vehicles of choice. Unfortunately, they have been able to up their game recently and have gone high-tech. It’s not just cars that criminals are after, but also the valuables left inside. That’s why any time we have something of value with us, we hide it under the seat when we run errands.

Sadly, that simple technique no longer works. If you have electronics in your car, thieves can track them. A new phenomenon has made its way to car theft. Instead of randomly breaking into a car, hoping it has expensive laptops, tablets, or smartphones hiding in them, they are using Bluetooth scanners to remove the guesswork. Here’s how it works: Most devices are constantly sending Bluetooth signals so they can potentially pair with other devices. There are now Bluetooth scanning apps that make these signals easier to find.

Merritt Baer, a Security Architect with Amazon Web Services, recently shared an unfortunate situation like this on Twitter. “Colleagues had a car broken into and laptops stolen in downtown Mountain View last night while we were at dinner. We wondered how they knew to break into the hatchback when it is not see-through. They turn on Bluetooth scanners and follow the beacon to find electronics.”

You don’t have to be a victim. Here are a few simple ways to avoid falling victim:

Be on guard. Thieves are clever and are always on the prowl. Plan ahead. If you will be away from your car, don’t take a bunch of tech gear with you. Close vulnerabilities. Turn off Bluetooth or put your device in airplane mode

Possible Preaching Angles:

The same is true in our spiritual life. We are always being examined for vulnerabilities by our enemy and much more can be lost than tech gear. 1) Be on guard. Satan is always prowling looking for an opportunity to harm us (Eph. 4:27; 1 Pet. 5:8). 2) Be on the defensive. Protect yourself by using the security measures God has provided for you (Matt 4:4; Gal. 5:16; Eph. 6:11; Eph. 6:17).

A Dutch astronaut has described how he accidentally contacted American emergency services on 911 while in orbit above the Earth. Astronaut André Kuipers described the experience while speaking on a radio program about his missions and communications between the Earth, satellites, and astronauts orbiting the planet.

Kuipers explained that while trying to contact NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, he missed an all-important number and accidentally called the US emergency services. He said that to reach the center in Houston, orbiting astronauts have to dial 9 for an outside line, followed by 011 for an international line. But of course, doing so while floating around in space is trickier than from a desk on Earth. “I made a mistake, and the next day I received an email message: Did you call 911?”

His communication slip-up set off a security alert at the Houston center. The emergency staff began by checking the room where the space station’s line connected to Earth before discovering that the source of the call was from orbit. Kuipers explained that it is surprisingly easy to communicate with Earth while aboard a space station in orbit. He said astronauts can reach terrestrial phones via satellites around 70 percent of the time. “I was a little disappointed that they had not come up,” he joked.

While there are a variety of obvious technical limitations for emergency services to respond to a call more than 200 miles above earth, it's still nice to know that even in space, 911 is there to help.

Possible preaching angle:

1) Prayer; Omnipresence of God – It is very reassuring to know that believers are never too far to be out of touch with God’s help in time of emergency. 2) Error; Forgiveness; Mistakes – God never condemns an honest mistake. He remembers that we are imperfect (Psalm 103:14) and prone to error.

The Christian human rights group International Justice Mission (IJM) sets a powerful example of weaving habits of prayer into their daily practices. Every staff member spends the first 30 minutes of the workday in silence—for prayer, meditation, and spiritual reflection. IJM also gathers staff for 30 minutes of daily corporate prayer, in addition to hosting quarterly offsite spiritual retreats and providing employees with an annual day for private spiritual retreat.

This commitment may seem extravagant, especially in the nonprofit sector. But IJM CEO Gary Haugen believes "prayerless striving" leads only to exhaustion. "I have learned just how crucial it is to settle my soul in the presence of Jesus every morning," said Haugen, who has worked for two decades to combat human trafficking and other forms of violence against the poor. "Even though it is tempting to hurry into our work, we intentionally still ourselves and connect with our maker: the God who delights in restoring and encouraging his children."

Bryan Stephenson, author of Just Mercy and founder of an organization that tries to help those unjustly convicted of crimes, was trying to free a man who was clearly innocent. About a dozen people had seen him when he allegedly committed the crime, but none of those people were allowed in the courtroom because they were African-Americans. So Stephenson complained to the judge, who reluctantly allowed Stephenson to admit a few of these eyewitnesses.

One older black woman named Mrs. Williams was chosen to represent this group. But there was another big problem: a huge German shepherd stood guard outside the courtroom. When Mrs. Williams, who was deathly afraid of dogs, saw the dog she froze and then her body began to shake. Tears started running down her face before she turned around and ran out of the courtroom.

Later she said, "Mr. Stevenson, I feel so badly, I let you down today. I was meant to be in that courtroom. I should have been in that courtroom." And she started to cry, and I couldn't console her. She said, "I wanted to be in there so bad. But when I saw that dog all I could think about was Selma, Alabama 1965. I remember how they beat us, and I remember the dogs. I wanted to move and I tried to move but I just couldn't do it." And she walked away with tears running down her face.

The next day her sister told Stevenson that Mrs. Williams didn't eat or talk to anybody all night. They just heard her praying all night long the same prayer: "Lord, I can't be scared of no dog. Lord, I can't be scared of no dog." The next morning she walked up to Stevenson and said, "I ain't scared of no dog. I ain't scared of no dog" and then she walked right past that huge German shepherd into the courtroom.

The courtroom was packed when the judge walked in and everybody rose and sat down—except Mrs. Williams. She told the entire courtroom in a loud, firm voice: "I'm here!" But Stevenson said, "What she was saying wasn't that she was physically present. She was saying, I may be old, I may be poor, I may be black, but I am here because I got a vision of justice that compels me to stand up to injustice. And that was when the tide for the case turned.

In his book It Happens After Prayer, Pastor H. B. Charles Jr. provides the following helpful illustration of why God often makes us wait for the answer to our prayers.

One hot afternoon, a certain woman walked to her neighbor's produce stand to buy grapes. The line was long. And each person seemed to get special attention. But she waited patiently. When she finally made it to the front of the line, the owner asked for her order. She asked for grapes. "Please excuse me for a minute," was the answer. Then the owner walked away and disappeared behind a building. For some reason, this rubbed the woman the wrong way. Everyone in line before her was greeted warmly. They were given special attention. And, most importantly, they were served immediately. But she was forced to wait. And when she got to the front of the line, she was forced to wait some more. She was offended. She felt the owner took her regular business for granted. The longer she waited, the angrier she became.

Finally, the produce stand owner reappeared. And with a big smile, he presented her with the most beautiful grapes she had ever seen. He invited her to taste them. She had never tasted grapes so good. As she turned to leave with her delicious grapes, he stopped her. "Oh yeah, I'm sorry I kept you waiting," said the farmer. "But I needed the time to get you my very best."

How long have you been in line waiting on God to get to your request? How long have you been waiting in line for God to meet a need, solve a problem, or open a door? Whatever you do, don't get out of line. And don't stop praying. Wait on God.

In the novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Garcia Marquez, the author describes in his magical but realistic way a village suffering from an insomnia plague. As this plague continues, it gradually causes the loss of memory. To try and salvage memory, Marquez describes how a man named Jose developed an elaborate plan that involved labeling everything: "With an inked brush he marked everything with its name: table, chair, clock, door, wall, bed, pan. He went on to the corral and marked the animals and plants: cow, goat, pig, hen ... banana."

As their memory continued to fade Jose decided that he needed to be even more explicit. He posted a sign on a cow that read: "This is the cow. She must be milked every morning so that she will produce milk, and the milk must be boiled in order to be mixed with coffee to make coffee and milk. Thus they were living in a reality that was slipping away, momentarily captured by words but which would escape ... when they forgot the values of the written letters." Eventually the village put a placard at the entrance to town that said, "God exists," as that knowledge too was slipping.

Dustin Hoffman, a double Oscar-winner, and a screen legend in no danger of having that title taken away. But he's worried about the future. In an August 2015 interview, Hoffman talked about how he often worries about future failure in his career:

I would bet it's not just me. We worry about the next thing. There are these extraordinary tennis players, who get out there, and they admit that they're just shaking, to be able to get the next serve in. That's all of us. They say you're only as good as your last picture. Well, we only think we're as good as our last good piece of work.

Hoffman admitted one of his biggest fears: "It's that [I'm] never going to be hired again. And that's a constant fear. Is this it?"

The satirical site The Onion ran the following fictitious story titled "Man On Cusp Of Having Fun Suddenly Remembers Every Single One Of His Responsibilities." The humorous story read:

Marshall Platt, 34, came tantalizingly close to kicking back and having a good time while attending a friend's barbeque last night before remembering each and every one of his professional and personal obligations, backyard sources confirmed. While he chatted with friends over a relaxed outdoor meal, Platt was reportedly seconds away from letting go and enjoying himself when he was suddenly crushed by the full weight of work emails that still needed to be dealt with … an upcoming wedding he had yet to buy airfare for because of an unresolved issue with his Southwest Rapid Rewards account, and phone calls that needed to be returned.

Platt, who reportedly sunk into a distracted haze after coming to the razor's edge of experiencing genuine joy, fully intended to go through the motions of talking with friends and appearing to have a good time, all while he mentally shopped for a birthday present for his mother … and made a silent note to call his bank about a mysterious recurring $19 monthly fee that he had recently discovered on his credit card statement.

"Everything's fine," said the tense, mentally absent man whose girlfriend asked him what was wrong after his near-giddy buzz vanished and he remembered that he hadn't called his aunt yet to check up on her after her surgery. "I'm having fun."

According to sources, Platt tried to put his responsibility-laden thoughts out of his mind and loosen up … but suddenly remembered a magazine subscription that needed to be renewed by Friday, a medical bill he thought might now be overdue, and the fact that he needed to do laundry by tonight or he would run out of clean socks and underwear.

There was a front-page article in the San Francisco Chronicle about a metro-transit operator named Linda Wilson-Allen. She loves the people who ride her bus, learns their names, and waits for them if they're late and then make up the time later on her route. A woman in her eighties named Ivy had some heavy grocery bags and was struggling with them. So Linda got out of her bus driver's seat to carry Ivy's grocery bags onto the bus. Now Ivy lets other buses pass her stop so she can ride on Linda's bus.

Linda saw a woman named Tanya in a bus shelter. She could tell Tanya was new to the area and she was lost. It was almost Thanksgiving, so Linda said to Tanya, "You're out here all by yourself. You don't know anybody. Come on over for Thanksgiving and kick it with me and the kids." Now they're friends. Linda has built such a little community of blessing on that bus that passengers offer Linda the use of their vacation homes. They bring her potted plants and floral bouquets. When people found out she likes to wear scarves to accessorize her uniforms, they started giving them as presents to Linda.

Think about what a thankless task driving a bus can look like in our world: cranky passengers, engine breakdowns, traffic jams, gum on the seats. You ask yourself, How does she have this attitude? "Her mood is set at 2:30 A.M. when she gets down on her knees to pray for 30 minutes," the Chronicle states. "'There is a lot to talk about with the Lord,' says Wilson-Allen, a member of Glad Tidings Church in Hayward."

When she gets to the end of her line, she always says, "That's all. I love you. Take care." Have you ever had a bus driver tell you, "I love you"? People wonder, Where can I find the Kingdom of God? I will tell you where. You can find it on the #45 bus riding through San Francisco. People wonder, Where can I find the church? I will tell you. Behind the wheel of a metro transit vehicle.

The book Deep Down Dark, by Hector Tobar, tells the story of the 33 Chilean miners buried 2000 feet underground for over three months back in 2010. They were trapped in a large space, including a room they called The Refuge. They had no idea if anyone would come for them. On August 5th, a Christian man named Don Jose Henriquez, turned to a fellow miner named Mario and whispered, "God is the only way out of this." Before the miners Mario announced, "Don José, we know you are a Christian man, and we need you to lead us in prayer. Will you?"

Hector Tabor explains what happened next:

From that moment forward Henríquez became known as "the Pastor" to his fellow miners because as soon as he opens his mouth and begins to talk it's clear that he knows how to speak of God and to God … Henríquez drops to his knees and tells the men they should also do so, because when you pray you have to humble yourself before your Creator. "We aren't the best men, but Lord, have pity on us," Henríquez begins. It's a simple statement, but it strikes several of the men hard. "No somos los mejores hombres." We aren't the best men. Víctor Segovia knows he drinks too much. Víctor Zamora is too quick to anger. Pedro Cortez thinks about the poor father he's been to his young daughter: He left the girl's mother, and he hasn't even done the basic fatherly thing of visiting his little girl, even though he knows his absence is inflicting a lasting hurt on her.

"Jesus Christ, our Lord, let us enter the sacred throne of your grace," Henríquez continues. "Consider this moment of difficulty of ours. We are sinners and we need you." Just about everyone who was at the entrance to the Refuge or inside is on his knees … Henríquez is a man of God, and suddenly here, in this tomb, the religious severity that many of them found annoying during the everyday encounters of the A shift is exactly what they need. "We want you to make us stronger and help us in this hour of need," Henríquez says. "There's nothing we can humanly do without your help. We need you to take charge of this situation. Please, Lord. Take charge of this."

Possible Preaching Angles: When people are in trouble—when they've "reached the end of their hoarded resources"—we can offer to pray for them and with them. God will listen and help, because God wants people to know his love through Christ. That ought to make us very glad to be his people.

Editor's Note: Tell this illustration as a story or as a prop illustration by using an actual bicycle or a bike tire.

On a recent bike trip it wasn't until I finally arrived home that I noticed something wrong. My tires were low. They needed air. The funny thing about bike tires is I don't remember taking air out of them. It just went. Somewhere. Somehow. Air leaks.

My tires weren't crazy low, but low enough to know that my efforts in peddling were not producing maximum return. Each rotation was just a little bit harder than it would be had the tires been filled properly.

It got me thinking. Life is like a bike tire. We don't intentionally take air out … it just leaves. And just as it's harder to peddle with flat tires, it's not as fun to live when the air has leaked out of our lives. We don't know where it goes or how. Life just has a way of deflating us. Difficult conversations … hisssssss (that's the sound of air leaving your tires!). Tough day at work … hisssssss. Overwhelmed by circumstance … hisssssss. It happens to all of us.

So where in my life am I being re-inflated? Where am I pausing long enough to "fill my tires"? I know for me it happens when I drive by myself, worship music cranked. Re-filling. It happens when I take my Bible and a journal to the beach and let God speak to me. Re-filling. It happens to me when the stories of God at work fill my spirit. Having a coffee with a wise and trusted friend.

What about you? Are you going through life with flat tires? How fun is that? How much effort are you putting out in relation to the return? What if you made a decision to pause and re-fill? Do you know your re-filling stations? How does God fill your tires and push you onward?