As important as prayer is, the Christian might expect God’s Word to give a clear definition of it. However, and perhaps surprisingly, that is not the case. Many have posited that prayer is something that one must be shown how to do, not taught to define; hence, Christ’s disciples ask Him to show them how to pray. As Eric Alexander asserts: “… prayer defies definition.” Yet, God has given His Spirit to His followers so that, in part, they might be able to discern from His Word more specific implications than what are directly inspired verbally. As Christians in the 21st century, with two millennia to lean on, God’s followers today have the distinct privilege of benefiting from the work done by the Church in the past. John Owen is one of those men who has worked diligently to expound on Biblical truths. He explains that “prayer… [is] a gift, ability, or spiritual faculty of exercising faith, love, reverence, fear, delight, and other graces, in a way of vocal requests, supplications, and praises unto God.” To Owen then, prayer is largely the spiritual and vocal communication of one of God’s children to their Father for a variety of reasons in a variety of ways. The French reformer, John Calvin, is exceptionally helpful here when he defines prayer simply as, “nothing else than the opening up of our heart before God.” Prayer, at its most basic level, is the Christian’s sincere communication to God. There are many types, both simple and complex, short and long, private and public; but nevertheless, prayer is simply a child of God talking to his or her Father.
