Purposeful Prayers and Popcorn Praises

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Listen to the Audio version | Reading Time: 5 minutes

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Each summer during high school, I was blessed to be a part of a traveling choir called Youth Musical. Youth from all over the state of Ohio would gather for one week to learn music, choreography, and puppeteering. Then we would load up vans and travel for two weeks singing and sharing God’s love in a wide variety of venues from shopping malls, to detention centers, and town squares.

I met some of my best friends in Youth Musical, as we shared so many amazing adventures. It was so hard to say goodbye to them after spending every hour together for three weeks, so we made sure to exchange phone numbers and mailing addresses to stay in touch. 

After we’d gone home, one of these friends and I would write to each other every evening before mailing several weeks’ worth of letters with friendship bracelets, pictures we had colored, and all sorts of little treasures.

I heard a sermon about how Jesus is to be our best friend and how our relationship with Him should resemble the other friendships we have. I immediately thought of my friends from Youth Musical and how I intentionally set aside time to write to them. I knew I needed to do the same with my best friend, Jesus.

Purposeful Prayers

For many years I purposefully set aside time to write down my prayers. I have nearly fifty journals and notebooks filled with the notes and letters I wrote to Jesus. Looking at these journals and reading back through these prayers means so much to me, and I can only imagine how much those words mean to the One I wrote them all to. 

Prayers can be said in private and in groups. Jesus often taught the importance of praying alone. 

He said, “when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.”
Matthew 6:6, NIV

And several times throughout the gospels Jesus modeled this practice of praying in private, such as in Matthew 14:23, NIV. 

“After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone.”
Matthew 14:23, NIV

Even though He taught the importance of praying in private, our Rabbi Jesus would have naturally encouraged His followers to gather together to pray. 

Lois Tverberg explains in her book, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, how many modern Christians in our western culture focus much more on praying privately, in contrast to the more traditional Jewish understanding of the importance of praying in a group.

“Judaism throughout the centuries has declared that ‘life is with people.’ Religion, in their thinking, is inherently communal. Whereas Christians seek our solitude for drawing close to God, many Jewish prayers can only be recited in the presence of a minyan, a group that contains at least ten adult Jewish men.”

Lois Tverberg, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, pg. 57

In Matthew 18:20, Jesus told His disciples when two or three are gathered in His name, He would be with them. And when asked to teach His disciples how to pray, He taught them a unified prayer.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Matthew 6:9-13, NIV 

In our last Online Biblical Study, The Gospel on the Ground, by Kristi McLelland we learned the early followers of Jesus practiced fixed times of prayer. Every day they would pause and purposefully pray at 9:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. 

“When practicing fixed times of prayer, wherever they were, whatever they were doing, whomever they were with, everything ceased at those fixed times so they could pray. It interrupted their work to remind them of God’s work– that deep work of bringing restoration, renewal, and repair to the world. Early followers of Jesus knew that their brothers and sisters around the world were praying at the same exact time. When they could not share space, they shared time.”

Kristi McLelland, The Gospel on the Ground, pg. 157

With every relationship, it is vital to have good communication, and the same is true with our relationship with Jesus and our Heavenly Father.

For some, purposeful prayer and time in the Word is easier first thing in the morning. I’m much more of a night owl and prefer to schedule my purposeful time of prayer in the evening before crawling into bed. It is then when all the tasks of the day are accomplished, that I can sit back and thank God for helping guide me through another day. 

But no matter what time you choose, there’s no wrong time to schedule purposeful prayer into your day. Every time is the right time to pray. God desires to spend time with us, and He delights in our intentional efforts of setting aside time to be with Him. 

It’s been hard to write my prayers over the past couple of years. In 2020, it was like I didn’t know what to say, or how to express the heaviness of my heart. Though my prayers became shorter, the time spent praying and interacting with God became much more frequent.

Popcorn Praises

Back when I was writing to my Youth Musical friends, conversations took months as we corresponded by snail mail.  Nowadays, I frequently text with my friends throughout each day, often carrying on multiple conversations at once.  It helps us to stay better connected. I think the same could be said about frequent “check-ins” with God.

I’m confident God appreciates the frequent, short prayers just as much as He values the longer planned times we share. I have heard of these types of prayers being called, “Popcorn Praises”.  

These can be quick prayers in the moment, as we think of someone, when we hear someone is in need, or even just to thank God for being with us through the day and telling Him that we love Him. 

This style of prayer goes all the way back to the 1st century with Paul writing to the church of Thessalonica, as he instructed them to,

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, ESV 

I’ve often wondered what Paul meant by “pray without ceasing”. Is that even possible? It’s hard to wrap my mind around this being the will of God for me to never stop praying. 

This idea is much more about living in such a way that we are mindful of God’s presence and involvement in all the everyday things. We can talk with Him outside of the fixed times set aside for purposeful prayer. We can go to Him spontaneously, and praise Him for the everyday gifts and blessings He gives us.

Always The Right Time And Right Way To Pray

It doesn’t matter whether we’re praying:

• in private, 
• gathered in a group, 
• at a fixed time with our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world, 
• scheduling time in the morning or evening for prayer, 
• writing in prayer journals, 
• walking while praying out loud, 
• or kneeling quietly, 
• or spontaneously praying and praising God all day long. 

It is always the right time and right way to pray!

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