Troublesome Topic: HEBREW AND GREEK WORDS FOR PRAYER

The primary word for “pray” in Hebrew means “to intervene, interpose, mediate or judge.” It seems to center around the idea of getting between two entities. God’s true followers use prayer to get between sinners and God in an attempt to draw the former to the latter. Notice that this is not about us, it is entirely about God and about others. Asking for what I want for myself does not fit the Hebrew word for prayer.

The concept of “crying out” to God is often expressed in the Old Testament. It is usually translated as it should be with the English words “cry out.” These pleas for help are not true prayer, but God often chose to answer them anyway. 

 The Greek word translated “pray” is made from two words; one is the preposition “toward;” the other is the verb “exchange.” Hence “prayer” means to “exchange toward.” That still does not help us very much until we unpack it even further. The concept is one of us drawing closer to God so that we can exchange our human desires for His divine will. In that exchange we lose everything that wants to focus on our wants and even our needs. We come away with an all-encompassing desire to see God’s will realized and His name glorified. That is true prayer!

The next lesson is WHAT TRUE PRAYER IS AND WHAT IT ISN’T