What Does the Word Prayer Mean to You? Greek Word for What Is Prayer - How to Pray Teaching and Sermon
Transcript:
How would you define the word prayer? Most of us would say prayer is simply having a conversation with God, or talking with God. To that I would respond – it’s deeper than that. Saying that prayer is merely talking or conversing to God is true, but I think that it is a dumbed down definition of prayer. If conversation is all prayer is, then we wouldn’t even need the word prayer. We could just say, I’m going to talk to God, or I’m going to speak with God, or I am going to speak my wants and desires to the air.
The Greek word underlying the word prayer, is proseuche (proe-soo-hey’). In this teaching, we will be focusing on three Greek words related to prayer with God: 1) pros, 2) euchomai, and 3) thelema
The Greek
word underlying prayer is proseuche, and the word proseuche
comes from the words pros and the word euchomai. Now the first
part, pros is a preposition. It's a tiny little word, but it is a very specific
little preposition. In nearly all cases when it is used in the New Testament,
it it used to mean “to move or to go towards” a person, and it implies
going towards to be close to the person. This is specific, and it is not used in the Greek when the someone is
going or traveling to a place. See in English, we say, "I am going to my sister, or to see my
sister;" or "I am going to the post office." It’s the same little preposition
“to.” In Greek, there are two
prepositional words for moving to or moving towards: pros – which implies going to a person to be
with that person.
For example, when Jesus says, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." The word pros is used. When Jesus went to John to be baptized, he went pros John. When Jesus taught, the crowds went pros him. They were coming to him, closely, so he had to go out into the boat and push out to teach from the middle of the lake in order to put some distance between himself and the crowds. When the sick came to be healed, they came pros Jesus. It’s a different Greek preposition when someone is going to a place.
So do you now see why I am getting so excited
about this little preposition?! The first syllable in proseuche means to go as one person goes to see or meet with to another person. It doesn’t mean to go to God as
you go to a library. It doesn't even mean to go to God like you would go to church. It’s come to God as one person to another person,
implying coming close to God. Remember, when Jesus says come to
me all you who are weary and heavy burdened, it is this word pros, and when we
come pros, Jesus will give us rest.
Now – the second part of proseuche, of prayer comes from the Greek root word euchomai, and in the religious sense we translate it as pray. However in the regular, non-religious Greek word, euchomai meant "wishes" It meant wish in the sense of having a wish, or having a want or a desire for something. So now we see that prayer, proseuche, in the Greek literally means - you as a person are bringing your wishes to God, and this implies closeness, like sitting side by side or speaking face to face.
Now, I could stop here, but I want to share one more perspective. It relates to the third word, thelema. Thelema is the Greek word underlying the word will, like how we use it in the will of God, or God’s will. But there is one other way that thelema is translated in other places in the New Testament – it is also translated "wishes!'
Are you still on this road with me? Jesus, in the Lord’s Prayer and in His own prayer at Gethsemane, modeled what proseuche within the thelema of God is. Jesus goes to God, as one person goes to another, to talk closely with him, sharing His wishes while also releasing His wishes, wants, and desires to be in line with God’s wishes. That is prayer.
When we begin treating this way – when we
1)take time to go to God as one person goes to visit or sit down with and give our focus to another person; and when we
2) share our honest wishes to God; and then, most importantly, when we end that time that we are spending with God with
3) an
honest statement of acceptance that we want to exchange our wishes for God’s
wishes for us….that is the powerful prayer that accomplishes much.
The word prayer is not just talking, not just conversing. It's not just speaking our wishes out to impersonal
forces. It is proseuche - taking your
wishes close to God as one person to another, and then
releasing your wishes and exchanging your wishes for God’s thelema, for God’s wishes.
Friends, that's all I have for this teaching. I want to close again with a recommendation. If you have not already read it, my book Closer to God: SimpleMethods, Starting Today. In that book I share how my mindset changed and how my daily practices changed in order to find closeness with God. It’s a short and simple read. It’s a little bit of a “why to,” but it more appropriately is a practical “how to.” It is available on Amazon, and you can even read it for free if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription.
For the next two to three months, I will be sharing more of these “gems” from the biblical Greek. So subscribe wherever you watch or listen, either to the podcast or the Youtube channel, both are titled and can be found through a google search for Gospel Life Learning with Sherry Elaine. You can also enter your email in the form below to get a monthly email letting you know of any new epsiodes released during the month.
Goodbye for now, and spend some time in proseuche within God's thelema today, tomorrow, the next day, and going forward.
- Sherry