Minimum Viable Prayer - When does a thought become a prayer?

The MVP in sports is a well-known acronym for the ‘Most Valuable Player.’ Likewise, I think there are some ways in which the ‘Minimum Viable Prayer,’ is also the ‘Most Valuable Prayer.’

Disclaimer: As I have said many times in many posts, I am not a theologian. I’m just an avid Bible reader and thinker of things. So, please, if the following resonates with you, seek advice from a more qualified person, or please do your own study.

What is a Minimum Viable Prayer?

When I go outside, of an evening, while my dog answers the call of nature, I often look up at the sky and admire the early nighttime clouds and stars. Sometimes, I am blessed to see the Moon glowing through those clouds. A vista which I adore. The sharp lines of the moon and the soft glow never fail to warm my soul, even on the coldest of evenings.

In those moments, I typically find myself almost absentmindedly thanking God for the time outside, the clean air, my little dog and a myriad of other things which wash across my mind.

As another example - I had a conversation with a non-christian friend the other day. After the conversation, I found myself asking God to help them with the problem they faced and to help them to meet Jesus. I also found the thought evolving into thanking God for a few of the people in my life.

In both of these examples, I did not consciously think, ‘time to pray!’ It was more organic than that. I began thinking about a blessing or a need in my life, and before I even knew it, I was lifting these thoughts up to God. I had not consciously realised that I had done this until later when I was reflecting on my day.

During these little emergent moments praised God, thanked God and I did so without consciously thinking about worship. Which got me thinking, Biblically speaking, what is a prayer, and what is the minimum required words, effort, or intentionality to be classed as such?

To scripture, I go…

Isaiah 6:8  Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

I think Isaiah addressing God (answering him) is inarguably a short prayer. It does not conclude with Amen, or have a formal structure. It is just the words “Here am I, Send me” in the NKJV. In the more common NLT, the wording is a touch more modern, with it reading “Here I am. Send me.” - Still just five English words.

Matthew 15:25  Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”

In this verse, we see a Canaanite woman asking Jesus to heal her daughter. I feel, strongly, that seeing Jesus in his incarnated flesh and asking something of him is clearly a prayer. Whether she realised it or not, asking something of God in this way is truly the most pure of prayers.

Luke 18:13  And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’

Here we have Jesus himself telling a parable, where a tax collector asks God, ‘be merciful to me, a sinner!’

In this parable the tax collector is the hero of the story, showing humbleness, giving his problem, guilt, and grief for his life to God. A faithful, God-fearing man. It’s an earnest moment of pure faith, in prayer. And, again, you may notice, no Amen, no structure and no pomp. This was someone crying out to God for forgiveness.

I have one more example which I feel worth looking at before I expand on some more thoughts. This one, though, maybe the greatest single prayer in the entire of the New Testament (besides the ones from Jesus.)

Matthew 14:30  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

Another instance of someone asking Jesus, directly, for help. In this case, a literal request for salvation, though, the physical kind rather than the more common spiritual sort.

This one is three words and possibly the simplest format a sentence can be, a request for help. It literally could have just been the word ‘Help’ directed at Jesus, and the meaning would be no different.

When I began writing this article, and scouring the Bible for examples of short prayer, I found myself quite stunned by this verse. The more I thought about the scene, the more it resonated with me.

Now for a tangent, related, but somewhat off the beaten track…

My first through was to imagine having the privilege to reach out to Jesus with an open hand, and a great need and be able to ask, or perhaps even scream for direct, physical, instant, help.

I then felt a wave of something close to shame, as I realised that we all, do, in fact, have that privilege. When Jesus spoke of having enough faith to move mountains, I never understood the meaning, not really, until now. I have spent a long time envying the Apostles for their relationship with Jesus, and I had not thought about my own relationship with Him. As a Christian, I too, not only can reach out and ask, but do, and have done. He may not be wondering around the sea of Galilee while we tentatively climb out of a boat. But, he is with us all the time, and because of the relationship forged with faith and through scripture, he is waiting for us next to the boat, regardless of what that boat may be in our lives. How can my faith move mountains if I don’t even understand it well enough to truly grasp what that faith even means?

Rant over, back to the actual topic

The traditional format

It is in Matthew 6:9 that we get the template for prayer from Jesus in the form of the Lord’s Prayer. It is this prayer that teaches us about thanking God, praising him, recognising his position in the universe and only then, humbly asking for our needs to be met. While this is a massive simplification of the theological leviathan which is the Lord’s Prayer, I think the point that a prayer should include praise is a solid one.

The Bible is filled with exceptions and standards not met (which is literally a topic of another article I am currently working on.) I think when we intentionally pray, we should do so with an understanding of the process, expectation and ethical implication. But, I also think that God wants a relationship with us. While I know it’s important to maintain friendships and family bonds through visits, phone calls and historically, perhaps letters. I also maintain those bonds through text messages, forwarded pictures of cute dogs I saw on the internet and, occasionally, a thumbs up, to a received message.

I think God wants those calls, in the form of formally structured and intentional prayer, and visits in the form of Church attendance. I also think there is enough in Scripture to prove to us that it’s also okay to give God the Facebook thumbs up in the form of these moments of acknowledgement and forward him dog pictures in the form of these small, minimum viable prayers.

Refining the point

I would like to turn to the book of Romans for one final thought here…

Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Romans 8:27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

When our words are small, the Spirit remains big. While I know that the book of Romans is talking about the moments when words fail us, and we cry out to God. But, it’s also another point that helps to build the picture of a God who wants us, as we are, while He refines us into whom we should be.

And finally.

Maybe if or only prayers were ‘Thanks God,’ when we are waiting for our dog to pee, there would be a problem in our relationship with Him. When we read our Bibles and go to church and pray in the way which is ideal, I think it is likely that our little ‘top-ups’ are well received.

Or using as few words as I can think, to make this point - The Amen, doesn’t make the prayer.

Note: This was written by a human, not an AI.