Podcast listener Mackenzie writes in to ask this, "Pastor John, is it okay for me to plan, or even write out word for word, a prayer that I will read before a group? Or is this practice of scripting out a prayer somehow less spiritual?" Pastor John, what would you say?

There are many spontaneous prayers that sound empty because of the language that is so overworked and worn out and thoughtless. You can tell they are simply repeating tired phrases that they've used a thousand times, and their minds are not engaged, but they're on automatic pilot. So, no cheers for spontaneous prayers at that moment.

On the other hand, there are well-prepared prayers that sound utterly authentic and from the heart and are rich with biblical truth and show careful thought about what should be prayed at this moment, in this worship service or in this small group. And it's not wrong to think that way, by the way, because Paul said, "If you don't speak in intelligible languages, how will they say 'amen' to your prayer?" In other words, Paul wants us to be aware that people are listening to our prayers.

If we pray out loud, we want an "amen." And the "amen" means they've understood it, they've agreed with it, it has some substance, it was a good thing to pray, "Amen!" That's the way one ought to pray. Thinking this way is biblical. Mackenzie asks if it's less spiritual to prepare a prayer ahead of time.

And my answer is it could be less spiritual, and it could be more spiritual. The issue of how spiritual it is does not depend on prepared or unprepared. It depends on three questions. One, is the prayer created for the glory of Jesus Christ, for the hallowing of God's name?

Number two, is the prayer created in reliance on the help of the Holy Spirit, or is it just created out of our own minds with no conscious reliance on the Spirit's help at all? And three, is the prayer guided in its substance, biblical substance, by the activity of the Holy Spirit?

That's what it means for something to be spiritual. Does it exalt Christ? That's what the Spirit does. Does it depend on the work of the Spirit? Is it guided and shaped in content by the Spirit Himself? My belief is that those three questions may be fulfilled by a spontaneous prayer or by a prepared prayer.

So both may be spiritual or both may be unspiritual. And here's a caution. Beware of two temptations, Mackenzie. One is to confuse spontaneous with inarticulate and careless. I think a lot of people do this. They think for this to be spontaneous and real, it's got to sound inarticulate and careless.

Lots of "you knows" and "just reallys" and half-finished sentences and super casual conversation. I've heard people pray like this. It's all of this because it sounds more real and more intimate. That's part of a cultural thing we live in right now. None of those things is spiritual. Lots of "you knows," lots of "just reallys," lots of half sentences, lots of super casual tones.

None of that is spiritual. And none of them proves authenticity or intimacy. They are culturally learned, just like liturgies are. You know this because you walk into some churches or some small groups, everybody prays the same. They pray sloppy. That's what you do here. You don't finish your sentences.

You use language that is just kind of grunted out because if you sound like you just put your sentence together with a subject and an object, people will think you're fake. That's just a learned behavior. People are allergic to good grammar or anything hanging together because in order to be real, you have to be careless.

The other mistake is the opposite. If you prepare your prayer, beware of sounding distant and mechanical and literary. Very few people have the gift of delivering a prepared word in a natural, heartfelt way. Very few people. But that is what's needed if you're going to prepare your prayer. What's needed is reality, intensity, joy.

In other words, there's no reason to think, is there, that if you thought about something yesterday, you can't feel it today. That's ridiculous. So my answer is do both. Pray spontaneously and pray things you've thought about. The more you do both and do them well, the more real and the more natural you'll be in both and, God willing, the more spiritual.

Excellent. Thank you, Pastor John. Well, we are getting ready to host our Pastors Conference coming up next week here in Minneapolis. And for the next few episodes, we're going to welcome a guest to the podcast, Pastor Matt Chandler. Many of you know who Matt is. I have a list of the 10 most pressing questions faced by young men and women who are struggling with singleness or who are dating or who are considering engagement and looking forward to marriage.

These are the hardest of the hardest relational questions myself and a few friends could think up on issues related to young Christian men and women in these situations. And beginning tomorrow, we're going to start working through all 10 questions. Matt is going to get a cardio workout, no doubt.

We will be blessed as well. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. See you tomorrow with Matt Chandler.