Welcome back to our lessons on what it the Christians life entails. In the past lessons we've focused on who God is, how He works and what He does focusing on each part of the Godhead individually of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But there's one more part of this equation, you and me, the believer. Starting with this lesson and through the next few we'll take a look at how we as Christians fit into God's revealed plans and commands. We start this lesson by looking at what actually happens when we as children of God pray.
A prayer is a couple of things. A prayer is a heart to heart talk with God, either spoken or unspoken, directly with the one true God. For example, one might pray, dear Lord, please give me the strength I need for a difficult task. That is a conversation, emotionally directed at the one true God. A prayer is not for example watching a game on television and saying please make this shot. It's somewhat insincere, and it's definitely not aimed at God. But praying is something that everyone seems to do these days. Even nonbelievers, please let me get this job an unbeliever will mumble under their breath. I'll keep you in my thoughts one says to a sick friend, however, as you can see illustrated below, the problem is that unforgiven sin blocks those prayers from getting to God the Father. As we'll see later, we need Jesus to have our prayers heard, so if someone looks for salvation and an answer to their petitions without first looking to the cross, it's like their talking to God through a wall.
Isaiah points this out in 59:2, "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear." Though God actually knows all, one who does not look to Jesus as their Savior have their prayers fall on deaf ears. While every prayer is answered, even for nonbelievers due to the fact of most prayers being a will it won't it situation, God will never intercede on their behalf. One can find an example of the difference prayer makes when made by one who believes and those who don't in 1 Kings chapter 18. In this section of scripture Elijah challenges those around him who put their faith in Baal, a heathen idol, to have their god answer their prayer, all Baal has to do is set wood ablaze. Pray as hard as they did, their prayers went unheard, but Elijah had faith in God, and to show these people the grace of God's interceding on his behalf, Elijah ordered water thrown on his wood to the point that it was actually submerged and with a simple prayer a fire raged so powerful that it consumed the wood, engulfing ground and stones and even the water. Fortunately those people witnessed such a powerful miracle many were saved by this Heavenly display.
That example stated, it should be noted that praying to any other god besides the True God is frivolous and a waste of time, it is as hollow as the atheist petitions spoken into the air. That also said, trust that every answered prayer is as miraculous and glorious as fire that ignites out of water and is worthy of thanksgiving. How do we know our prayers are heard through Jesus though? It certainly seems as God sets Himself apart from this world when it comes time to hear our wants. Galatians 3:26 tells us, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,” You see that not only does Jesus intercede on our behalf for us, but He does it in such a way that He goes to the Father and claims that we are without sins, like a Son of God, and as such we are to be allowed in His presence. It is not that we are without sin, it's that through Christ, we are made sinless and are given full access to the Father's presence and attention. Think about that, the only time we'll be perfect is when we are called home to Heaven but before that has even happened, God the Father already sees us as blameless and we are given the rights of sons.
A prayer is a couple of other things as well. Not only is it a benefit of our faith, but it's also a command. Ephesians 6:18, the first half of the verse reads, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." Pray all the time, pray for safe trips in your car, for your children’s education, for your job, for your health, before food, before bed, at church, at home, at work, at school, in the car. Just pray. Nothing is frivolous when brought to God. The misconception is that we not burden God because He is busy with more important things, no, He is all powerful, to think He can't handle your prayer to make a headache go away while someone prays for an end of a war that's ongoing strips God of His almighty power. There's an old saying, there are no stupid questions, and there are also no stupid prayers. Assuming that a Christian knows the commands of law, so that no sinful request is made by us, there are no bad prayers. Go ahead and pray to become a billionaire, if God answers no, it's not that the prayer was bad, it's the all-knowing God's realization of how that outcome would affect you on your path to Heaven hence it is answered with a no. A denied prayer does not a bad prayer make, nor does it allude to some sort of disappointment or dislike of you. A no is loving, perhaps even more so than a yes. We believers are children of God and sometimes we act like it. Much like a child who begs to eat an entire jar of cookies, our Heavenly Father tells us no, because the father from the example knows that there will be no nutrition, no room for dinner and most likely some digestive distress later on. A child can only see the denial of sweets and fun though. So please pray for everything, even if it seems silly or unimportant to you.
Philippians reaffirms this in 4:6, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Another thing this verse addresses is something we covered earlier in putting our faith in Christ alone. Don't be anxious, don't worry. Pray for everything. No matter the outcome, you'll know your request and thus your situation has been personally placed in God's lap and it is indeed being handled, even if your circumstance feels uncertain or negative at the moment. As this points back to Christ, the final thing we can understand about our prayers is that they are a natural response to the saving faith we have in Jesus. When Jesus tells us to bring our burdens to Him so He can take on their weight in our stead there's one main way we can do that; through prayer in petition. One problem of the sin of worry is that we often say Jesus, take this from me, and then even though we've brought it to Christ, we don't always fully hand it over, sometimes it's more of a Jesus, look at this, look what I'm trying to do over here. Instead of lending us a hand, Jesus wants to take care of it and let us sit off to the side and enjoy our lives. But the natural response of prayer comes from somewhere else as well, it comes from love. Jesus shares so much love with us, He gives us comfort, He gives us forgiveness, He's our Heavenly friend, Father and brother, so often times, our prayers, such as thanksgiving often is just out of admiration for what He has done.
So how do we pray? In John 15 Jesus gives His disciples some instruction on just how we should go about doing it. "7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name." The first thing we must remember while praying is that we do it through Jesus name, trusting in Him as our personal savior. We trust that He hears our petitions and takes them up as His own. We ask for a blessing for Jesus sake, meaning that Jesus loves us so much, we pray on His behalf as a reminder of the blessings it brings Him pleasure to bestow on us.
That said, while we can ask for anything, we should be mindful of what we asking for. At the beginning of our selected verses above, Jesus reminded us that, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish," meaning that we ask within the confines of God's Law. We're asking that God's Will be done, that His plans are fulfilled and that He keeps us as a valuable asset to those plans in the best means possible. We could do a lot for God's Kingdom with mountains of cash, we could also lose sight of God's Kingdom with mountains of cash blocking our view. If extra money is a legitimate need in your life, by all means pray that God give you a path to it. If extra cash would be a luxury, then remember to thank God when you receive it and pray you use it in a pleasing way. That's why we need the Bible and the Holy Spirit. So that the Law is written on our hearts and we have an understanding and trust in what sets us on the path to glory.
The Holy Spirit does a lot for the Christian in the act of praying. The Father receives our prayer, the Son brings us to the Father and the Holy Spirit gives us the words and clarification needed. Romans 8:26 tells us, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." The Holy Spirit knows your heart, when distressed and knowing you need something but not what you need, or your mind is distraught and frantic, the Holy Spirit pieces those thoughts and feelings together and presents it in a most perfect way.
Prayer is really the next most undeserved blessing behind eternal life. It's fully there for our benefit and almost every resource God has goes into answering them. It's really quite a process, that's why as Christians we know when we pray we can trust that God will hear our prayer and answer in His own time and way. 2 Corinthians states in chapter 12 that, "6Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. 7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." God answers all prayers no matter what and in the end you always win. A prayer has never been denied to cause eternal suffering for a result. I've always said there are three answers to a prayer, yes, no and wait until Heaven. It's that simple, think about Paul's metaphorical thorn. He begged God to remove it, God said no, but today Paul no longer has his thorn, he had to wait until Heaven where this is no more suffering.
One last point is sometimes prayers answer themselves. God has a plan and He's revealed it through His Word, the first is to get His believers to be by His side, the second is to recreate an eternal perfect creation. However we do not know if it's God's Will that we wound up in the city we're in, the people we're with, the money we have, or even the suffering we're dealing with. The things could just be a coincidence. That said we can use every situation we're in to best put it towards evangelism and glorifying God's name, but we can't know for certain in most cases that this was a God given situation.
So the question becomes what should the Christian pray for? In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus talks at length about praying. Jesus tells us that we should pray especially for spiritual blessings, but also for the physical needs we have. Spiritual blessings ask for things like thanksgiving for the blessings we have through the forgiveness. We pray that God's perfect Will be done and that we live lives that help it be so. We ask for forgiveness. Our physical needs are addressed through asking for our daily bread, meaning our food, clothing and shelter and remembering to thank Him for those physical blessings as well. Daily bread can also be health, money, other physical, worldly needs that through Jesus sake, will help us live our daily lives for Christ. Here's what Jesus says,
25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? 28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
The church has a couple of terms for two different types of prayers, the first are call petitions. Petitions are personal needs. Mainly the types covered above. That is, prayers for self, spiritual, physical, needs and wants for yourself. That said when we pray on someone's behalf, these types of prayers are called intercessions. These prayers as well can include things like spiritual wellbeing or earthly needs, perhaps a successful job interview or a swift recovery from surgery.
The key to a good prayer is having a balanced prayer. The New Life in Christ workbook suggest the following acronym, ACTS. Adoration: we should praise and worship God in joy. Confession: that we admit and forsake sin in repentance. Thanksgiving: we thank God for forgiveness and new life. Aside from the workbook, I think this is a good point to address that while dinner and bedtime prayers should be balanced, this is an example of prayers not just asking but thanking. Being thankful for the food given to you or the day given to you and the one that you may have tomorrow. And lastly Supplication: meaning we offer both petitions and intercessions, the purpose of this specific prayer. Why does the Christian try to do all four of these things every time? The purpose of the balance prayer is that it gives full opportunity to stress the various aspects of our devotional life in fellowship with God.
The last thing we should cover is that over the years, Christians have developed methods, that while not Biblically based, offer a path to most effective time spent with God. The first thing many find helpful is kneeling, folding hands, and bowing your head. There's a reason for this, you put yourself in a posture that doesn't allow for idle activities. However some find that they make their most successful prayers doing things like driving or working, both of these prayers will be heard, there's no doubt about that, but things like driving may call the away attention from the prayer and you may lose your stream of thought. The place you are praying often helps as well. A place that is quiet, where you find ease in setting aside time for your prayers will lead to more successful prayer session.
Sometimes things like wording can also be a factor. The obvious thing is you want to be honest as your speaking to your omniscient(all knowing) Father in Heaven so there's no point in lying. Also, speak with your heart. The things that truly weigh on you are the things you need to bring to your Father, and if you don't believe that it's truly worth praying for, perhaps your prayer becomes to lighten its influence on your life. Speaking out loud leads to a clearer and more focused statement along with keeping it brief, though do not hurry, your Father has the time for you. Use your words as well, you're not praying to impress so there's no need to use words you wouldn't normally use.
Prayer can be aided through time spent with Bible study. Bible study helps you understand your Savior better and it builds a closer relationship to Him. Not to mention as seen above throughout this lesson that the Bible teaches us the meaning of prayer and how to do it. Martin Luther took the Lord's Prayer found in Matthew 6 and broke it up into three portions that help us build our own prayers using it as a template. The address, "Our Father in Heaven", the seven petitions, "spiritual and physical needs," and the doxology, which is a hymn of praise. "For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever! Amen."
Amen is the perfect way to end your prayer. Many people end their prayers for Jesus sake, amen. We remind the Father we ask on behalf of His Son's sacrifice and we say amen, which means, "and let it be so." Let the blessings Jesus promised be so, allow the matters of heart to be addressed. Let it be so that God's Will be done.
And it is so. God's Will is done, we need never worry about what God has in store for us as He always has our best interests in mind as His children. In the upcoming lessons we'll look more into what God's Will does in relation to the Christians life. But continuing on this theme, next time we'll be looking at how the Christian works for God and themselves through Bible study. I pray that you'll use your new found knowledge of prayer is to better build your relationship with your Father, Savior and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through you. I hope your inspired and that your prayers are answered in a way that is satisfying to you along with putting you on a straighter path to Heaven in which prayer will be a thing of the past.
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