01.22. Chapter 2 Prayer
Chapter 2 Prayer
Freedom to pray When people become God’s children, they will naturally want to talk with him. Talking with God is what the Bible calls prayer. It is an act of living fellowship with God, through worshipping him, thanking him, praising him, confessing to him and making requests of him.
Believers can pray anywhere and at any time. They do not need any church building, church official or church book to be able to pray. Nor do they have to learn a special language. They can pray silently or audibly, in any position – standing, sitting, walking, kneeling. Knowing that God is with them everywhere, they will soon develop the habit of speaking with him freely regardless of time or place. They should also develop the habit of making time each day to be alone with God to pray. Even Jesus recognized the need to set aside time specifically for prayer.
Speaking silently to someone unseen may seem strange to those who do not know God, but when people become God’s children this strangeness soon disappears. If they begin their regular prayer times by reading the Bible, their prayers will have more freshness and meaning. Prayer will be a response to what they learn from God through the Bible.
Confidence, with respect
Prayer is more than merely asking God for things. Jesus pointed out some of the chief elements in prayer when he gave his disciples some guidelines in what has become known as the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). In simple everyday language, the main part of the prayer is as follows: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your holy name be honoured, may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need. Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us. Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One.’
Jesus gave Christians this prayer not to provide them with words to repeat in a ritual, but to show them how to pray. And he shows that when Christians pray, though they may confidently make requests of God, they should also worship him. In fact, the prayer opens with an expression of worship.
Worship is difficult to define, for it is both an attitude in which believers live and an exercise that they carry out. They humble themselves before their Lord as those who serve, honour and adore him in acknowledgment of all that he is as the almighty and glorious God. That is why Christians, while they address God as their Father, address him also as the holy and majestic one who rules over all. Although they have a warm and close relationship with God, they also have a deep respect for him. They come before God with freedom and ease, but they do not take him for granted.
There is no suggestion, however, that Christians have to be solemn and dull in expressing their worship, or that they have to crawl to God to ask his favours. They come to him confidently because they are Christ’s people. Christ has made free access to God possible, and God welcomes Christians into his presence as he welcomed the victorious Christ.
Praise and thanksgiving are inseparable from worship. As believers praise God for all that he is and thank him for all that he has done, they will find that their lives and their prayers are full of joy.
What to pray about In telling Christians to pray that God’s kingdom will come, Jesus shows that Christians should want people and nations to acknowledge God’s authority. Jesus taught often about the kingdom of God, pointing out that it is not a territory over which God reigns, but the rule that he exercises. Christians should pray for this rule in their own lives and in the lives of others, whether in individuals, in nations, or in the world at large. In other words, they should pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus’ prayer goes on to show that, though prayer is concerned with these timeless and worldwide matters, it is concerned also with the most ordinary and everyday matters, such as the provision of food to eat. No areas of life are too great or too small to pray about. In addition to physical needs there are spiritual needs; therefore, Jesus shows that prayer should include confession of sin. But people can expect forgiveness only if they have first forgiven those who have wronged them. They are to love those who ill-treat them and are to pray for them.
Each day brings fresh difficulties, but Christians have the assurance that they need not fight their battles alone. Jesus encourages them to ask God’s help in these matters, so that when they meet troubles and testings, they will not fall into wrong- doing. Through prayer they can learn how to trust in God and not be anxious.
Often a prayer will end with a further expression of praise to God, such as ‘for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory’. It may close with the word ‘amen’. In its original language the word ‘amen’ meant ‘certain’ or ‘true’, and was used to confirm the truth of a statement or express agreement with it. When used thoughtfully, ‘amen’ can express the sincerity of the person who is praying or the agreement of one who is listening. Either way it means, ‘Yes, Lord, may it be so’.
Total dependence on God By their prayers Christians acknowledge that they have no power to bring about the things they are praying for, but God has. Their prayers are not a way of trying to force God to do what they want; on the contrary, their prayers are an admission of their helplessness and complete dependence on God. By their prayers they are inviting God to work out his answer to the matter they are praying about. The answer to prayer does not depend on the zeal or will-power of the person praying, but on the wisdom and power of God. God does not want people to work up feelings of one sort or another. He wants them simply to trust in him. The merit is not in the prayer itself, but in God who answers the prayer. Christians can pray in the right spirit only when they recognize their helplessness, and trust God to do what they cannot. Faith is the basic requirement of all prayer.
People do not need large amounts of faith in order to pray. They need only enough faith to turn in their helplessness to God. Like prayer, faith has no merit in itself. That is, God does not need people’s faith to help him do things. God has complete power within himself. Faith is simply the means by which believers come to him and ask him to exercise that power. No automatic answers
Since faith is the basis of prayer, people cannot use prayer to get their own way; for then they would be arrogantly commanding God instead of humbly submitting to him. They would be wanting their will to be done instead of God’s. Christians are assured that God answers their prayers when they pray in Jesus’ name. This does not mean that they merely add the words ‘in Jesus’ name’ to their prayers. Rather it means that they pray on the authority Jesus gives them, and ask for things that have Jesus’ approval.
There is no formula that guarantees answers to prayer regardless of the way people live. Christians must understand God’s Word so that they can live in obedience to his teachings and learn to pray for the right things. Unchristian conduct and unchristian attitudes are among the causes of unanswered prayer. A disciple of Jesus who became a leading teacher in the early church once wrote, ‘We receive from God whatever we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.’ ‘We are sure that he hears us if we ask him for anything that is according to his will’ (1 John 3:22; 1 John 5:14). At times, however, God may choose not to give his people what they ask for, even when they are not guilty of disobedience or selfishness. The reason may be that he has something better for them. Having perfect knowledge, he knows what is best. He may therefore give believers what they would have asked for if they had the full knowledge that God has. These better answers are not always immediately obvious, and therefore patience is a necessary part of true prayer. An understanding Father
Jesus and the New Testament writers repeatedly mention the need for persistence in prayer. This is not because God needs to be persuaded. Christians do not have to beg from a God who is unwilling to give, but they do have to exercise a constant trust in him. Faith is not an occasional exercise that makes a call for supernatural aid and then forgets the matter. Faith involves perseverance. By their constant prayers, Christians express their unwavering faith in their heavenly Father.
Prayer is one way that God trains his children in the develop- ment of Christian character. Although he lovingly gives them much without their asking, there are many things they will learn only by asking. They will learn some things only through having their requests refused, but even then they can be confident that a wise and loving Father is always working for their good. When Jesus says to his followers, ‘Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him’, he is not telling them they have no need to pray. On the contrary he is giving them good reason to pray. Christians pray to a Father who understands their needs better than they do themselves (Matthew 6:8).