Two-way prayer

Various

From the beginning of my Christian life, I have struggled with prayer. In seminary I took a theology class my first year and asked a lot of questions about prayer. I am still asking the same questions.

Why do we need to pray?

Psalm 139:1-4
O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

Matthew 6:8 from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount
your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

If God knows what we will say before we say it, why say it? If God knows what we need before we ask him, why bother asking? Why pray?

If I need a place to sleep and some food, doesn’t God already know that? If he knows I need it, why do I have to tell him I need it?

Is it that he does not act unless I pray? So he knows I need a place to sleep and some food but he does not provide until I pray asking him for a place to sleep and some food. I can accept this. In fact Jesus said we need to ask so maybe there is a benefit in our having to articulate our thoughts. But I can be in need and ask and get no help for my problem. Sometimes God helps when I pray and sometimes I get no help. Some people are helped whether they pray or not, so maybe it doesn’t really matter if I pray.

What about other things, not directly related to myself. We would like to see revival and some say revival will not come until Christians pray for it to come. Does this mean God cannot act or will not act unless I pray? If there is something God wants to happen, does he have to wait until I pray? Can I prevent God from doing something he has determined to do if I choose not to pray or forget to pray? Does God have to wait in heaven, twiddling his thumbs, waiting impatiently to do what he wants to do because we are not praying hard enough?

Frank Peretti writes novels that are two-tiered. On one level he writes about human interactions and on the second level, he writes about the same situation but from a supernatural level. In his novels the angels are struggling in battle and when Christians begin to pray, they gain strength and are able to defeat the dark angels of the devil.

Can the devil win battles because we do not pray often enough and fervently enough? Does the creator of all that is seen and unseen really need our help?

When there is a problem I pray and think about possible solutions. So someone needs a job and I pray and think about possible options. Does the creative creator of all the wonderful things we see around us really need my creative contributions? Do I mention something in prayer and God says, “You know, I never thought of that before. What a great idea”?

Can I change God’s mind about something? Does God have his mind set on doing something but when I pray consistently and persistently, he says, “What the heck, let’s do it Jack’s way”?

That seems absurd to me, but if God’s mind cannot be changed, then why pray?

My theology professor was from Switzerland and spoke with a French accent. He was a wonderful man and two years after taking that course I was walking across the campus and he saw me. He said, “Monsieur Wald. Are you still asking questions about prayer?” I was impressed that he remembered my name and more impressed that he remembered what questions I had been asking. He was one of several professors who took the student handbook and prayed for the students by name on a regular basis. I told him I still had questions and he said to me, “But while asking the questions, don’t forget to pray.”

In this sermon on prayer, that is the first important practical application. No matter what questions or doubts you have about prayer, it is important that you do not give up the practice of prayer. You don’t have to understand the theology of prayer to pray. You don’t have to know how prayer works to pray. But it is important that you pray. You are praying to someone so far greater than you that you will never be able to comprehend who God is and how God operates in this world. So even without understanding, pray.

Jesus instructed us to pray. So in obedience to Jesus, pray. There are times when it will seem easier to pray than others but never give up the effort. Keep coming back time and time again and begin again a practice of praying. If you don’t listen to another word of this sermon, remember to pray this week.

I have been asking questions about prayer for the thirty-five years I have been a Christian and while I do not pretend to understand it all, let me share some of what I have learned.

The point of prayer is not to get us what we want but to bring glory to God.

This is a subset of the larger point: it is never about us, it is always first and foremost about God.

We struggle with this in so many ways. When we cannot comprehend the majesty and power of God, we create a theology that limits God so we can wrap our feeble minds around our belief. We are uncomfortable with what we cannot understand so we strip the Gospel of all the mystery and paradox that exists and create a list of rules to follow so we can feel satisfied that we are doing a good job of obeying God.

We think about our life and the lives of others and evaluate the worth of life based on how we come out of it. Successful people earn a lot of money, they influence many people, they generate a wonderful reputation for doing good for others. We determine our success on how we do according to these criteria rather than in relation to our walk with God.

We go to church so we can feel better. We read the Bible so we can know more. The church serves us, feeds our needs, makes us happy or unhappy.

In so many ways we make life and religious belief about us.

But it is never principally about us, it is always about God.

Why do we pray? So we can feel good? So we can get something we want?

Prayer is helpful for us. Prayer does calm us and help us to experience the peace of God which passes all understanding. Paul said we are not to be anxious about anything but to pray and present our requests to God. This is all true.

But most importantly, prayer is not a tool we use to get what we want, it is a means by which God is glorified.

You can turn your Bibles to Daniel 9 to see an example of this. Jerusalem had been conquered by the Babylonians and the elite had been taken to Babylon in captivity. Daniel is among those who were taken from Jerusalem to Babylon and he received word from the prophet Jeremiah, who remained in Jerusalem, that the captivity would not be just a few years but would last for seventy years.

This was bitter news and Daniel prayed. In his prayer, he pleaded with God. He proclaimed the righteousness of God. He acknowledged the sinfulness of himself and Israel. He confessed the sins of Israel. He then made a plea for God to bless Jerusalem and the temple that had been destroyed and concluded with this:
O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”

It was not that Israel deserved God’s help but that they were known as God’s people. It was not because the Jews living in Jerusalem had been humiliated that Daniel made an appeal but because the name of God was being dishonored.

When Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the law from God, Israel was bored waiting for Moses and made a golden calf they could worship and thank for their deliverance from Egypt. After all God had done for Israel, God was angry and told Moses to go down to the people.
9 “I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people.  10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

But Moses interceded with God on behalf of Israel and the scripture says:
Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

What was Moses’ argument? God’s reputation would suffer and the Egyptians would hear of the destruction of all those who had fled from Egypt and think God had an evil intent in bringing them into the wilderness. He reminded God of the promises he had made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If Israel were to be destroyed, what would those promises mean?

It was not that Israel deserved mercy but that God’s reputation was at stake. God’s glory was the issue, not what happened to the Israelites.

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, what was it he prayed?

Jesus ordered the gravestone to be removed. Martha, the sister of Lazarus objected:
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

Jesus told her:
“Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

They took away the stone and then Jesus prayed:
“Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Did Jesus care for Lazarus? The account in John says that Jesus was deeply moved. But a larger purpose was served in the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Jesus told Martha she would see the glory of God and when Lazarus was raised from the dead, God was glorified.

When God acts he is glorified.

Perhaps at this point you are feeling uncomfortable. If it is all about God, where does that leave me? You might say, “What about me? What about my needs? What about Jesus’ teaching that God cares for me like the birds of the air and the lilies of the field?

If you look closely at the teaching of Jesus, the emphasis is not on God clothing us and feeding us.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Listen very closely. When we pursue what we want, God is not glorified; but when God is glorified, we receive what we need. When we pursue what we want we are led into dead ends. We get what proves to be unfulfilling and sometimes destructive. We thought it would be wonderful for us but it proves to be disastrous and we wish we had never gotten what we wanted.

But when our objective is to bring glory to God, we move along the path and one day discover that we have received what we deep down really needed and are able to rejoice in our good fortune.

When we pursue what we want, God is not glorified; but when God is glorified, we receive what we need.

Seek God. Bring God honor in the way you life your life. Seek him first and foremost and glorify him with your life and then you will receive what you need.

The point of prayer is not to get us what we want but to bring glory to God.

Secondly, prayer is the means by which we come to share the mind of Christ.

In John 14 Jesus taught:
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.  12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.  14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

What does this mean? You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. Can I pray for a new car, add the phrase, in the name of Jesus I pray, at the end of the prayer and expect to get the new car I want?

That doesn’t work. I know because I have tried it. It wasn’t a new car I prayed for, but the first summer of my Christian life, I prayed each day that I would win the New Jersey lottery.

What has happened in the thirty-five years of my Christian life is that I have grown in my relationship with Christ. I have a better idea of what God wants for me and expects of me than I did in the beginning years.

You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. What does it mean to pray in the name of Jesus? The phrase, in the name of Jesus, is not simply a formula we use to end our prayers. The phrase indicates a unity with Christ. To pray in the name of Jesus is to pray in a unity with Christ.

Thirty-five years into my Christian life, I have a more mature, closer relationship with Christ than I did when I first submitted to God. Because of this, when I pray, I have a better chance of praying prayers God wants me to pray. The more I am in union with Christ, the more I pray the prayers he wants me to pray; and they are answered, not because I prayed them, but because God wanted what I prayed for to happen.

In James 5 we read about the faith and prayers of Elijah.
Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.  18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

But how did this happen? Did Elijah wake up one morning and decide it would be good to walk into Ahab’s palace and announce that it would not rain?

Elijah had a relationship with God that was so intimate that when God spoke, Elijah heard. And when Elijah heard God speak to him, he was obedient and acted. God had a plan to deal with the corruption and spiritual danger of Ahab and Jezebel and he used Elijah to fulfill his plan. It was God’s plan for it not to rain and because of the unity with God Elijah experienced, he was able to pray a prayer of faith that caused it not to rain for those three years.

God cannot be manipulated to do what we want him to do. We cannot pray with faith and cause God to do something he does not intend to do. You can’t bend the mind of God to your own purposes and desires. It is true that God reaches out to us to draw us to himself, but the mind of Christ does not adapt to us; we adapt to the mind of Christ. We move, as we grow in Christ, to a more perfect unity with Christ.

We may begin our Christian lives praying to win the lottery, but if we are growing in our relationship with Christ, our mind moves toward the mind of Christ and we begin increasingly to pray the prayers God wants us to pray.

God uses men and women, girls and boys to accomplish his purposes. God is at work in us bringing us to him so we can pray for his purposes. He used reluctant Jonah and the persecutor of his children, Saul. God goes to great lengths to bring us to the point where he can use us.

God uses us and works in our lives to bring us to the point where he can use us as he wants. God can act independently of us but he seems to prefer working through us. As he works in us and draws us to himself, he shapes us and we become more like him. He uses our prayer life to do this.

We pray to bend our mind and heart to the will of God.

The point of prayer is not to get us what we want but to bring glory to God.

Prayer is the means by which we come to share the mind of Christ.

This leads us to our third point. Prayer is not just talking to God but is also listening to God.

In this process of bending our mind and heart to the will of God, it does not work just to speak. We need to learn how to listen to God’s voice in our lives.

Nicky Gumble, who teaches the Alpha Course, used this analogy. Many people pray like a man who goes in to see his doctor. “ I have a broken toe, my shin is bleeding, I have stomach cramps and have trouble breathing. I have chest pains and my neck is sore. Thanks a lot, see you later.” He gets up and leaves without giving the doctor a chance to respond to him.

How can we bend our heart and mind to the mind of Christ if we do all the talking?

Some of us have lists and we pray down through the list and when we get to the end, we feel that we have done a good thing. But what does God think about the people and situations for which you prayed? You have expressed your thoughts, perhaps you came up with a couple nifty solutions to problems people are having. You have expressed your concern. But what does God have to say about the people and situations you prayed for?

In the last couple years I have read some books about this matter of listening to God and I have taken some baby steps toward this. And although I am not at all an expert, I believe I have made progress. I am also determined to keep working at this to become better at distinguishing the voice of God in my life.

If I want to have the mind of Christ, I need to have a two-way communication with him. I can pray to God but I need also to listen to God.

Let me present to you something you can try this week.

Where do the thoughts in your head come from? They can be thoughts the devil puts there. They can be your own rational thoughts. They can be your imagination. And they can be thoughts from God. How can you distinguish God’s thoughts from the others?

Here is what I suggest you do. You can do this alone or with a friend. Talk about a situation for which you want to pray. Maybe you need financial help. Maybe you are having relational troubles. Whatever it is, talk about it and then take five or ten minutes and be quiet and listen to what God has to say to you.

Turn off your cell phone and find as quiet a place as possible. Pray as you begin this silent listening that God will keep any of the devil’s thoughts away. Pray that God will repress your own rational thoughts and imagination. And then trust that the thoughts that come to you will be thoughts that are from God.

Keep a pen and paper with you and as you hear a word or phrase or sentence or verse from the Bible, write it down and keep listening. Then at the end, share with your friend or friends what you heard. Listen to what each person heard and see if you can determine what it is God is trying to say to you.

I have done this the past couple weeks and had some success with it. I am encouraged to keep trying to develop my ability to hear God speak into my life.

As Christians we are deeply involved in mystery. Prayer is part of that mystery.

Renew your prayer life this week. If you have been discouraged, don’t give up. Enter once more into the discipline of prayer. Let God be glorified in your prayers. Pray each morning that God will be glorified that day in your life. Draw close to God so your mind is increasingly bent toward the mind of Christ. Try the experiment I suggested and begin to learn how to hear the voice of God in your life.

Matthew 7
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!