Doubt, Unlimited Access, and the Power of Prayer
Have you ever doubted if prayer really works? I sure have.
Then God started answering my prayers.
I don't intend to oversimplify our understanding of prayer. Granted, most of the things that I pray for I never see the results, and may never hear of them while on earth. However, I firmly believe that God's character is true as the Bible reveals it, and my personal experience while living for Him has supported that.
Prayer is also a spiritual law, a behavior that is grounded in God's character and widely believed in. Even non-Christians and atheists seem to do it when they're in a bind and need help. God, for some reason, seems to wait for people, especially His people, to pray before He acts. I'm not entirely sure why this is; I suspect it's because God wants us to be involved in the spiritual world, and in the battle that goes on in people's lives and in the world. Regardless, prayer is an amazing opportunity to partner with God and cooperate with what He is doing. I don't know about you, but if I was given unlimited personal access to the most influential person in the world, I'd use it all the time, and I wouldn't sit around and doubt it until I tried it to see if was real.
In addition, it's significant that when the Bible promises that God answers prayers, they are not unconditional promises, but dependent on the character and motives of the one who prays: "He who has clean hands and a pure heart...will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior" (Psalm 24:4,5); Jesus told his disciples, "whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark 11:24); and perhaps the most thorough explanation in the Bible is given by James -- "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt" for a doubter "should not think he will receive anything from the Lord" (1:5-6), and he later says to his audience, "You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures" (4:2-3), and finally, "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (5:16).
So, in summary, God gives generously to all, but lends a special effort to those who are of godly character; The Bible tells us that in order to receive, we must ask, ask believing that we will receive, and ask without selfish motives.
So if you do nothing else for the kingdom of God, pray and ask Him to do things -- mundane things, hard things, amazing things, outrageous things. Then expect Him to answer, and see if over time, you don't also believe in the power of prayer.
Then God started answering my prayers.
I don't intend to oversimplify our understanding of prayer. Granted, most of the things that I pray for I never see the results, and may never hear of them while on earth. However, I firmly believe that God's character is true as the Bible reveals it, and my personal experience while living for Him has supported that.
Prayer is also a spiritual law, a behavior that is grounded in God's character and widely believed in. Even non-Christians and atheists seem to do it when they're in a bind and need help. God, for some reason, seems to wait for people, especially His people, to pray before He acts. I'm not entirely sure why this is; I suspect it's because God wants us to be involved in the spiritual world, and in the battle that goes on in people's lives and in the world. Regardless, prayer is an amazing opportunity to partner with God and cooperate with what He is doing. I don't know about you, but if I was given unlimited personal access to the most influential person in the world, I'd use it all the time, and I wouldn't sit around and doubt it until I tried it to see if was real.
In addition, it's significant that when the Bible promises that God answers prayers, they are not unconditional promises, but dependent on the character and motives of the one who prays: "He who has clean hands and a pure heart...will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior" (Psalm 24:4,5); Jesus told his disciples, "whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark 11:24); and perhaps the most thorough explanation in the Bible is given by James -- "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt" for a doubter "should not think he will receive anything from the Lord" (1:5-6), and he later says to his audience, "You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures" (4:2-3), and finally, "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (5:16).
So, in summary, God gives generously to all, but lends a special effort to those who are of godly character; The Bible tells us that in order to receive, we must ask, ask believing that we will receive, and ask without selfish motives.
So if you do nothing else for the kingdom of God, pray and ask Him to do things -- mundane things, hard things, amazing things, outrageous things. Then expect Him to answer, and see if over time, you don't also believe in the power of prayer.
posted by Luke at 11:55 AM
1 Comments:
Is prayer only about requests? You said that if you were given unlimited personal access to the most influential person in the world, you would use it all the time. But would you only use that access to ask for that person to do something? I'd like to know your thoughts on the other aspects of prayer.
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