PRAYER SHOULD BE JOY, NOT DRUDGERY
My Thoughts Provoked
by Mike Reeves
What is prayer to you? Is
it merely something you do, along with many other “Christian” things? Is it
part of the Christian check list, something you do to get it done? Or, is it
truly an expression of your relationship to God…do you pray as dependent ones
who are actually relating to God?
Prayer requires and assumes a relationship: Luke 11:2, Our Father… We know there is no access
to God without a qualified High Priest: Hebrews 4:14-16. Approaching God apart
from Jesus (in Jesus’ name) is to
approach Him only as Almighty Judge. Approaching God through Jesus is to know and
approach Him as our Father.*
Our
access to God is not merely to give a list of petitions. We are approaching our Father. We are part of His family:
adopted by His grace, He chose to include us.
God
has manifested Himself to be relational through the dependence the Son expressed
upon His Father while He was on earth. John especially emphasizes this point
throughout his gospel account: Verily,
verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth
the Father do: (John 5:19; see also 8:19,29). The relationship that we
observe between Jesus and His Father while He was on earth is the nature of our
relationship to God through the Son: John 17:20-23. Prayer is engaging in this
most intimate relationship. Prayer is enjoying what the Son has always enjoyed:
communion with the Father! (Note: this is not to say we cannot speak to the Son
and the Spirit who are equally God, but that our primary attention in prayer is
to the Father.)
Prayer requires faith (John Calvin said it is the “chief
exercise of faith.”): not simply believing that what we ask will be given, but
that as we speak we believe we are heard by God as our Father. We have nothing
to prove to Him. The Son has satisfied all that is needed to engage in this
relationship. We have the right to be
called the sons of God because of Jesus Christ. When we pray there is no
need to convince God that He should hear us. We’ve been adopted. We are going
to our Father.
Jesus wants us to think this way as we pray. Listen Jesus’
words recorded by Luke (11:5-13): And he
said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at
midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine
in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from
within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my
children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and
give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise
and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be
given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he
that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son
shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if
he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an
egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give
good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
The Father will not refuse good things/needs to his children
who cry out to Him: ask, seek, and knock. In the context of teaching the
disciples how to pray, Jesus speaks about an earthly father’s kindness to his
child. Our Father in heaven is incomparably kind! What greater gift can He give
than Himself? Luke 11:13, tells us that He will give the Holy Spirit to those
who ask. If He gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask, what lesser good
gift will He withhold? You can go to Him at
any time, for every need, and for any reason, as a child would go to a father.
Jesus wants us to think of prayer this way! Our
Father…
Apply the command to pray
without ceasing to this relationship aspect of prayer. Why would we not
frequently go to our Father in prayer if we really believe He has brought us
into such a familial relationship? Why would it be a drudgery to pray? Could it
be that we think our relationship to God, and His response to us, depends upon
us? Or, perhaps we think that praying is a futile attempt to get God’s attention?
But, if we think of prayer as we should (Our
Father), we can go into His presence in prayer with thanksgiving and joy! We can and should view prayer as a joyful
privilege, not a dutiful drudgery.
________
*The distinction between God as our Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ must
always be understood. Our relationship to Him as Father depends upon the
eternal relationship of the Son to the Father. So, if we say “my Father” in the personal and intimate
communion with God we have in common with all saints, we must not forget the
unique relationship that is eternal between the Father and the Son, Who is only
begotten.
