PRAYER SHOULD BE JOY

PRAYER SHOULD BE JOY, NOT DRUDGERY

My Thoughts Provoked by Mike Reeves

(http://www.theologynetwork.org/christian-beliefs/the-holy-spirit-and-christian-living/getting-stuck-in/how-to-enjoy-your-prayer-life.htm)

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.

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*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.

Prayer and the Ordinary

There are times when God suspends the laws of nature, those laws that are in place to establish certainty and rule in His world. These times are normally referred to as miracles – something extraordinary. These are not the rule or the norm. It would be a very difficult world in which to live if there were no fixed laws in nature and randomness was the rule. Nevertheless, God is pleased at times to overrule or suspend some ordinary natural law in order to accomplish His purpose at any given time. Thus, while there are those events in Scripture and throughout history that defy natural explanation, most of what occurs in this world is observable and explainable.

This does not mean it is not amazing! Most of us don’t stop to really observe that which we take for granted every day. Isn’t this something of what God was teaching Job by way of questions as He took him on a survey of the universe? Nature is a testimony to the greatness and power of God! We really shouldn’t miss that due to familiarity!

How does this relate to prayer? Sometimes folks think of prayer primarily as a means to provoke the supernatural. If something supernatural doesn’t result, then prayer is not considered successful or impressive. Such thinking is similar to viewing the ordinary function of the natural world as unimpressive!

While there are supernatural things that occur in the context of prayer, this is not the primary fruit of prayer. Prayer is the means by which created humans, saved and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, are enabled to petition God and know that all things, including the ordinary things, will function together to bring about the will of God: Romans 8:27,28. 

Prayer is not a way to attempt to get God to do what we don’t want to do; or to get God to do so that we don’t have to.  Prayer is the way to seek God to direct us and to enable us and to bless what He has already given.

Jesus taught us to prayer this way: Give us this day our daily bread. But we also read in another place in the NT, if any would not work, neither should he eat. (2 Thess. 3:10) As we are praying for the provision of God, He blesses with the means! We pray for healing…and then we pursue every means that God provides (including diet, rest, exercise, surgery, etc.) trusting that God will bless the normal healing process He created! We pray for increase in the knowledge of God…and then we dig for fine gold, and work for sweet honey from Scripture! We pray for souls to be saved…and then we preach the gospel! Why? Because Jesus said, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. And, 1 Cor. 1:21, For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

Prayer does not eliminate ordinary means. Prayer seeks God’s provision and blessing upon the means made available. Understanding this principle enables us to give thanks in all things and to bless Him continually – not just for that which we perceive to be “miraculous” or supernatural.

Interacting With Providence Through Prayer

It is helpful, and proper, to interact with providence through prayer. God has created us to think and reason and respond. With creative minds, an aspect of His image that we possess in a finite way, we are expected to think about life as it happens. It is with our minds that we engage in relationships. Relationship with our fellow created humanity, and fellowship with our Creator.

It is true that God is sovereign. It is true that God’s will is determinative. If God wills a matter, the matter will be. He has clearly informed us that He does whatever He pleases and that none can stop Him from accomplishing what He has determined (Psalm 115:3; Daniel 4:34,35). This is providence: God ruling over that which He has created. This is why the Apostle Paul spoke of doing certain things, if God will (Acts 18:21). James also teaches us that we should say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

Yet, it is clear from numerous Biblical examples, recording for our learning, that God wants us relating to providence, not simply accepting it. Oh, it is true that we should accept God’s providence. With Job, we should say in the face of disaster: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. Jesus taught us to pray, not my will, but thine be done. We should always prefer the will of our all-wise, loving heavenly Father to our own will. His plan is perfect. We should never charge God with unrighteousness.

Yet, I repeat, God has clearly demonstrated through examples left for our instruction that He wants us approaching Him with reason and petitions that may argue against what it may seem providence has ordained. Case in point: the account of Elijah who intercedes on behalf of the widow woman who has tragically lost her son to a devastating sickness. The account is found in 1 Kings 17:17-24.

Elijah’s response to the grieving mother and the dead child is not a cold-hearted, calculated theological answer. He seems stunned by the news of his death. He takes the child to his room. It seems like he is attempting to collect himself and determine just what to do. He doesn’t simply chalk it up to providence. He doesn’t react as if there is nothing that can be done: “Providence has spoken. We must bow to God’s will and trust Him to help us through the grieving process.” This, in fact, may be the conclusion that he ultimately would come to, but that is not where he began.

Elijah, burdened that perhaps what was obviously the providence of God to that point was not the final word, cried unto the LORD. He prayed fervently. He reasoned with God, asking if this evil that was brought upon the widow woman’s son was really what He intended. Elijah was not convinced that this was the end of God’s providence in this case. He sensed that this was something he should cry out to God to correct or to change. He cries out for the soul of the child to return to his body.

Incredibly, Scripture clearly reveals this event to us in such a way that we are left encouraged that all is not simply sealed in some dark, cold fate. And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah! He heard him and responded by returning the soul of the child! The freedom of God’s will in providence was not violated. He is the One who chose to hear and respond to Elijah. There are other instances, such as David praying for the life of his sick and dying child, in which God’s will was the death of the child.

The lesson, for the purpose of this blog entry, is simply this: do not give up too quickly and easily in the face of hard providences. Cry out to the Lord, if your heart is so burdened to do so. Who knows but that your fervent prayer may be exactly what God intends in the process of carrying out His will. His providence may have brought hard things. His providence may include answering your fervent prayer. So, interact with God’s providence through prayer.

Ultimately, we must be satisfied with whatever God chooses to do in answer to our cries. This is the response of faith. This is the response of all who are convinced that God does what is best in response to the cries of His children. Our God is not a cold, inanimate force! He is the living God Who seeks worshippers.