Full
disclosure:
I’m not an expert on prayer. Sometimes I don’t
even think I’m very good at it.
There! I’ve admitted it.
It’s a little bit embarrassing. I’ve been a Christ-follower
for almost 50 years. I’ve been in “church work” for over 40 years. I’ve
read about prayer, I’ve studied prayer, I’ve been to conferences on prayer, and
I’ve preached and taught about prayer.
And I’m not very good at it.
Can
you relate?
When we hear the stories of the amazing things that have
happened in the lives of great prayer warriors, when we hear of their intensity
and fervency, when we hear how we “ought” to pray, how do we measure up?
I’m not very good at it.
It can be a very cruel irony that the indescribable
privilege we have of communing with the Creator and King of the universe—yes,
that very privilege—can be a source of condemnation for us because we feel like
we’re not very good at it.
My brothers and sisters, this should not be.
Today, as I ponder the reality of prayer, I’m convinced
that there are at least three truths that God wants His beloved children to
know about prayer.
1. God wants us to know that He doesn’t need
our skill.
When we start measuring the effectiveness of our prayer
lives by the number of hours we pray, the length of our intercessory prayer
lists, the specificity of our requests, or how we see God intervene and answer
in dramatic ways, we have forgotten who we’re dealing with.
God does not depend upon the skillfulness of our
prayers. If He truly is omnipotent, as we affirm He is, can we really
cause Him to do better because we pray better? Will God work harder
because we prayed harder? Can we take the credit for what God does because
we prayed so skillfully?
What arrogance it would be to take that kind of
credit! Is it not equally arrogant to assume that our lack of skillful and
fervent prayer resulted in a less-than-desired outcome?
I can’t find an example in scripture of God saying, “I
wanted to do more, but your prayers were just so pathetic that I wasn’t able.”
2. God wants us to know that He doesn’t need
our information.
There’s something else I can’t find in scripture. I
can’t find an example of God saying, “If I had only known more, I would have
answered better. Why didn’t you tell me when you prayed?”
It’s wonderful when we are so engaged in people’s lives
that we know specific ways to pray. But it’s also wonderful that God is
omniscient and omnipresent. He knows everything there is to know and He is
not bound by time and space.
God is not getting his details from us, so it is perfectly
fine to bring someone’s name before the throne of God even if we don’t know
what is needed. We can trust that God does. He’s not waiting for us
to name it.
Neither is God watching the clock. If my friend is
having surgery at 8 a.m. tomorrow, God hears the prayers I pray for her at 10
p.m. tonight. The surgeon’s hand is not more likely to slip because people
were not all praying at the precise moment he made the incision.
3. God wants us to know that He does want us.
Do you really want to know the kind of prayer that pleases
God? It’s the prayer of a grateful son or daughter who wants to spend time
talking and listening to their loving, holy, wonderful, gracious Father.
Prayer is not performance. Prayer is relationship.
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