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| Special Studies - The Importance of Prayer |
 The Importance of Prayer
If the divine decree from eternity past insures
the certain futurition of all that God has
purposed, then why should the believer pray?"
Special Study - The Importance of Prayer
There is perhaps no other subject
that is
neglected in teaching and in
practice as
is the subject of prayer. There
are any number
of reasons for this, but the
fact remains
that prayer is a neglected spiritual
discipline
in most believer's experience
at one time
or another. Prayer is a privilege
that "Christians"
abuse through neglect or through
misuse.
Even believers who have an understanding
of vast quantities of doctrine are often
guilty of neglecting to exercise their privilege
of prayer. Yet it is that same category of
believers who find their ranks plagued by
some of the same suffering and weaknesses
that plague other believers.1 I do not mean to suggest that suffering
is the only reason we should pray. My point
is that doctrine resident in the soul of
the believer does not make that believer
so self-sufficient that the omnipotent power
of God is not needed to be a spiritual victor
in life. As James indicates, believers do
not have because they do not ask (Jas 4.2)
Prayer has a way of humbling the believer
who considers himself full of knowledge because
when such a believer objectively evaluates
his own life relative to God's righteous
standards as he approaches the throne of
grace, there is no room for any subjectively
based self-righteousness.
God hears the prayers of His
own - both the
mature and the immature. Certainly,
for prayer
to be effective, it must be consistent
with
the Truth of Scripture. It must
also be in
accordance with the will of the
Father. These
two broad parameters for prayer
provide the
believer with an incredible array
of circumstances
and people for whom to pray.
Some may ask the question - If
God has already
determined the outcome of the
course of human
history, if the unbeliever is
truly a creature
of free-will and can choose to
become a believer
of his own volition, if God doesn't
violate
the volition of man, etc. - why
pray? There
are at least three answers to
these questions.
First, if prayer wasn't important
to God,
why do we have so many examples
and exhortations
for prayer? Second, if we don't
pray, that
is an event that an omniscient
God could
not have addressed from eternity
past as
He predetermined a course of
events for human
history that allowed for both
the free-will
of man and His own sovereignty
to function
in perfect harmony. Third, the
believer who
prays to the Father has a changed
perspective
on life as a result.
Some principles to consider and
New Testament
passages that illustrate the
importance of
prayer:
- Matthew 4.2 - Jesus fasted 40 days and nights
in the wilderness at the outset of His public
ministry and just prior to being tempted
by Satan
- Luke 5.16 - "So He Himself often withdrew
into the wilderness and prayed."
- Point: The man or woman who is effective
in the "public" execution of ministry
is more effective in their private spiritual
life - including prayer.
- Principle: There are two aspects of ministry
- involvement with people and isolation from
people. If you spend all of your time around
people, you loose your impact because you
loose the source of your power. This is why
on 12 occasions, the Gospels record that
Jesus takes the disciples away to a solitary
place and teaches them the importance of
prayer.
- Point of note: There are two occasions in
the Gospels where Jesus spent the night in
prayer - the night before He selected His
twelve apostles (Lu 6.12-16) and the night
before His crucifixion (Matt 26.36-46; Mk
14.32-42; Lu 22.39-46; Jn 18.1).
- Luke 11.1 - "…Lord, teach us to pray…"
This is the only thing the disciples ever
asked Jesus to teach them. Why? Because Jesus
spent so much time in prayer.
- Luke 23.34, 46 - While on the Cross, Jesus'
first words and last words were a prayer
to the Father - "Father, forgive them,
for they do not know what they do" and
"Father, into Your hands I commit My
spirit."
- Luke 24.30, 50-51 - Even in His resurrection
body, Jesus prayed - "Now it came to
pass as He sat at the table with them, that
He took bread, blessed and broke it, and
gave it to them" and "And He led
them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted
up His hands and blessed them. Now it came
to pass, while He blessed them, that He was
parted from them and carried up into heaven."
- Point of note: There are only 15 occasions
in the Gospels in which there is a record
of Jesus praying. Of those 15, eleven (11)
are in Luke. Luke presents Jesus as the "Son
of Man." As the "Son of Man,"
Jesus was totally dependent upon the Father
and the Holy Spirit to execute the Father's
will.
- John 17 - Jesus prays before His arrest and
crucifixion for His disciples/apostles.
- Acts 1.14 - The disciples "all continued
with one accord in prayer and supplication,
with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus,
and with His brothers."
- Paul frequently mentions the fact that he
prayed "without ceasing" and gave
thanks for the believers who would be the
recipients of His epistles. (See Rom 1.9;
1 Co 1.4; Eph 1.15-16; 6.18; Phil 1.3; Col
1.3, 9; 1 Thess 1.2-4; 2.13; 2 Thess 1.3,
11; 2.13; 2 Tim 1.3; and Philm 1.4).
- Paul provides examples of the things for
which he prayed and gave thanks in believer's
lives. (See Eph 1.17-19; Phil 1.4-11; Col
1.9-14; 2 Thess 1.11-12; and Philm 1.4-7).
- Paul exhorts and teaches believers to pray
(2 Thess 3.1-2; and 1 Tim 2.1-4; 2.8).
- James exhorts believers regarding prayer
(Jam 1.5-7; 5.13-18).
- Peter exhorts believers regarding prayer
(1 Pet 1.17-21 and 3.7).
With all of these examples of
prayer in the
lives and teaching of Jesus,
Paul, James,
Peter and others, should the
believer today
have an approach to and practice
of prayer
that indicates a "whatever
will be will
be" attitude? Can the believer
truly
be humble (yielded to the will
of God in
all matters) apart from effective
prayer?
These are questions we must ask
ourselves
if we are honest about examining
our own
spiritual lives for areas of
deficiency.
1 It is an unfortunate reality that believers
in this category face some of
the same suffering
in life as believers who do not
possess the
same amount of doctrine resident
in their
souls. Sometimes that suffering
is for the
purpose of testing, sometimes
it is for the
purpose of discipline, and sometimes
it is
undeserved suffering by association.
Examples
of suffering that is being experienced
by
believers in this category include:
self-induced
misery, addictions, physical
health and ailments
(testing or discipline), rebellious
children,
reversionistic spouse, abusive
spouse, economic
and financial pressure, aging
and ill parents,
reversionistic or unbelieving
co-workers,
reversionistic or unbelieving
supervisors,
etc.
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