Prayer

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Prayer

UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS

ARE FROM THE New American Standard Bible.

How Much Does a Prayer Weigh?

There is a story of a man who tried to weigh a prayer. He owned a little grocery store. It was the week before Christmas, shortly after World War I.

A tired-looking woman came into the store and asked for enough food to make a Christmas dinner for the children. The grocer asked her how much she could spend.

"My husband did not come back; he was killed in the War. And I have nothing to offer but a little prayer," she answered.

The storekeeper was not very sentimental nor religious, so he said, half mockingly, "Write it on paper, and I will weigh it."

To his surprise, the woman took a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to the man, saying, "I wrote it during the night while watching over my sick baby."

The grocer took the piece of paper before he could recover from his surprise and, because other customers were watching and had heard his remarks, he placed the unread prayer on the weight side of the old-fashioned scales. Then he began to pile food on the other side; but to his amazement, the scale would not go down.

He became angry and flustered and finally said, "Well, that's all the scale will hold. Here's a bag; you will have to put it in yourself, I am busy."

With trembling hands the woman filled the bag, and through moist eyes expressed her gratitude and departed.

After that the store was empty of customers, the grocer examined the scales. Yes, they were broken and they had become broken just in time for God to answer the prayer of the woman. But as the years passed, the grocer often wondered about the incident. Why did the woman come at just the right time? Why had she already written the prayer in such a way as to confuse the grocer so that he did not examine the scales?

The grocer is an old man now, but the weight of the paper still lingers with him. He never saw the woman again, nor had he seen her before that day. Yet he remembers her more than any of his customers.

And he treasures the slip of paper upon which the woman's prayer had been written-simple words, but from a heart of faith, "Please, Lord, give us this day our daily bread." [1]

The Primacy of Prayer

Simply stated, prayer is "communication with God." [2] Prayer represents our innate and insatiable desire as finite human beings to reach beyond ourselves and make contact with the transcendent and eternal. Most non-Christian people groups link prayer with elaborate ritual and/or magic as a means of appealing to or manipulating the gods that be. And even in secular societies where "organized religion" may be frowned upon, people engage in prayer-like behavior when, for example, passengers aboard an aircraft break out in spontaneous applause following an especially turbulent flight (praise and thanksgiving), or "an angry crowd in a refugee camp appeals for justice" (petition). [3]

The Old Testament

The first mention of prayer in the Bible is found in Genesis 4:26: "Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord." This passage teaches us that one result of the Fall was the removal of constant, unbroken fellowship between God and human beings. It also "lay[s] the foundation for all true prayer: acknowledgment of the divine name." [4] The remainder of the OT shows God's people engaging in many and various forms of prayer, affording us insight into how and why we can and should pray. Specifically, we witness both individuals and communities addressing God in "petition, intercession, adoration, praise, confession, and thanksgiving." [5]

Israel's attitudes and actions regarding prayer were very different from its neighbors. Whereas other ancient religions saw prayer as an attempt to influence deity through "mastery of technique and esoteric knowledge," [6] for Israel prayer was conversation with a relationship-seeking God. This fact is reflected in the use of ordinary conversation language when describing prayer: say, said, call, called, etc. [7] Today there remains a stark contrast between genuine Christian prayer and the prayers of other religious traditions such as, for instance, Islam and Shinto. In the former, prayer is highly formalized, involving ceremonial washing and specific posturing. In the latter, prayers are considered incomplete without "monetary donation at a shrine or food offerings at the home altar." [8]

The most common type of prayer mentioned in the OT is intercession, in which a prophet, priest or king prays on behalf of others. Outstanding examples include Moses, David, and Jeremiah. These pray-ers and others remind us that "petitions are [to be] supported by confession, appeals to the past, and remembrance of God's mercy." [9] In fact, the most common prayer involves a two-step process of 1) remembering what God has done in the past in order to 2) make a proper request that he act similarly again. [10] Because God is real and personal, his actions reveal his character. Thus to approach God on the basis of what he has done in the past is to appeal to his steadfast, unchanging character. The OT leaves us with the distinct impression that God is pleased when we appeal to -- but do not presume upon -- his sense of "honor, glory, grace, mercy, or trustworthiness." [11]

The New Testament

From the NT we learn that Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone of all legitimate prayer. Through the model prayer he offered and the parables he used, Jesus taught that the prayers of his followers are to be; persistent; bold; humble, compassionate; simple; intense; expectant; and communal (praying with and for others). [12]

The Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer is a model that teaches much regarding how we are to relate to God, others, and ourselves. Found in Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4, it includes an opening and six petitions. (The benediction, found only in Matthew, is absent from the earliest manuscripts.) The first three petitions are directed Godward, while the last three are focused on human needs and desires. (The following analysis is based on the material as found in Matthew 6.)

OPENING:

"Our Father who is in heaven" (v. 9).

Jesus routinely referred to God as his "Father" (Greek patēr), and here he teaches his disciples to do the same. "Our" connects believers both with God and with one another in an intimate familial relationship. At the same time, the phrase "who is in heaven" reminds us that we are dealing with the great and awesome King of the universe who deserves and demands our reverent respect and absolute allegiance. [13] God "is a Father, and therefore we may come to him with boldness, but a Father in heaven, and therefore we must come with reverence." [14] The fact that heaven is spiritual, on high, and pure, reminds us that our prayers should be likewise. [15]

FIRST PETITION:

"Hallowed be Your name" (v. 9).

In the ancient world a person's name was highly significant. To act in someone's name was to act with that person's authority and power, and to call on someone's name was to place oneself under that person's command and protection. [16]

"Hallowed" (Greek hagiazō) "means to render or pronounce holy. God’s name is essentially holy; and the meaning of this petition is, 'Let thy name be celebrated, venerated, and esteemed as holy everywhere, and receive from all people proper honor.' It is thus the expression of a wish or desire, on the part of the worshipper, that the name of God, or that God himself, should be held everywhere in proper veneration." [17]

SECOND PETITION:

"Your kingdom come" (v. 10).

The kingdom of God can be defined as God's sovereign rule over the hearts and lives of those who place their faith in Jesus Christ and are spiritually born again. [18]

Here the future aspect of God's reign is emphasized. Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels "The petition is the expression of a wish that God may 'reign' everywhere; that his laws may be obeyed; and especially that the gospel of Christ may be advanced everywhere, until the world shall be filled with his glory." Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

THIRD PETITION:

"Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven" (v. 10).

This petition follows naturally from the second, since by definition God's rule or reign includes the accomplishing of his will. [19] [20]

"The will of God is, that people should obey his law, and be holy. The word 'will,' here, has reference to his law, and to what would be 'acceptable' to him. To pray, then, that his will may be done, on earth as in heaven, is to pray that his 'law,' his 'revealed will,' may be obeyed and loved. His law is perfectly obeyed in heaven, and his true children most ardently desire and pray that it may also be obeyed on the earth." [21]

To pray for God's will to be done on earth is a tacit confession that it has not been done. What's more, there will always be a tension between God's will on earth and his will in heaven until God's kingdom is full established on the former. [22]

With this petition the emphasis shifts from the realm of heaven to that of the earth. [23]

FOURTH PETITION:

"Give us this day our daily bread" (v. 11).

This petition speaks of trusting God to determine our legitimate needs (versus mere wants), and then depending on him to provide them. [24] Which is not to say that we are to sit idly by and wait for provisions to fall into our laps. Rather, it acknowledges that all good things -- including our ability to work and earn a living -- come from God. [25]

While modern Westerners tend to think in terms of storing up for the next several days (or weeks), this petition would be especially meaningful for those living in Jesus' day filled as it was with day laborers who lived literally from one day to the next. [26]

FIFTH PETITION:

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (v. 12).

Notice that the word "and" links together the last three petitions, strongly implying that life depends on more than food alone -- it also includes forgiveness and deliverance from temptation. [27]

Here "[s]in is pictured as a debt, and the sinner as a debtor. Accordingly the word represents sin both as a wrong and as requiring satisfaction." [28] "Forgive" literally means "to send away, or dismiss." [29] Notice "the past tense, we have forgiven; since Christ assumes that he who prays for the remission of his own debts has already forgiven those indebted to him." [30]

The point is not that we can earn God's forgiveness by forgiving others. Rather, asking God to forgive us as we have forgiven other people demonstrates the fact that we understand the difference between our absolute sinful condition before God and others' relative sin toward us. [31] We are able to receive God's free gift of forgiveness only if we come to him with open, empty hands.

SIXTH PETITION:

"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil" (v. 13).

In this petition we see "a prayer of conscious and confessed human weakness; it makes no pretense of confidence in its own strength and commitment; rather it expresses an unconditional abandonment to the will and grace of God." [32]

"'Bring' or 'lead' bothers many people. It seems to present God as an active agent in subjecting us to temptation, a thing specifically denied in James 1:13. ... Here we have a 'Permissive imperative' as grammarians term it. The idea is then: 'Do not allow us to be led into temptation.'" [33]

The word "temptation" (Greek peirasmos) can refer to a "[t]rial, temptation, a putting to the test." [34] While it is always a trial, if God is behind it, it is a test designed to reveal a weakness than can then be corrected; in other words, it is meant to strengthen us. Conversely, if Satan is behind it, it is a temptation designed to make us stumble and fall; in other words, it is meant to weaken us. [35] And since Satan is behind all evil, the additional phrase "deliver us from evil" indicates that Jesus had the latter idea in mind here.

(NOTE: "The Doxology is placed in the margin of the Revised Version. It is wanting in the oldest and best Greek manuscripts. The earliest forms vary very much, some shorter, some longer than the one in the Authorized Version. The use of a doxology arose when this prayer began to be used as a liturgy to be recited or to be chanted in public worship. It was not an original part of the Model Prayer as given by Jesus." [36])

The Lord's Prayer reflects emphases found elsewhere in Jesus' teaching: 1) Humble, unpretentious, unconditional trust in God to provide what is needed, not simply what is wanted. 2) An instant willingness to forgive others. 3) Persistently turning to God, relying on him and being grateful for what he chooses to give us. 4) Joining with other believers in "a community of like-motivated, mutually interdependent and mutually supportive people." [37]

The Apostle Paul and the Early Church. Prayer was a vital part of the early church. Church leaders were men of prayer. The followers of Jesus Christ used any and every occasion to pray, whether to praise God or to ask him to strengthen his suffering children. This emphasis on prayer did not stop with the first Christians but continued on into the second century. [38] For the apostle Paul, prayer was his constant companion, his ever-faithful fellow traveler on the road God had marked out for him.

As one source puts it:

It was in a praying atmosphere that the church was born (Acts 1:14; compare 2:1); and throughout its early history prayer continued to be its vital breath and native air (Acts 2:42; 3:1; 6:4; 6:6 and passim). The Epistles abound in references to prayer. Those of Paul in particular contain frequent allusions to his own personal practice in the matter (Romans 1:9; Ephesians 1:16; Philippians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:2, etc.), and many exhortations to his readers to cultivate the praying habit (Romans 12:12; Ephesians 6:18; Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:17, etc.). But the new and characteristic thing about Christian prayer as it meets us now is its connection with the Spirit. It has become a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 14:14-16), and even those who have not this gift in the exceptional charismatic sense may "pray in the Spirit" whenever they come to the throne of grace (Ephesians 6:18; Jude 1:20). The gift of the Spirit, promised by Christ (John 14:16 ff, etc.), has raised prayer to its highest power by securing for it a divine cooperation (Romans 8:15, 26; Galatians 4:6). Thus Christian prayer in its full New Testament meaning is prayer addressed to God as Father, in the name of Christ as Mediator, and through the enabling grace of the indwelling Spirit. [39]

Goals, Benefits, and Hindrances

Our English word "communicate" comes from a Latin word literally meaning "to make common." [40] In prayer we seek to make our concerns common between us and God and, more importantly, God seeks to make his concerns common between he and us. This involves our willingness to see God not as some divine benefactor but as a heavenly Father with whom we are intended to have a real and personal relationship. Jesus modeled this attitude by routinely referring to God as his "Father," and by teaching his followers to do the same. [40a] Sometimes we, like children, ask for what is contrary to our ultimate well-being. At other times, we are so distraught that the best we can manage is a few garbled words of appeal. In such cases, God "understand[s] our inarticulate groans and translate[s] them into effective prayers. The picture is of a loving parent who listens to a child's confused complaint and responds to what is deeply wished but not well expressed." [41]

A major goal of prayer is to move us out of our comfort zone and into a confused, lost world in dire need of seeing God's love expressed in real, tangible ways. God accomplishes this through our prayers: as we regularly, repeatedly humble ourselves before God, he will work to make both our attitudes and actions more Christ-like. This relates to the fact that we are to offer our prayers "in the name of Jesus" (JOHN 14:13-14; 16:23-24). "This is equivalent to saying on [Jesus'] account, or for [his] sake. If a man who has money in a bank authorizes us to draw it, we are said to do it in his name. If a son authorizes us to apply to his father for aid because we are his friends, we do it in the name of the son, and the favor will be bestowed on us from the regard which the parent has to his son, and through him to all his friends. So we are permitted to apply to God in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, because God is in him well pleased (Matthew 3:17), and because we are the friends of his Son he answers our requests." [42] To pray in the name of Jesus necessarily "includes an acknowledgment of our own unworthiness to receive any favour [sic] from God," and of the fact that we are entirely dependent on Christ "as the Lord of our Righteousness." [43] "The use of Jesus' name in prayer is effective not as some sort of password that can be used indiscriminately by every petitioner. It is only effective to pray 'in Jesus' name' if we are truly living in the name of Jesus." [44] In an of ourselves, we cannot even approach God, much less ask anything of him. To the extent that we are living for Christ and wish to honor and glorify him, our requests will be in line with God's will and will thus be heard and answered.

Prayer meets some of our deepest inner needs and at times can even be therapeutic. Some of the inner needs that prayer meets include: "freedom from fear (Ps. 118:5–6), strength of soul (Ps. 138:3), guidance and satisfaction (Is. 58:9–11), wisdom and understanding (Dan. 9:20–27), deliverance from harm (Joel 2:32), reward (Matt. 6:6), good gifts (Luke 11:13), fullness of joy (John 16:23–24), peace (Phil. 4:6–8), and freedom from anxiety (1 Pet. 5:7)." [45]

Prayer is therapeutic when:

It is seen as a place of safety and acceptance.
It summarizes what we want to be and do and helps to point us in that direction.
It helps us to let go of the past.
It helps us see suffering in the light of God's sovereign grace.
It generates real hope and true determination.
It helps us focus less on ourselves and more on others. [46]

Like any form of communication, our prayers can be hindered by anything that erects a wall between us and God. Specifically, the Bible identifies the following as barriers to answered prayer: "Iniquity in the heart (Ps. 66:18), refusal to hear God's law (Prov. 28:9); an estranged heart (Is. 29:13), sinful separation from God (Is. 59:2), waywardness (Jer. 14:10–12), offering unworthy sacrifices (Mal. 1:7–9), praying to be seen by people (Matt. 6:5–6), pride in fasting and tithing (Luke 18:11–14), lack of faith (Heb. 11:6), and doubting or double-mindedness (James 4:3)." [47]

A Growth Process

Prayer is both a grand privilege and an awesome responsibility. It staggers the mind to think that we can actually have a real, personal conversation with the God who created the universe and everything in it. God has made it so easy that we can tend to overlook the tremendous cost involved. It took Jesus' death on a cross to open the lines of communication between God and us. And keeping those lines open requires our sincere, committed willingness to change. In that respect, prayer is a growth process that involves getting our priorities straight. As one source has put it: "Do not pray for easy lives: pray to be stronger people! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your task. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God." [48]