Living by faith: Prayer

“Graham, I’m wondering why we don’t have more people participating in our prayer meetings.  Why is that?  What can we do about it?  I want you to try and figure it out.”  This was one of the first pastoral assignments I received from Tom F., the Executive Director of our mission in Ecuador.  His comment started me on a quest to better understand the nature and practice of prayer and praying.  Tom launched me on a journey that continues to this day.

I quickly discovered that almost all books on prayer focus on technique and results.  There seems to be no shortage of material on “praying the words of God back to Him,” or “praying with power,” or “praying through the promises.”  There is a lot of material on the posture of prayer, the structure of prayer, and using meditation or music in prayer.  None of this is necessarily bad.  But few engaged with Scripture to answer the fundamental questions of “What is prayer” and “Why pray?”

Here is the bigger question:  “What is the relationship between faith in God and prayer to God?” This is the context into which we must re-frame our “what about prayer” question.  All religious systems incorporate prayer.  What is distinct about prayer to our heavenly Father, the Creator God?

I came to the conclusion that we struggle to pray because, if properly understood, it threatens our desire for control and sense of autonomy.  I love the way C. Samuel Storms defines prayer:  it is the language of confession.  This resonates with Jesus’ teaching to His disciples about prayer.  Through prayer we confess our submission to God (He is the Father, it is His Kingdom), our dependence on God (He provides our daily bread), and our loyalty to His Kingdom (keep us from evil).  Prayer reminds us that God is God and we are not.  Or, as Solomon put it, “Remember that God is in heaven and you are on earth;  let your words be few” (Eccl. 5).  Other texts of Scripture remind us that God is working to His own plan and purposes, that His ways are beyond our understanding and that we will be confused by life.  

When we are confused, we tend to pray.  That’s a good thing.  That’s why the Psalms are filled with lament and complaint to God.  That’s why we are encouraged to boldly enter the throne room of grace.  It is also why Jesus prayed, “Not my will but Yours be done.”

Herein lies the challenge.  We WANT prayer to be about power and solving problems.  We struggle to allow it to be confessional . . . because we are inherently (thanks to our sin nature) crave-ers of control.  Prayer is the ultimate expression of dependence, submission and loyalty to another, the exact opposite of control.  If we engage in prayer the way Jesus taught His disciples, we are forced to acknowledge our lack of control.

To understand prayer, we must first understand the nature of faith.  The opposite of faith is neither fear nor doubt.  Those are the byproducts of a yet-to-fully-mature faith.  The opposite of faith is autonomy.  Faith says, “I trust in God.”  The opposite is not, “I’m afraid to trust in God” (remember the father who cried out to Jesus, “I believe, help my unbelief” - Mark 9:23ff).  The opposite of faith is, “I can do this.  And God, here’s how You can be a part of my plan.”  After all, the original temptation of Satan to Adam and Eve was to “be like God,” to be able to live autonomously.  THIS is why we struggle to pray and why we constantly struggle to live by faith.

So, what do we do about it?  I think we begin with refining our truth-faith skill (what we believe) about the nature of God Himself.  Do we truly believe He is good - always?  Do we truly believe He does hold all authority over all things - always?  Do we truly believe we are unconditionally loved by Him, even when we do sin - always?  Do we truly believe that He is willing to forgive us of our sins, completely and entirely, when we ask Him - always?  

Living by faith means we engage in praying to God even when don’t understand its mechanics, even when we don’t feel like it, whatever our mood toward God may be at that particular moment.  Concerned about being angry with God?  Read Psalm 88.  Is your heart full of joy?  Read Psalm 100.  Discouraged and wanting to toss your faith?  That’s Psalm 73.  

Prayer, as the language of confession, helps us connect the condition of our heart with the reality of the God who cares even for sparrows who fall from the sky.  Prayer reminds us that the God to whom we pray is engaged with every detail of our daily reality.  And that is the core of living by faith:  that life is lived in God’s presence and that He “remembers that we are made of dust” (Psa. 103).

Let us pray!