Tag: Prayer

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Better Prayer

In a recent post—”Act. Trust. Rest.”—I shared this confession: “For far too long—and too much still— my conversations with God have involved more angst than seemingly they should.” Certainly, I am not alone in this regard, for believers often struggle with prayer in one way or another. So, today, let’s expose a few prayer perceptions and see what the Bible speaks to each.

Sometimes we pray as though God were fickle, waiting to hear just the right words in just the right sequence while we suffer in our need. But listen to the plain petition of Bartimaeus, shouting above the crowd: “Son of David, have mercy on me!”1 When Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” the blind man replied simply, “I want to see.”2 There was no “right formula” here, just an honest and trusting exchange. What a great model of prayer for us.

Sometimes we anxiously intercede for others, as though trying to convince God to care about them as much as we do, or to step up and match our level of compassion for them in their crisis. But God loves people far more than we do; Paul writes, “the love of Christ . . . is too great to understand fully.”3 Not only does God love suffering people more than we do, the love we have for them actually “comes from God.”4 We pray better when we pray in this understanding.

I had coffee recently with a young man who had been taught that, as an act of faith, we as God’s children must demand our desires from Him. Over the decades I’d heard others profess this theology, but such a prayer attitude actually exposes a shortage of trust in God’s wisdom and His fatherly love toward His children. So, I asked my friend, “When you are married and have a family of your own, what will you do when your four-year-old comes to you and demands you buy him the bicycle that is rightfully his as your son?” My friend laughed in concession; he got it.

Do you tend to suggest to God what He might want to do in certain situations and how He may want to go about it? Once when Samaritans didn’t welcome Jesus into their village, His disciples James and John asked Him, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”5 Putting it mildly, this wasn’t what Jesus had in mind. Likewise, over time, I have found that God’s surprises outshine my suggestions.

Pray honestly. Pray joyfully. Just pray.

Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.”6 Guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus.7 Amen.

1 Mark 10:48 NIV
2 Mark 10:51 NIV
3 Ephesians 3:19 NLT
4 1 John 4:7 NLT
5 Luke 9:55 NIV
6 Psalm 139:4 ESV
7 Philippians 4:7

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Ask. Trust. Rest.

I had never stopped to contemplate the broad range of emotions we can experience in just one day, but in a recent Bible study with international students, we considered just that. Case in point: the day when Jesus fed the 5000 and then walked on water in the middle of the night. In Mark’s account,1 we see 1) the disciples’ overwhelmedness at the size of the crowd; 2) rest and relief in retreat; 3) overwhelmedness 2.0 amid crowd resurgence; 4) compassion and pity; 5) inadequacy for a seemingly impossible task; 6) amazement at a miracle; 7) strain and exhaustion amid the storm; 8) sheer fright; 9) reassurance; and finally, 10) just plain awe. What a rollercoaster day! Can you relate? And except for a pause for private prayer, Jesus was with them the entire time. It was a study in contrast—the sufficiency and faithfulness of God amid the limitations and fear in mankind.

For far too long—and too much still— my conversations with God have involved more angst than seemingly they should. How is it that, despite His faithfulness in the past and His promises for tomorrow, I still harbor anxiousness, even though He is with me the entire time? Let’s turn to God’s Word for a relational remedy: ask, trust, and rest.

Ask. “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full,”2 promised Jesus on the night of His betrayal. What may we conclude about the heart of God, who continually invites us to petition Him in prayer? That He means it? That He loves us? That He enjoys our joy? That He wants to reveal Himself to us? Yet God repeatedly invites us to ask, no matter our circumstances, no matter our need.

Trust. James writes, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God . . . and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting . . . ”3 God’s invitation to ask comes with an exhortation to trust. “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act,”4 assures the psalmist. Trust the wisdom, power, and faithfulness of Him who invites us to ask.

Rest. “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you,”5 the prophet Isaiah marveled. Rest in God follows trust in God. Paul expounds: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”6 In other words, ask, trust, and rest. For Jesus is with us.

Father, we trust Your power and promises; we rest in Your faithfulness and love. Hear our petitions now. . .  We ask them in Jesus’ name. Amen.

1 See Mark 6:30-56.
2 John 16:24 ESV
3 James 1:5-6 ESV
4 Psalm 37:5 ESV
5 Isaiah 26:3 ESV
6 Philippians 4:6-7 ESV

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Incoming!

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy . . .”1—Paul, writing to believers in Philippi

Sometimes world events remind us of how little we are in control. Russia invades Ukraine, and we can but watch. Terrorists do unspeakable things even to the most defenseless, and we feel helpless. Infighting in Sudan displaces over five million people from their homes; we can only ache for them. We are powerless. Or so it seems . . .

Isn’t it fascinating that some of Paul’s most impactful ministry arose from his time in prison, a plight in which virtually all control is stripped away? It was as “an ambassador in chains”2 that Paul wrote his epistles to the churches in Ephesus, Colossae, and Philippi—inspired writings that have taught, corrected and guided Christians as canon for two millennia hence. It was in the isolation of incarceration that Paul prayed fervently and continually for the churches he loved so much. Though devoid of control, the prisoner was anything but powerless.

The same is true of us. I have heard of prayer being likened, in a sense, to an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM): we can confidently launch petitions from anywhere in the world, for their range is unlimited, and no weapons exceed the power of their warheads. We don’t have to be in control, just faithful in prayer and confident in the One who hears us and is sovereign above all things.

When overwhelmed to the point of hopelessness, sometimes even unto prayerlessness, I personally find inspiration in a word of encouragement from Peter Kreeft, author and professor of philosophy at Boston College, and I share it here with you . . .

I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers make, and all the people those little prayers were destined to affect, and all the consequences of those prayers down through the centuries, we would be so paralyzed with awe at the power of prayer that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives.

May we be the faithful who unite in the power of prayer and trust in Him who hears us.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.”—Ephesians 3:14-15 NLT

Father, I trust in your wisdom, power, and love. Hear me now as I pray . . .

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

1 Philippians 1:3-4
2 Ephesians 6:20