It’s a known fact that one of the spiritual disciplines we Christians struggle with is prayer. However, it is also one of the easiest spiritual disciplines and one we often engage in wrongly or with wrong motives. The bible calls us to pray without ceasing, and to pray the right way. Our priority in this life as stated by Jesus is to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). When Jesus established this priority for us, his point was so that we would not focus on other things this life has to offer and would not be worried about life we cannot control. As his followers, we ought to be different than the people of this world who are still being led by their passions and evil desires, and worrying about tomorrow. The same cannot be of us who know the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). Our prayers are a good window into what our heart’s desires are like. Prayers can reveal a great deal about what we focus on and where our priority is so, it is crucial that we approach God the right way because He knows our thoughts and before a word is on our mouth He knows it (Psalm 139:4). Prayer has become such a banal exercise that we do not pay attention to how we should pray although the bible has many examples of how to pray. We have become too accustomed to the ways of our world that prioritizes me, myself, and my wants to the point that we have brought the same idea when we approach God. In this post, I would like to look at what prayer is in the bible, specifically looking at one of Jesus’ teaching on prayer from the book of Luke.
From the beginning, the bible teaches us that it is good to pray, not only is prayer our communication channel with God but it is also a platform where we can make our requests known. More often than not, we use prayers for our requests and that is not a bad thing. The bible commands us to do so but, I believe the subtlety is in ensuring our request is legitimate. I was blown away this week when I read the lesson in Luke Jesus was trying to make on prayer. It says “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). I like Luke’s writing because he does not beat around the bush, before he tells the story he gives you the point of the story. Here, we know the point of the story Jesus is about to tell is to pray continually and not give up. As I continued to read the parable, which is one I have read many times, I was struck by the widow’s request: “Grant me justice against my adversary” (Luke 18:3). The widow was requesting something that she was due, something she had the right to have. Something that was right and just. We do not know the specifics of her request but we know she was asking for justice to be done. Therefore, she persisted on a request she was entitled to in the first place. Somehow, the refusal of the judge who did not fear God did not faze her, she kept pressing on and that was the point Jesus wanted us to take home. I am not sure if you got it but there are two things that I saw in that story: 1) our request has to be right with God and 2) we must insist until we get what we deserve.
The first point is that our request or petition has be to be right with God. How do we ensure our request is right with God? I believe one simple way is to check whether what we are requesting aligns with God’s plan and or His character. Is it something that reveals Him to the world or is it something that reveals you? Is the request I am making for personal gain (I know we are all selfish to a degree but I am talking more in terms of a grand scheme)? Can other people benefit from this request? Or is it a request that will hurt others? What am I trying to accomplish by getting God to answer me? Am I asking for justice to be done? Many of David’s prayers were asking for justice (Psalm 26, 35, 43, etc.), for God to avenge him from his enemies but it was also because he was suffering mistreatments from his enemies so David was not just asking vengeance just to feel good about himself, there was a terrible wrong that had been done that had to be repaired and as one who believed in a God of justice he could not let that pass him by because it was an insult to the Name of God. That is a good example of praying for God’s will. James tells us that one of the reasons our prayers do not get answered is because we are praying with wrong motives and wrong desires. “You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:2-3). In this statement alone, James points out that we do not ask God, in other words “you do not pray and you think you can handle situations yourself”. The second thing he points out is that our motives are wrong and selfish or self-centered. The result is that our prayers are not effective and do not get answered. They do not lead to results rather wasted breath. Like James and Jesus, I want to challenge us to analyse our prayers, to reassess what we bring before the Lord, the harsh truth is that prayers that are not aligned with the will of God do not get answered. Prayers that are too self-centered do not get answered. Now, I would like to balance this and say that there are prayers we ought to pray for that might look selfish but also reveal God’s glory and one of it is praying for healing. Indeed, we should pray for the sick because this is God’s plan or will. He sent His Son Jesus to die so that we would no longer suffer sickness, “by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). We know that God’s plan is to heal always and He has done that already in Christ, so we can rest on that. Whether the healing happens on this earth or not, we know that it has already happened. It reminds me of the song, “I am fighting a battle you’ve already won” by Shane and Shane. So, whenever we see sickness, we can confidently bring this before God. The same goes for situations of injustice, salvation of souls, poverty, corruption, etc. anything that we see that is contrary to the person and character of God, we should pray for confidently. I know, you are reading this and probably wondering, should I not bring my petition for a new car or a spouse or a kitten to God? The answer is yes, bring those by all means. He is your Father and would love to know what is on your mind. However, as you bring those to Him, let Him handle the requests as He pleases. I often remind myself that “Our God is in heaven and He does all that He pleases” (Psalm 115:3). What you can be sure of is that He will provide for you. When we pray according to God’s will, we are bringing our case before the judiciary system of heaven and asking that God’s will be enforced really. That is why the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. It is as though heaven cannot refuse to listen to such requests.
The second point from the story in Luke is that we should not give up in prayer. It is pretty straightforward. When we know that what we are praying for is in alignment to the will and character of God, we have to continue to press on. Whether we keep seeing the evil we are praying against rampant or not, we have to keep praying for that justice and righteousness to prevail. We cannot lose hope or give up because we do not see God’s power at work physically, or because we believe He is not hearing us or that it is not His will. We are not allowed to give up because we are tired. Just like the persistent widow, we must ask until we become a bother to the judge. We must continue to “ask, seek and knock” for we will “receive, find and the door will be open” (Matthew 7:7-8). We have that confidence from the Scriptures. And to top it all off, we serve an extremely good Father who delights to give us good gifts (Matthew 7:11). We need to pray that our faith in Him be increased so that we can trust Him more. We also need to pray to know Him more and maybe in addition to that prayer, we need to read His words continually so that His love can become even more alive in our lives.
I know it can be frustrating to pray for something and not see the results especially when you know what you are praying for is a good thing but I also know the joys you get from praying for something and it gets answered. Jesus knew these frustrations and he taught us to pray and gave us examples of what that looks like but we must remember that we are not the ones making things happen in prayer, God does. We must keep praying and wait on Him. May the Lord grants us the grace to persevere in prayer. Amen!
A Word Aptly Spoken 