It's the Same Prayer

I was at a men's Bible study tonight at our church, a study hosted by our Sunday School teacher. We were at the end and about to close with prayer and each one of us was mentioning specific things that we wanted the group to pray about. I mentioned someone I know who is a troubled individual and who needs prayer to be turned and brought back to God. "Are they a Christian?" was asked. "Well, this person made a profession of faith way back when, in childhood, but if you were to ask him now, he would say he doesn't believe in God." Then someone said, "Well, if they really were saved and had the Holy Spirit they wouldn't say that." To which I responded, "I think it is possible that he doesn't really believe what he said, but that he was simply being rebellious when he said it. But either way, it's the same prayer."

Is it not? Think about it.

When an individual apostatizes (leaves the faith) one of two things has happened. Either this is temporary and God by his grace will bring him back. Or this is genuine and his previous profession was a sham. Consider:

1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.  

Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Just because we are born of him does not guarantee that we will never wander, fail, or fall. But it does guarantee that we will not fall finally if we genuinely belong to him.

So how are we to pray for those who have once made a profession and have now fallen away from it? How are we to know whether or not their profession was genuine? Well, we can't know, not until the end. However, when an individual disavows his profession he should be taken at his word and treated as an unbeliever. How, then, are we to treat unbelievers? We treat them with love, compassion, and truthfulness. How do we pray for them? We pray that God will bring them to repentance and faith, for that is the greatest need that they have.

That is also our need.

We tend to think of salvation in terms of conversion. "I was saved on such and such a day and it happened like this . . ." we would say. If someone were to ask us what one must do to be saved we would tell them one must repent and believe. But repentance and faith are not tools used in conversion and then laid aside. Repentance and faith are daily attributes of the Christian's life. As Christians we are always repenting and believing. Repentance is the state in which we live and belief is the state in which we live. So when we see an individual away from God, away from a state of repentance and faith, we pray that God will bring them to this state whether they have ever made a profession or not.

So the prayer for the wayward Christian is the same as the prayer for the unbeliever, because in practice at least, they are both unbelievers in need of repentance.

It's the same prayer: "Father, take this individual and bring him to the place in his life where he repents of his sin and turns to Christ in faith determined to follow Christ every day till the end of his days."

That prayer is pleasing to God and will work for anyone, regardless of what we think we may know about his spiritual condition. In fact, you could feel free to pray that prayer for me anytime you wanted. As the hymn-writer once penned:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love.
Take my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for thy courts above.

Philippians 1:19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,

Who knows who shall be delivered through your prayers? Or mine?

"Our Father in Heaven"

Pray then like this:  "Our Father in heaven . . ."

I imagine the conversation going something like this:

"What should I call you?"
"Call me dad."

This invitation to familiarity with the Almighty is something we take for granted today, but it was not so common in the days of Christ. If anything, our tendency with God is to be too familiar and not sufficiently reverent. But for the people in those days the opposite was true. They feared God to the point of being afraid to approach him. And no wonder. Everything in the Mosaic system of worship given them by God was designed to let them know that God was holy and they were not, that they were unworthy of him, that they should fear him greatly, that if they approached him the wrong way they would die.

And all of that was true. In fact, it is still true today. But it is not all that is true about us and God. Jesus invites us to pray to God and to do so in this way: "Our Father in heaven . . . "

God is like an earthly, human father, but as a father he transcends mere human fatherhood. He is a heavenly father. He embodies (if I may misuse that term) the very ideal of perfect fatherhood. As Paul implies in his first letter to the Corinthians, this idea of God as Father signifies that we are both from him and exist for him (1 Cor. 8:6).

We belong to him. He is responsible for us. He loves us.

Rather than go about trying to think up every benefit that this relationship to him might entail, let me give you the immediate application that Jesus gives to his disciples over in Luke 11:11-13.

"What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

We do not always know our needs, do we? Like children, we know what we want, but not necessarily what we need. Our Father knows. Our Father always gives us what we need. We need not fear to go to God and ask--because we are children and he is our Father. He is committed to caring for us. If evil, human fathers are decent enough to give to their children the good things they need, how much more the gracious heavenly Father who loves us with incomparable love? Right?

But did you pay attention to that last line?

". . . how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

What does that mean, anyway? I have often wondered myself. But upon reading this scripture this evening I was reminded of the passage on prayer in Romans 8 and the meaning became clear. Tell me if it does the same for you. First there is this:

Romans 8:14,15: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 

Those who may go to God as Father are his children by covenant and by promise. They have been given the Spirit as an earnest of their inheritance among the saints (Eph.1). It is by God's Spirit that we are enabled to cry to God as little children "Abba, Father!" The word chosen here by Paul is a sweet Aramaic word that every Jew would recognize as that used by little children for their father. The English equivalent would be "dad", "daddy", "papa" or something similar. We have been brought--by the Spirit--into tender familial relationship with God. Goes right along with the beginning of our model prayer, does it not? But there is more. Further down he says:

Romans 8:26,27: Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 

So we don't know what, specifically, we should ask for in prayer. That's okay. Our Father, who is dedicated to supplying our needs, has given us the Spirit. The Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God. That same Spirit which teaches us to cry "Daddy, Father" also makes intercession for us! He turns our misguided prayers into good prayers. We ask for toys and comfort. He gives us shelter, and food, and discipline. We ask for ease and help. He gives us strength and encouragement. We want comfort from affliction. He gives us comfort in affliction. He gives us what we need.

". . . how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

If you belong to Christ you have the Holy Spirit. So go to the Father and pray. Ask. Ask and it shall be given you. What shall be given you? Your perfect idea of an answer to prayer? Now why would you want that? No, God will give you something better. He will give you his perfect idea of the best answer to that prayer. Why would your Father give you anything less?

Thoughts on Prayer II - God already knows.

Luke 6:7,8 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Empty phrases. Meaningless words. Saying the same thing over and over without even really knowing what you are saying. Sounds like what a lot of people do with the Lord's prayer, doesn't it? Think on the irony of that for a moment.

But what is the difference between doing that--repeating the words by rote over and over--and approaching God with one's own flowery formula equally unthought-out, making it up on the fly, without any real clue as to what one should say to God?

The heathen believed that their gods were busy doing their own things and that if one were to get their attention it would have to be done through a virtual flood of words and perhaps some sacrificial bribery. Long incantations would be repeated over and over in the hopes that the god would hear. Likewise, Jewish prayers of the time were full of flowery phrases stated one way, then another way, then a third way, so on and so forth, changed only by a re-ordering of the words in an attempt to either impress God or (more likely) those around them. But we are told not to pray that way.

Why not?

for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Sometimes the things that can most radically change the way we think (or in this case pray) are the things that are right there in front of us. We just don't see them.

Of course God knows what we need before we ask him. And as a Father to us he is dedicated to supplying those needs. He knows what we need better than we do and he knows it before we do. Don't miss this last part either. He already plans to give it to us.

Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

So there is no need to try to convince or cajole him. It is not our job to persuade God to do something. He knows the need we have for it is he who has given us that need. Likewise it is not necessary to inform him of a situation or predicament. He gave us that situation or predicament.

So then why do we pray? We pray because we need God. Prayer is an act of faith in God and an acknowledgement of God's sovereign care for us. We approach God with the knowledge of his knowledge and wisdom, with a faith in his sovereign goodness toward us (Romans 8:28). Then we humbly ask him to magnify his great name and be true to himself by keeping his promises and being our Father. Prayer is about getting our hearts in line with what God is doing in our lives and honoring him with our faith in him.

"Father, I need you. Thank-you for reminding me of that. You know my need already. I ask that you will supply it according to your riches in glory in Christ Jesus. And do it for your name's sake and your faithfulness. Amen."

That is a biblical, God-honoring, God-pleasing prayer.

All of this does not mean that we do not need to be specific in our prayers. Of course we should be specific. But in the end we do not always know exactly what we need, do we? But God knows. So in the end we always say, "Nevertheless not my will, but thy will be done."

Again, prayer is not about convincing God that he should give us what we want. It is not about informing God of a situation in which he might want to intervene when he would not otherwise have done so. No, prayer is about acknowledging God's greatness in our lives as a Father and our utter dependence upon him for everything.