On Prayer

I pray because Christ prayed.  When I pray I am following His example and His teaching.  He encouraged his followers to pray.  Jesus prayed at every crisis in His journey.  He prayed on the cross:  “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!”  He prayed all night long before choosing the Twelve disciples.  He prayed in the Garden:  “Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; take this cup away from me.  Yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.”  He prayed for Simon Peter, “Simon, Simon,…I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.”  He prayed that we all might all be one as He and His Father were one.  Jesus prayed, His followers prayed, and, therefore, we pray.

It is immediately apparent in the Gospel that many prayers are not answered affirmatively or at all.  Jesus prayed for the cup to be taken away from Him—it was not!  He prayed for Simon, but the sad truth is that Peter’s faith did fail.  He prayed that we might be one—but we are far from being unified either in the Christian community or in the world!   I’ve prayed for many things over the years—most of those prayers have gone unanswered or unfulfilled.  (Looking back I’m so very thankful many of them received no response).

When prayers go unanswered or are ignored we often say it was not in God’s plan or God will.  The truth of the matter, if we think at all, is that God’s will is not being done in my life or in the world.  God probably has a will for my life, but  I know I have frustrated that plan time and time again in my willfulness, stubbornness, and freedom.  Can anyone say that it is God’s will for things to be as they are in this world?  

Prayer is not telling God what to do; it is telling God what we “think we need.”  Prayer is not an effort to change God’s will, but to promote God’s will, whereas without our prayer it might be frustrated.  Prayer is not a matter of fancy words, or telling God what’s up in my life or somebody else’s, or in the world—for God already understands our hearts, our sins, our motives, our regrets.  “There is not a word on my tongue, but , lo, O Lord, thou knowest it all together” (Psalm 139:4).

Prayer is communion with Jesus’ Father.  It is a relationship—and not a one-sided one.  It is, and is meant to be, a dialogue—a conversation with the Living God.  That’s something really special—not the answer received or not received as a result of prayer—but the very act of prayer itself.