I am sure that many of you have noticed the Praying for Stellan link on the right side of my page. I have been following his mother's blogging for several weeks now. She did a post earlier today on prayer. It spoke to me, and I thought you all might enjoy reading it. The link is below...but I've also pasted it here...
http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2009/04/why-bother-praying.html
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Why bother praying?
If you've been reading my blog for long, you've heard it. Either here or perhaps on someone else's blog:
Pray for Stellan!
This journey with our baby of late, and all this talk about prayer for him, has really gotten me thinking. Since being in the hospital with Stellan for a month now, I've had plenty of time to contemplate some deeper issues regarding prayer that I don't always think much about during my day to day life. You know, because I am usually deep in diapers, dirty dishes, drool and drama.
And the emails I have gotten in my inbox, as well as comments I've received on my blog indicate that there are similar questions about prayer out there, too. I would be willing to guess some of you who have not asked are also wondering. So I have spent some time during these last few days sorting out in my mind my beliefs about the purpose of prayer.
And, well since this is my blog and all, I'd like to share them here. Keep in mind, if you will, that I am neither a minister nor a theological expert. I am just a mama who loves the Lord. Well I did get a Bible degree, in addition to my other art-related majors. Everyone who attended the Christian college I did was required to double major in Bible. Hopefully it's still like that, but I don't know. I'm not in touch with my alma mater much.
You know, because of all the diapers, dirty dishes, drool and drama I deal with on a day to day basis.
Anyway.
As I said, I've been thinking about the purpose of prayer. Since so many people have been praying for Stellan, I can't help but wonder if quantities of prayers reach God's ears any faster or better than one single, solitary prayer. Have you wondered if more people praying for Stellan make it more likely that God will spare our son's life?
Additionally, I actually have heard rumblings of people believing that prayers by me might have more weight in God's eyes, or that if a certain prayer request is posted on my blog that God might be more likely to change His mind about a certain prayer request, since so many more people would be likely to pray, given the large exposure here.
There are things I have had to try to balance in my own head. In fact, I have an entirely separate post coming soon on the idea of spreading prayer requests for others in the blogosphere using my blog. Wait for it. I think you'll appreciate that post.
But today I want to talk about the purpose of prayer. I want to set the record straight about my prayers versus yours, about quantity of prayers, prayers said by believers versus prayers by people who either don't know the Lord or don't usually even pray in the first place.
And, most of all, I want to look at the question, "Why bother praying?"
I have written before about my belief that God is going to do whatever God wants to do. He is sovereign, He knows all. Before Stellan even went into surgery yesterday, He already knew the outcome. Before Stellan was even born and before anyone on earth had ever said a single solitary prayer for him, God already knew the outcome of Stellan's surgery.
Doesn't that just blow your mind?
And, if you're human, which I am guessing most of you who read my blog are as I've never had any documented hits from outer space, then you probably have wrestled with other questions about prayer, too.
Like, if God already is going to do whatever He is going to do, then why on earth do we need to bother praying in the first place!? What's the point!?
Well, I am so very glad you asked. I am here today to tell you exactly what the point is.
In fact, I have touched on the purpose of prayer here before. Remember this?God answers prayers. Just not always in the way or in the time frame we want.
God answers prayers, but the outcome we hope for, and beseech God for, is not always the outcome God has in mind.
God hears our prayers. But God still does what He, in His sovereignty, is going to do. He listens to our prayers, hears us each and every time we speak to Him, think to Him, or even groan to Him. God is affected by our prayers and He wants us to pray.
But God is still God and our prayers do not change God or His mind, at least not in the way we sometimes think. He knew we were going to pray before we ever prayed. He knows the past, present and future all at once. He listens to our prayers, but our prayers don't change things. God changes things.
Hmmm. If God changes things, then why should we bother to pray? Can more prayers, or very heartfelt prayers, be the impetus in changing God's mind about something? Maybe, but with a twist. See, if God were to change His mind about something*, because of our fervent prayers, it will be something that God already knew would happen. He knew that thousands of fervent prayers would be lifted for Stellan. So, maybe He changed His mind about what He was going to do, but He is omniscient, so He already knew He would change His mind. God knows what He is going to do regarding every thing, small and large, that happens in all of our lives from now until the day Jesus returns and we all take up residence somewhere besides earth.
*And there is some Biblical evidence about times when it surely does appear that God changed His mind. And regarding the idea that larger numbers of praying people are more likely to impact God? I have no hard evidence in either direction but, to be honest, my gut is telling me that God's will doesn't exactly work on a numbers game like we think it might. However, the more people who pray for someone, the more those people who are doing the praying will see God's glory in the outcome, and be themselves impacted by prayer, so more is certainly still better! Just not in the way it might seem at first glance.
Hard to comprehend? I know! It always helps me to remember that I am human. My mind is finite. I cannot be expected to truly understand the infinite. My mind, try as it might, can not get completely wrapped around God and His sovereign ways. Sure, it's fun and valuable to spend time in thought about deep issues concerning Christianity.
But.
At some point, I have also found that it's okay to let go of my need to understand everything about God. I can study up on God as much as I want, which of course I ought to, and still never reach ultimate understanding on this earth. That, my friends, is where faith comes in. I want to love God, and, ultimately, to trust that whatever He decides is best. To have faith in His omniscient ways regarding prayer, even when I don't understand. Even when I don't see.
In fact, Jesus said to those on earth who saw Him in the flesh, "Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:29
I, for one, have never seen Jesus in the flesh. Yet I believe. My faith in Him allows me to overlook seemingly insurmountable human roadblocks to my prayer, as well. If God already knows what He's going to do, then why pray? Well, I pray because God tells me to, and because I believe He hears me. I have faith that Jesus was real, did actual miracles, died on a cross, and hears me when I talk to Him.
I hope you believe that, too. In fact, as Katie, one of my blog readers said so concisely to me recently,Jesus really lived, he really healed people, he really said he was the only way to heaven, he really died on the cross, and he really walked from the grave and appeared to over 500 witnesses. What that means for your life can be questioned. That it happened, cannot. It is verifiable.
In fact, Jesus is the most documented person in history. If we reject his existence, Plato, Socrates, Alexander The Great, Ghengas Khan, William Wallace and Leif Ericsson are in real trouble.
Why pray? Jesus was real, God made the earth and all humans, and so for one, it is our responsibility, nay our joy and privilege to be able to communicate with the Creator of all that is, and to His Son, who died for us all.
You see, prayer is simply talking with God. We should talk to God like we talk with our friends. If we love Him, and have a relationship with God, we will want to chat with Him. In fact, the more I thought about this question of why bother praying for, say, Stellan's healing if God already knows what's going to happen, the more I realized that the very question implies a misconception about prayer in the first place.
The purpose of prayer is not to try to get out of God what we want.
Of course, petition is one part of prayer, to be sure. God wants us to bring our requests before Him, as long as we understand that the outcome is entirely up to God, not us. But praying with a favor for God, to ask him to heal Stellan, for example, while all fine and good, is not the only kind of prayer!
Because God is good, holy and perfect, He is worthy of our prayers. We are called in the Bible to pray to God, simply to talk to Him, to adore Him, to confess our sins directly to him, to offer Him thanksgiving for what He has done, to share with Him about our day, as well as to come before Him with supplication, requesting a need that we or someone we know has.
I, for one, pray to God to get to know His heart better, to be in communion with Him so that I will be able to better discern His will for my life. I pray to draw myself close to the One who already holds me in the palm of His hand, and to bring myself in accordance with Him, and not vice versa!
Don't for one second ever let the fact that you don't pray enough, or are horribly sinful, hold you back. Because if you are, you are just like me, and in fact, we are exactly the people God wants to hear from!
Anyone can pray to God. Christians and those of any other religion. (Remember, I'm not even religious myself.) Those who believe in God, and those who don't. Those who faithfully pray each day down on their knees and those who have only ever said grace before a meal. I can guarantee you that my prayers, as well as the earnest prayers to the one true living God, and His Son Jesus, of Billy Graham, prostitutes, ordained priests, pirates, grocery bag boys, Presidents and young children are all equally heard, and valued, by God.
So go ahead, keep praying for Stellan. And keep contemplating the real purpose of prayer in the first place.
Barrett's Sick Day
