Grace Ring Weblog

One of the more perplexing aspects of our Christian walk with the Lord in light of Reformed theology is the practice of prayer. Our conception of God’s sovereignty and omnipotence based on the knowledge of the truths found in the Bible may lead us to ask questions such as “why do we need to pray at all” and “what effect does our prayer have upon the Lord?” These are legitimate and important questions to consider as prayer is a very visible and practical manifestation of our life as a believer. An incorrect expectation and understanding of prayer can lead to a prayer life filled with ungodly attitudes and a sinful heart.

We start our consideration of prayer with a definition. What is it? Prayer is one aspect of our communication with God. The Lord speaks to us in several ways, including revelation through the natural world (Psalm 19:1, Romans 1), revelation through the Bible (II Tim 3:16-17), revelation through the sovereign actions of the Lord’s will (Rom 8:28), revelation through chastisement (Heb 12), and during the time that the Bible was being forged, communication directly with His prophets through actual speech, miracles, and dreams. Likewise, we speak to the Lord in several ways. During the time of the Bible’s formation, just as the Lord spoke directly to His prophets, they in turn dialoged with Him. In our time, we communicate with God through worship, through singing (Col 3:16), and through actions such as partaking of the Lord’s supper (I Cor 11). But our most direct line of communication with God is prayer. It is our monologue with the Lord. It is a time for us to bear our soul before Him and to focus on the Lord. Him and us. Us and Him. That is prayer.

So what do we do in prayer? There are at least three things. First, we praise God and acknowledge His holiness and sovereignty through our prayers. The Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 exemplifies this. Jesus, as He taught us to pray, glorifies the Lord and declares “Thy will be done.” Secondly, prayer is our opportunity to dialog with the Lord and declare our condition and confess our sins. We read in Psalms many of David’s prayers in lamenting his sin and asking the Lord for mercy. Third, in prayer we petition our requests to the Lord. Luke 18 contains a parable of a woman who persisted in petitioning a judge as well as an account of a publican who cried to God for mercy. This is the type of prayer that many believers probably use most and this is the type of prayer that we need to understand better.

In light of our Biblical understanding of God’s sovereignty and omnipotence and omniscience, how do we view the meaning and effect of our prayers? On the surface, could we not say, because God already knows our requests and has already predetermined the answers to our prayers, are not our requests essentially redundant?

We as humans have a natural thought process that focuses on cause and effect. If one commits an action, one expects a reactionary result of similar weight. Likewise, in our prayers, we may have a tendency of expecting an outcome as a result of our requests to God. But God works in ways that are beyond the scope of our thinking. For this reason, our understanding of the interaction between our requests and the operations of the Lord may never be complete within this lifetime.

We do, however need to understand that we cannot affect our circumstances in any way through our prayers. Our prayers do not bring down some mystical power of God to ourselves. We also cannot bargain with God through prayer to accomplish something we desire. God is sovereign and has already willed the outcome of the entire universe before we have ever uttered a word. He already knows our needs (Luke 12:30) and He even knows what we ought to pray for even if we fail to realize it ourselves (Rom 8:26). To pray with an expectation that we deserve something or that we can affect God’s will is self-centered and antithetical to the way we ought to pray.

So what then does James 5:16 mean when it says “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much?” Again, we must think outside of our man-centered nature and think of the complex interactions between man and God. The Lord, as our heavenly Father, wants us to speak to Him and it is through prayer that we do so. Just as an earthly father wants his children to submit and make requests to him before doing something even if the father knows what the child needs, God likewise wants us to turn to Him first in our time of need. Prayer is a manifestation of our submission to the Lord. It is our acknowledgement that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” In some way, prayer is a measure by God to test “where do we ultimately turn to for help?” “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.” (Psalms 121:1-2)

If we think about life without prayer, what would be our relationship with God? Even though He knows all our needs and His ways will be accomplished, we would have a silent relationship with Him. We would have a deistic relationship with Him. But God’s will is to communicate with His people through the Bible, through the natural world, and through prayer. As with the other means of communication, prayer is used by God to keep our minds focused upon Him.

Additionally, God shows us that His way will be done through our prayers. This goes back to the mysterious interplay between God and man. Just as the Lord uses witnessing as a means by which those He has already predestined to be saved will be saved, He uses our prayers as the avenue by which His sovereign actions will be accomplished. That is different than saying that our witnessing or our prayer is the driver of these things. Our actions are simply a part of God’s ultimate intricate operations. When our prayers are answered, it increases our faith and confidence of the sovereignty of God.

Finally, our prayer is a useful tool to thank God. Because prayer is our direct means of communication with Him, it is also one of the ways we praise and worship the Lord. “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1Th 5:18) Again, it harkins back to an earlier point that our prayers are used by God to keep our focus upon Him, not only in times of need, but in times of rejoicing. It brings us again into submission, acknowledging that it is God who is ultimately responsible for all good things.

God is a complex being and while communication with Him is on the surface, simple, the inner workings of it are quite complex. Thus, we cannot capture every aspect of prayer in this short examination. What we do know is that the proper view of prayer is God first, man second, not man first, God second. We pray submissively, humbly, and fearfully before the Almighty. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psa 46:1)