The Mystery of Prayer

• The meaning and purpose of prayer pales in comparison to the mechanics of prayer.

• How does prayer actually work?

• Why does God need to have his arm twisted to act?

• If God is a God of love, then why do so many important prayers go unanswered?

• Does God hear the prayers of everyone or just some people?

• Does prayer increase the odds that God can and will release divine power?

• The Bible tells us to pray but never really tells us how it works.

• Some will say, “the Bible says it and I will obey it. I don’t need to understand it”.

• Others will want to why and how.

The Mechanics of Prayer

• What exactly happens after the words leave my lips or after I speak them silently?

• Does God instantly hear them, or do they first move through the traffic of heaven where angels and demons are engaged in an epic battle?

• Some have suggested prayer releases and activates God’s power. Are prayers, then, like magical incantations?

• When a person prays for God to heal their ill dad, does that give God extra power, energy, or motivation to do so?

• Is God busy doing something else, so that prayers are a necessary reminder for God to heal that person’s dad?

• Is persistent petitionary prayer performed simply to annoy God, so that God will eventually, although begrudgingly, do the right thing and answer those prayers, as in the parable of the persistent widow and uncaring judge (Luke 18:1–8)?

A Developing View of Prayer

• Prayer is as ancient a practice as they come. Is it possible that there are some superstitious elements in the practice that we could let go of?

• Most doctrine formulates over time with the intersection of different fields of study.

• Sometimes the intersection of the Bible, science and experience leads to modifications of meaning?

• Most subjects are a part of a progressive understanding that develops over time.

• Progressive does not imply better than but the complementing wisdom and revelation that develops over time.

Our Prayers Reflect Our Actual View of God

• Well-meaning Christians pray (beg) God for a variety of things.

• Example: a parent praying for their children to be saved or come back to the Lord.

• O God, he needs you

• Lord be with him

• God pour out your love on him

• Implications:

• God is unaware he needs to be saved and needs to be informed

• God does not want him to be saved and needs to have his mind changed

• God should force his love on him so he can’t refuse

• Prayer has potential pitfalls

• We may unintentionally question the wisdom and goodness of God

• We may fail to take human free will into account

Potential Pitfalls

• What is the point of praying if God already knows all about the situation we are praying for?

• If God already knows the situation, should we limit the amount of time we pray for it? (Matthew 6:7-8)

• If God knows about our need before we ask, why ask God at all?

• Embedded in some petitionary prayers is an assumption that God is not already performing or seeking to perform the requested action.

• Praying for God to love, heal and be gracious to loved ones suggests that God is not loving, healing and being gracious to them.

• Many of our prayers question God’s goodness without the petitioner realizing it.

• Another assumption is God is being stingy with his love and who will only release his love if we beg him (Luke 18:1-8)

• Prayer chains on built on this premise: the more people that pray the more likely God is to act.

• Does God have a quota? Does God insist on a certain number of people to pray before he will intervene.

Wiley Widow and Unjust Judge (Luke 18:1-8)

• Is the point of this parable only about prayer or more to it?

• The parable challenges stereotypes.

• Biblical widows are supposed to be weak and hopeless and exploited.

• This widow uses her wit, faith and tenacity.

• The widow's persistence wears the judge out and he grants her petition.

• Here the woman speaks in the imperative to the judge.

• The judge on the other hand does not fear God or respect people.

• The parable challenges stereotypes.

• The parable forces me to cross-examine my own views.

• The parable provides more questions than answers.

• Perhaps the insight for prayer is found in the contrast not in the comparison.

What is the Purpose of Prayer?

· Discovery

· Desire

· Discipleship

Discovery

· The prayer of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:18-23 is for enlightenment to the gifts given in Christ.

o The Apostle Paul spent a lot of time praying for others. His prayers always seemed to express what God’s will was for his people.

o Notice what Paul did not pray for: healing or to be kept from persecution.

o He prayed that the people would discover the will of God for all people.

· Paul prayed that there would be the discovery of God’s inheritance for his children.

o It is a prayer we can pray for others and for ourselves.

o Sample prayer: “Lord, expand the vision and understanding of __________ as I pray for them from this rich treasure in Christ.”

Desire

· Another name for desire is petition. This is the desire we have for ourselves, others and the world.

o Petitionary prayer is a specific form of prayer aimed at making requests of God.

o Petitionary prayers make requests of God for answers to life’s questions and concerns. They are also pleas for God to be the sole responsible agent to act on behalf of the one who is praying.

o Petitionary prayer is practiced by Christians who pray for others from a distance in the hope that God will bring healing or some other change.

· The issue of whether prayer makes a difference in the lives of Christians is an ancient question.

o Example: Praying to a jug of milk. The answer will be yes, no or wait. It is the same answer we get when we pray to God.

· Origen (233 AD)

· “If God foreknows what will come to be and if it must happen, then prayer is in vain. Second, if everything happens according to God’s will and if what he wills is fixed and no one of the things He wills can be changed, then prayer is in vain.”

· To determine whether traditional petitionary prayer is the best option to increase God’s loving activity in the world, we must examine closely just what such prayer involves.

· We will cover this topic under the section on the perplexities of prayer.

Discipleship

· Prayer plays an important part in becoming spiritually mature.

o To become spiritually mature we have to recognize that suffering cannot be avoided, and paradox is a part of the program.

o The book of Job is not just the story of Job but a chronicle of the prayers of Job during a time of suffering and mystery.

o Prayer forces us to become contemplative rather than reactive.

§ Job’s friends are reactive. Sin = suffering. Job you must have sinned.

§ Job has reaction but also becomes more contemplative about his life and situation.

· Jared Byas – The Bible for Normal People podcast

o “I’m suspicious of people without a limp offering spiritual advice. It’s our wrestling with God that turns knowledge into wisdom”

· Jesus Wrestles with God in Prayer

o In Gethsemane we see Jesus under pressure (Luke 22:39-46).

§ The humanity of Jesus is most clearly seen.

§ He comes to the place of pressure.

§ We see the maturing of his humanity in the middle of trouble and sorrow.

§ It is the dark night of the soul in the life of Jesus.

o We see the maturing of Jesus as a human before our very eyes.

§ He is willing to embrace the plan of God rather than avoid suffering.

§ “Not my will” is the result of his willingness to wrestle with God’s plan and yet submit to it.

§ “The primary purpose of prayer is not to get God to do what you think God ought to do, but to be properly formed”. Brian Zahnd.

· Prayer is to be Properly Formed

OUT OF THE DEPTHS
Psalm 130

There are times when we feel like we are drowning. The writer of Psalm 130 comes to the place where he cries out to the Lord confessing his needs and his sins.

DROWNING (v1-2)

· The psalmist calls out from the watery “depths”, a metaphorical description of the current chaos.

· Awareness of one’s sin can weigh down the soul to abysmal depths.

CONFESSING (v3-4)

· A prayer for help from a crisis believed to be brought on by some unnamed sin.

· The psalmist does not formerly ask for forgiveness, but it is implied.

WAITING (v5)

· God is a God of forgiveness

· God is a God of steadfast love

· God is a God who comes to the rescue

WATCHING (v6-8)

· The morning is the time God’s help is revealed in ancient thought

· God reveals himself in with forgiveness and steadfast love when it seems the darkest.

SURVIVING A CLOSE CALL
Psalm 124

There are some scary moments in life when we wonder how we survived. When was the last time you experienced a close call?

EXAMPLES FROM THE BIBLE

· Israel being pursued by Pharaoh’s army (Exodus 14)

· Gideon fighting off the Midianites with a small group of men (Judges 6)

· King Saul’s decapitation as a signal to the devastation coming to the whole kingdom (1 Samuel 31)

· Paul surviving a shipwreck (Acts 27)

ENCOURAGEMENT FROM PSALM 124

· Affirm the difference God makes in your life (v1-5)

o Where would you be without God?

o If God is for us …

· Praise God for his protection/deliverance (v6-7)

o He protects you in danger

o He rescues you when trapped

· Tell others how God has helped you (v8)

o Give God the glory for what he has done

o Encourage others to depend on God too

Of what are you currently being rescued from?

Lament

• Lament gives voice to the pain inside.

• Nothing is fixed.

• Instead of sitting with the pain all bottled up inside, denying the pain, being too quick to “move on”, lament gives voice to the pain within.

• A person of prayer lives fully in the moment.

• A person of prayer knows how to cry from the heart and laugh with the belly.

• Approximately 70 % of the Psalms are laments.

Example: Psalm 22: Praying through Our Pain

• This is a well known Psalm quoted by Jesus on the cross (Mt.27:46)

• The psalm opens with a plea from a person in dire straits

• We believe God is good, yet the world is bad

• How do the two of these truths go together?

• Where is God to be felt in the middle of these truths?

• Lament psalms have requests but it is not dominant

• To lament is to express deep sorrow, grief, or regret.

• The psalms of lament are beautiful poems or hymns expressing human struggles.

• The psalms of lament comprise the largest category of psalms, making up about one third of the entire book of Psalms.

• These psalms are prayers that lay out a troubling situation to the Lord and make a request for His help.

• The psalm articulates the grief while awaiting deliverance.

• The psalm invites others into the story so they can share in his grief and then his glory.

• This brings the threads of the stories of pain together in a common experience.

• David’s story is our story. Jesus’ story is our story.

Liturgy

• Historically Jews prayed at fixed intervals throughout the day. King David, who is believed to have wrote the Psalms, proclaims,

• “Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he will hear my voice.” (Psalm 55:17)

• Even the prophet Daniel is shown to have a specific set of prayer,

• “When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem; and he got down upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.” (Daniel 6:10).

• The Jewish people began a tradition of praying three times a day: morning, afternoon and evening. This developed into a program of praying the Psalms in particular as they expressed the many desires of the human heart.

• Since most Christians were converts from Judaism in the decades after Christ’s death, they continued the Jewish tradition of praying the Psalms. This type of prayer was maintained as the Church grew (Acts 2:42)

Help is on the Way
Psalm 121

The title “Psalms”, which indicates songs accompanied by stringed instruments, are written to orient us, disorient us and reorient us to the person and purposes of God. The Psalms spark honest emotions in poetic form.

THE SONGS OF ASCENT (Psalms 120-134)

· The Psalms of Ascent are songs for people on a journey.

· It is a climbing song for those traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts.

· Along the way the pilgrim looks to God to provide and protect.

THE CREATOR IS YOUR HELPER (V1-2)

· Look beyond the mountains to the God who created them

· You help comes from the Maker of Heaven and Earth

THE GOD OF ISRAEL IS YOUR PROTECTOR (V3-7)

· What journey are you on?

· Who do you look to for help along the way?

· The God of Israel has shown himself to be trustworthy.

Help is on the way as we travel along the way.

Introduction

• Psalm 109:4: I am prayer.

• What a mystery prayer is. It is the most mystical of all spiritual practices.

• Prayer is deep calling unto deep.

• To pray is to believe in miracles.

• Prayer is a communication between a human being and God.

• A person can’t really prayer better than they are.

• A selfish person will pray selfishly.

• A proud person will pray proudly.

• An angry person will pray angrily.

• A loving person will pray lovingly.

• Etc.

The Meaning and Mystery of Prayer

• What is prayer?

• Language

• Lament

• Liturgy

• Longing

• Learning

• What is the purpose of prayer?

• Discovery

• Desire

• Discipleship

• What are the perplexities of prayer?

• Unanswered prayer

• The relationship between faith/unbelief in prayer

Language

• Prayer is an ancient and sacred practice that has existed as long as humankind has been around.

• Prayers and sacrifices offered to appease angry gods can be found depicted in cave drawings from the dawn of humanity.

• Wherever one finds humans, one finds prayer.

• Humans seem to be literally wired for God and have God-sensitive areas in our brains.

• Prayer is the language we use to connect with the god(s).

• Prayer is acknowledgment of, and communication with, a Holy Other.

• Prayer is communicating with the Creator of the universe.

• We live in a world where everyone prays: Muslims; Hindus; etc.

• Prayer is a part of being religious.

Walter Bruggemann

“Prayer is a common, ubiquitous, recurring human practice. It is the human reach toward Holy Mystery and Holy Ultimacy, an acknowledgment that human persons and human community are penultimate and stand in response to One who is scarcely accessible but who, in any case, will be addressed”

· Prayers are no magical incantations or secret coded messages wrapped in sacred energy even though many people believed this to be the case.

• Example: 1 Kings 18

• The prophets of Baal use prayer incantations to arouse Baal.

• The text does introduce the concept of petition which is most common in prayer.

• There are dozens of ways to pray to God.

• Prayers can be bullets – very focused and precise – or buckshot – praying on any topic that comes to mind.

• Petitionary prayer is a specific form of prayer aimed at making requests of God.

• These prayers make requests of God to life’s circumstances and concerns.

• Many times they are also pleas for God to be the sole responsible agent to act on behalf of the one who is praying.

The Book of Psalms

• For over 2500 years, the psalter has been modeling the language of prayer.

• It gives a place for our emotions to engage with the circumstances of life.

• Praying through our fears

• Praying through our pain

• Praying through our anger

• Praying through our doubt

• Praying through our victories

• Etc.

• The psalms teach us to pray through our emotions in the presence of God.

Example: Psalm 3: Praying through our Fears

• Fear is the primal human emotion.

• It is one of the first emotions we experience as human beings.

• David is terrified because he is being chased by Absalom.

• The background is probably 2 Samuel 15-19.

• David has to flee his own house

• This may have originally been the first psalm.

• He identifies the source of his fears (v2)

• Repetition of the word many

• There is a contrast between the many enemies and the single God

• He describes God metaphorically

• A shield (v4) – protects the most vital parts of who you are when bad things happen

• In the middle of his circumstances he feels the closeness of God

• My glory (v4) – provides significance when others are saying God is done with David

• He holds my head high (v4) – provides confidence when he has no confidence in himself

• He looks to the city of Jerusalem as a representation of God’s presence (v5)

• God will sustain him so he can get sleep soundly (6)

• God will protect him so he need not fear (v7)

• God will bring about vengeance on the enemy (v8)