I've prayed, been prayed for, been taught about prayer, and been baffled by prayer for as long as I can remember. As a child, I would lay in my bed praying for salvation over and over again because I was concerned that the prayer for salvation worked like a light switch, and since I couldn't remember the first time I'd prayed for salvation, it was entirely possible that I'd prayed an even number of times and had thus switched it to "off" now. I would fall asleep praying repetitively for Jesus to come into my heart hoping that I would end on an odd number of prayers somehow. As I grew older, I came to understand better how ridiculous this childhood theology was, but there was a new thing I didn't understand...why pray when God already knows everything? It just seemed redundant. Then, I started learning even more about the redundant principle in prayer. (Yes, I totally made up that phrase.) The Bible instructs us to "pray continuously." (1 Thess. 5:17) James 5:16 tells us to "pray for each other." Even Jesus Himself said, “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:19-20) But why!?! Why does God care if more than one of us is praying for something? Why would we need to pray continuously? Why pray for each other if that person is already praying for himself or herself? Why pray in the first place if God already knows exactly what we want and need, and the Spirit even intercedes for us on our behalf? (Romans 8:26-27) Why does God care so much about this prayer thing and specifically the quantity of it and the number of people praying for the same exact thing?
I've heard the saying "Prayer does not change God, but it changes the one who prays." And although I have experienced prayer changing me, there are a couple of issues I have taken with this saying. 1) If prayer isn't going to change God's mind, then why bother? Moses' prayers seemed to change God's mind. Are you saying our prayers don't really count except to change us? To me, this feels like having a talk with my husband about something I really care about but which he doesn't respond to at all. It's not fun. I don't like it. I have no desire to do it really. I'm out. I have no desire to pour my heart out to a wall. I don't care how much I might change as a result. I want the person I'm talking to to have some reaction. How is this a relationship if I'm just monologuing to a wall? 2) What's the point of praying for something that has little to do with me then? So that I'll be more compassionate? That doesn't necessarily help that person. Again, I'm not fond of talking just to hear myself talk. (You may be starting to doubt this at this point considering my rambling nature, but hang in there with me.) Jesus Himself instructed His disciples not to just "keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." (Matthew 6:7-8)
So, how do I resolve all of this? How do I have any motivation to keep on praying? How do I pray continuously without babbling? Why does God tell us over and over in the Bible to pray when He already knows what we need before we ask Him!? I'm really tempted to stop here and see the raging comments of contempt I might get for making you read just up to these questions, but I'll keep going.
Up until recently, any image of prayers I'd had was of incense or some kind of gas rising up to heaven. This is even Biblical with Revelation 8 having a censer filled with the incense that was the prayers of the saints filling the throne room of God. Seriously though, couldn't you get sick of that much incense? I don't know. I don't attend a liturgical church that uses censers and incense, so let's bring it to something more modern. Recently, I have experienced "Icemaggedon 2013." I live in the South. We don't know what the heck to do with this frozen precipitation stuff. If there are a few icy or snowy flakes, we're delighted, and if they start to accumulate, we're amused if it means we can play in it for a bit. If the precipitation lasts more than a day or 2, we are totally over it. A couple snowflakes? Awww...how precious. A blizzard? NO! And if I were to be honest about my conceptualization of prayers from God's persepective, it was hard for me to comprehend the worth of each individual prayer in the blizzard of prayers that God must hear. I mean, I knew that individual prayers mattered. I've received loving, individual answers to specific prayers, but I also knew that God asks for them to just keep coming...all the time. Why? Why isn't that one snowflake good enough? Before I answer that with my own personal revelations, I want to share these pictures with you. Go check them out and then come back. I'm waiting.
Ok, I felt convicted to encourage the women in my small group to actually pray...out loud...all of us...during our small group time...this semester. This was totally not my idea. I knew that they wouldn't all be thrilled with this idea. (Who loves to pray out loud in a group!?) I didn't care that our study was on prayer at the time. I still had no interest in praying as a group, but I trusted the Spirit that convicted me and went for it. The ladies in my group are spectacular because despite any personal hesitations that they had, they came up with a plan to make this a reality that they could live with. We all agreed to pray for one other person in our group for one whole week and then to come back the next week and pray out loud for that person in our group setting. (I know, they're amazing women. I thank God for placing them in a group with me!) When we came back the next week, I could tell that some women were very anxious about having to pray out loud in a group. I decided to confess my group prayer issue: I have a hard time focusing on the prayers of others when I know that I'm about to have to pray out loud myself. I totally spend my time thinking about what I'm going to say instead of listening to their prayers and joining with them in prayer. I committed to actually listening and praying with them...without thinking through how I was going to word things ahead of time in my own prayer. That was how I was going to join them in this struggle that they'd committed to doing on the basis of my personal conviction. People, I should listen a lot more! These prayers were beautiful! I have never heard a more spectacular collection of prayers in my life. They were all so unique...just like the women in my group. I was nearly choked up by the prayer on my behalf, despite the woman's apology afterwards that she wasn't sure she'd done a very good job. Seriously, I was blown away. She prayed for me in ways that I would NEVER think to pray for myself. She added a dimension of prayers for my life that I could never add myself even if I tried. No wonder He tells us to pray for each other. The beauty of these prayers by these very uncertain women was incredible. It's been several weeks, and I'm still pondering it.
I've come to understand something. God may get a blizzard worth of prayers to Him, but He can see each one for the gorgeous and amazing individual ice crystal that it is. He has the ability to sit outside of time and admire the beauty of each individual prayer to Him. Of course, He asks for more! Who values individuality and uniqueness more than the Creator!? These prayers that we create are like priceless treasures to Him! I've been coming to see more the deviousness of the devil in trying to convince us that our prayers aren't good enough or that God couldn't possibly need or want to hear yet another prayer on our behalf or on behalf of another person. Nonsense! God is holding each one of these sincere prayers in His hands, gazing lovingly at them, and saying "That's my child! My unique, amazing child with this unique, amazing prayer to offer to me. Share more with me! I just can't get enough of this girl/boy and his/her amazing ice crystals offered to me. Oh, I would die all over again just to share this moment with my child. I can't wait for the next one!"
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, pray. I don't care if it is a one word prayer or a 10,000 word prayer, whether you're filled with blessed assurance or the deepest of doubts, pray. Pray with all your hearts, whatever those hearts are filled with at this moment, whether full of hopes or fears, concerns about whether a mother will be able to feed her child or thanksgiving for being able to enjoy a passed level in a video game. It doesn't have to be fancy, just real. There is no "redundancy principle" in prayers because I don't think any authentic prayer to Him could be fully redundant. Even if you did happen to use the same words you've used before, whether on purpose or on accident, your heart is in a different place than it was then.
I don't have a lot to offer Him this Christmas season, but I can offer Him my living, unique prayer crystals. I hope to offer Him more than I have offered Him any Christmas season prior, whether spoken aloud, thought, sung, typed, or written; in a group or by myself; written or memorized; for myself or for others. Let's fill His throne room with a blizzard full of prayers. I don't think there's anything He wants more than that this Christmas. I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, folks! Join me in filling up His throne room with prayers.
I've heard the saying "Prayer does not change God, but it changes the one who prays." And although I have experienced prayer changing me, there are a couple of issues I have taken with this saying. 1) If prayer isn't going to change God's mind, then why bother? Moses' prayers seemed to change God's mind. Are you saying our prayers don't really count except to change us? To me, this feels like having a talk with my husband about something I really care about but which he doesn't respond to at all. It's not fun. I don't like it. I have no desire to do it really. I'm out. I have no desire to pour my heart out to a wall. I don't care how much I might change as a result. I want the person I'm talking to to have some reaction. How is this a relationship if I'm just monologuing to a wall? 2) What's the point of praying for something that has little to do with me then? So that I'll be more compassionate? That doesn't necessarily help that person. Again, I'm not fond of talking just to hear myself talk. (You may be starting to doubt this at this point considering my rambling nature, but hang in there with me.) Jesus Himself instructed His disciples not to just "keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." (Matthew 6:7-8)
So, how do I resolve all of this? How do I have any motivation to keep on praying? How do I pray continuously without babbling? Why does God tell us over and over in the Bible to pray when He already knows what we need before we ask Him!? I'm really tempted to stop here and see the raging comments of contempt I might get for making you read just up to these questions, but I'll keep going.
Up until recently, any image of prayers I'd had was of incense or some kind of gas rising up to heaven. This is even Biblical with Revelation 8 having a censer filled with the incense that was the prayers of the saints filling the throne room of God. Seriously though, couldn't you get sick of that much incense? I don't know. I don't attend a liturgical church that uses censers and incense, so let's bring it to something more modern. Recently, I have experienced "Icemaggedon 2013." I live in the South. We don't know what the heck to do with this frozen precipitation stuff. If there are a few icy or snowy flakes, we're delighted, and if they start to accumulate, we're amused if it means we can play in it for a bit. If the precipitation lasts more than a day or 2, we are totally over it. A couple snowflakes? Awww...how precious. A blizzard? NO! And if I were to be honest about my conceptualization of prayers from God's persepective, it was hard for me to comprehend the worth of each individual prayer in the blizzard of prayers that God must hear. I mean, I knew that individual prayers mattered. I've received loving, individual answers to specific prayers, but I also knew that God asks for them to just keep coming...all the time. Why? Why isn't that one snowflake good enough? Before I answer that with my own personal revelations, I want to share these pictures with you. Go check them out and then come back. I'm waiting.
Ok, I felt convicted to encourage the women in my small group to actually pray...out loud...all of us...during our small group time...this semester. This was totally not my idea. I knew that they wouldn't all be thrilled with this idea. (Who loves to pray out loud in a group!?) I didn't care that our study was on prayer at the time. I still had no interest in praying as a group, but I trusted the Spirit that convicted me and went for it. The ladies in my group are spectacular because despite any personal hesitations that they had, they came up with a plan to make this a reality that they could live with. We all agreed to pray for one other person in our group for one whole week and then to come back the next week and pray out loud for that person in our group setting. (I know, they're amazing women. I thank God for placing them in a group with me!) When we came back the next week, I could tell that some women were very anxious about having to pray out loud in a group. I decided to confess my group prayer issue: I have a hard time focusing on the prayers of others when I know that I'm about to have to pray out loud myself. I totally spend my time thinking about what I'm going to say instead of listening to their prayers and joining with them in prayer. I committed to actually listening and praying with them...without thinking through how I was going to word things ahead of time in my own prayer. That was how I was going to join them in this struggle that they'd committed to doing on the basis of my personal conviction. People, I should listen a lot more! These prayers were beautiful! I have never heard a more spectacular collection of prayers in my life. They were all so unique...just like the women in my group. I was nearly choked up by the prayer on my behalf, despite the woman's apology afterwards that she wasn't sure she'd done a very good job. Seriously, I was blown away. She prayed for me in ways that I would NEVER think to pray for myself. She added a dimension of prayers for my life that I could never add myself even if I tried. No wonder He tells us to pray for each other. The beauty of these prayers by these very uncertain women was incredible. It's been several weeks, and I'm still pondering it.
I've come to understand something. God may get a blizzard worth of prayers to Him, but He can see each one for the gorgeous and amazing individual ice crystal that it is. He has the ability to sit outside of time and admire the beauty of each individual prayer to Him. Of course, He asks for more! Who values individuality and uniqueness more than the Creator!? These prayers that we create are like priceless treasures to Him! I've been coming to see more the deviousness of the devil in trying to convince us that our prayers aren't good enough or that God couldn't possibly need or want to hear yet another prayer on our behalf or on behalf of another person. Nonsense! God is holding each one of these sincere prayers in His hands, gazing lovingly at them, and saying "That's my child! My unique, amazing child with this unique, amazing prayer to offer to me. Share more with me! I just can't get enough of this girl/boy and his/her amazing ice crystals offered to me. Oh, I would die all over again just to share this moment with my child. I can't wait for the next one!"
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, pray. I don't care if it is a one word prayer or a 10,000 word prayer, whether you're filled with blessed assurance or the deepest of doubts, pray. Pray with all your hearts, whatever those hearts are filled with at this moment, whether full of hopes or fears, concerns about whether a mother will be able to feed her child or thanksgiving for being able to enjoy a passed level in a video game. It doesn't have to be fancy, just real. There is no "redundancy principle" in prayers because I don't think any authentic prayer to Him could be fully redundant. Even if you did happen to use the same words you've used before, whether on purpose or on accident, your heart is in a different place than it was then.
I don't have a lot to offer Him this Christmas season, but I can offer Him my living, unique prayer crystals. I hope to offer Him more than I have offered Him any Christmas season prior, whether spoken aloud, thought, sung, typed, or written; in a group or by myself; written or memorized; for myself or for others. Let's fill His throne room with a blizzard full of prayers. I don't think there's anything He wants more than that this Christmas. I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, folks! Join me in filling up His throne room with prayers.
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