The Weekly Epistle 7/6/22

“Prayer changes things.”
“A prayer a day keeps the devil away”
“A family that prays together stays together”

We have all heard these sayings and many more like it about prayer. The question is, “Why do we pray?”   

Prayer has been given to us as a means of grace. It is one of the tangible gifts God has given us to strengthen us in our faith.  It is astounding to me that God would speak to us through His word.  It is equally astounding that God invites us in prayer to draw upon the inexhaustible grace of God in Christ for all of life.  There is absolutely nothing so great as prayer.
 
Prayer in its most basic form is simply fellowship with the personal God.  Prayer becomes the continuation of a conversation God has started with us.  One of the best conversations we can have is meeting with God in prayer.  He talks with us through His Word.  We talk to Him in prayer.  The beautiful thing is God wants us to talk to Him.  
 
Why pray?  Can circumstances change when we pray?  No doubt, God promises to act in accordance with our prayers.  He may choose to act in a situation in a different way than he would have otherwise because His people prayed.  This is a mystery to me as to how all this works.  Somehow, by God’s grace, prayer harnesses the power of the Almighty God so that our petitions affect the circumstances around us.  
 
Whether or not our circumstances change when we pray, one thing is for sure.  Prayer changes me.  Prayer changes you.  When we see God work through our prayers, our faith is strengthened.  Also, prayer grows us in our dependence on Him.  This is why it is correct to view prayer as a means of grace.
 
The essence of prayer is to bring myself under the authority of God, so that God can change me.  When my attitude toward God, others, the world around me, and myself changes through prayer, that is the result of God’s grace at work in my life.  Prayer is not about trying to get God to come around to our way of thinking but for our way of thinking to come around to His.  
 
What determines then whether we had a “successful” time of prayer?  That I feel happy?  That I leave with a burst of energy?  That our circumstances change?  Those are not clear indicators.  It is when we recognize more fully the Sovereignty of God, the power of His Word, and that we commit ourselves to follow through on what we have prayed about as God directs.  If it deepens our trust in Him, then it is good that we prayed!   That is why we pray!  
 
A.J. Gordon put it this way, “You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.”  
 
A fellow struggler in prayer, 
Pastor Brian