gfs@icd.ab.com (06/03/91)
Kevin Megill raises some good questions regarding prayer, and persevering in prayer: | It seems clear Biblically that perseverance in prayer can sometimes | increase the effectiveness of the prayer. (I am talking about | petition or intercession specifically and by effectiveness I mean | simply whether what we prayed for happens. I realize there is | more to prayer than that.) | | But if I pray once for something, doesn't it display a lack of | faith to pray a second time? See for eg, Mark 11:23, 24. I would like to share my insight on this subject. I have found that a very close companion to faith is trust. That is, I can often best measure my faith in something by asking, "am I trusting that such and such will happen." Specifically, I find that having faith in a prayer made in faith to the Lord our Master, is trusting God for the solution to whatever the situation is. This, then, gives a perspective on persevering prayer. When something comes up in our life, we come to a point in which we decide with the entire depth of our soul, mind, body and strength that we specifically ask our Father for help for something. Most of the time, that which we will be asking for help on is "loading us down" in some way, that is, causing us grief, pain, anguish, or concern. A family member or close friend or even a perfect stranger in pain or trouble causes us hurt through our love and compassion for them. Blessed are we if turning to God with our burdens is like an automatic reflex. Sometimes, though, it takes us a little while to realize that we should ask for God's help. Why do we wait? We shouldn't, but sometimes we do. A walk of life in constant, continuous union and prayer with God, a life lived in the spirit, gives us a moment to moment sharing of our life experiences with God. God is like a friend walking at our side. If we let Him, He is there, live, real-time, immediate, every moment. There is no delay between the difficulties of life coming to us and us sharing God shouldering the burdens with us. But until we reach that perfection of walking with God, we often have to realize in particular cases to specifically pray for something. So we ask for help and give that burden to the Lord. Through Jesus' shed blood and sacrifice, we know that the way is open to Almighty Creator God of all that is seen and unseen, and that God hears our prayers and knows our needs. Now, we should live in a spirit of trust that the matter is in God's hands. A couple days go by. Are you still trusting God? This is what really counts to God, that you trust Him. This is how a prayer with a lot of faith is different from a prayer with no faith. The child of God who asks his Daddy out of genuine love and trust, and continues to trust and love God, this is true faith, this loving trusting. This loving trusting is a type of persevering prayer. Prayer does not have to be the requesting over and over again. Prayer is communication with God, communion, union, unity with God our Father. Every time we are reminded of the original circumstance for which we uttered our prayer of request, what is our inward, deep seated reaction? If there has been no immediate obvious change yet, do we have a flash of "Oh well, I guess it [the prayer] didn't work.." ? That is not trusting. Do we doubt? Do we ask these prayers to see IF they work, IF God is really there? What if it takes six months, or a year, for the change to happen (as it has sometimes) are we impatient? These reactions are all imperfections in our trust in God. You see, true faith is something that is impossible to fake. It is a inherently impossible for true faith to be anything other than perfect, trusting, love of God our Father. And it is only in true faith that God can answer our prayers. We cannot manipulate God in any way, shape or form. Never. There is no formula, procedure, work, or action that binds God save one. Love. If we love God, God will love us back, because that is what love means. And if we love God, there will be no manipulation, selfishness or prayer that is unworthy. Love and manipulation are mutually exclusive. And this love we do not have the power in ourselves to create. The true love for God is a gift of God to us, it is part of our creation He gives to us, just as He gave us life in the first place. We cannot force or scheme or manipulate true love for God any more than we can will or scheme or force or manipulate ourselves into existence. This is God's plan, through Jesus, that the curtain between heaven and earth, between God's perfect existance and our imperfect, sinful selves, this curtain is rent open, and our love can reach God and God's love reaches us. For God so loved the world that He sent His Son (who is part of Himself), that we might be saved. I often feel a "lightening of the burden", that is the oppressive weight of a problem that I am praying about, actually lift off of me, as I give this burden to the Lord, and trust Him to be carrying it with and for me. My prayer is like this: Out of the love and compassion for someone, I share that persons misfortune and pain. I approach my Father in Heaven in prayer, and approach His Loving heart. As I know and feel my Fathers love for me, I know He cares about anything that is troubling me. It is through the mutual bonds of love, a three-way bond, myself to God, and myself to the person or persons I am praying for. In this way, I willingly bring into contact the person or persons I am praying for and God Himself. I surrender myself totally to God, to be a channel of His Will, His Grace, His Peace and His Mercy, all aspects of His Holy Spirit. Think about this. We have to love each other enough to be close to one another, to have this bonding to one another, so that we share the burdens and pain and trouble of another. If we shut this off, close ourselves off from caring, "because it hurts too much to care", then we will not be able to really give this burden to the Lord, because we were unwilling to lift it up to give to Him in the first place. True prayer is motivated from the heart, from caring, from the person-to-person bond of love. Remember how Jesus wept when raising Lazarus from the dead. Remember Jesus' agony in the garden. Remember how Jesus was moved to heal those who came to him in trusting faith, the Roman centurion, the woman who just wanted to touch his robe. Remember, Jesus was moved with pity for these people. His heart went out to them. In this compassionate heart reaching out, Jesus puts us into living contact with Almighty Creator God. Our prayer is the same, as we are bonded to God in love, we reach out because we care about others, and through this living faith and love, God is brought into the world around us, and we are part of the channel of God's Grace. What a great gift! That God pours His pledge of Love into what we are compassionately are moved to love. Remember, the greatest commandments: You must love God with your whole mind, soul, body and strength; and you must love your neighbor as yourself. Through these commandments and through the Grace of Jesus' shed blood, and in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Lord's Kingdom comes into the world and our Father's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. I hope this insight helps illustrate the relationship of persevering prayer to faith, love and trust. Sincerely, In Christ, Greg Shay
hudson@athena.cs.uga.edu (Paul Hudson Jr) (06/05/91)
Does praying for the same thing twice mean we have a lack of faith? Paul prayed 3 times for his thorn in the flesh, the messenger of satan to leave him. Paul had faith. Maybe he prayed again because it did not go away.