Sadly, many Christians treat prayer as some magical formula and God as a kind of cosmic bellhop that we can summon to do our bidding if we just utter the right words. While prayer is in a sense just talking with God and asking Him to meet our needs, it is also so much more than that. I believe the more we fall in love with Jesus the more we will treat prayer as something sacred and God honoring.
A great insight into this thought on prayer is echoed by the late theologian R. C. Sproul, who once said: “Prayer is not magic. God is not a celestial bellhop ready at our beck and call to satisfy our every whim. In some cases, our prayers must involve travail of the soul and agony of heart such as Jesus Himself experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane. Sometimes the immature Christian suffers bitter disappointment, not because God failed to keep His promises, but because well-meaning Christians made promises “for” God that God Himself never authorized.”1
While God delights to answer a believer’s prayers we must be careful not to claim promises that God never made and to understand that the primary purpose of prayer is not so much that our needs are met but that God is glorified through the answers we receive. Too often we forget that there are conditions we need to first meet before God answers our prayers. For example, are we leading a righteous life. (Psalm 66:18) tells us: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” And are our prayers in line with the will of God, which means we need to know the Scriptures in order to know if we are lining up with His will. One other example concerns, as I stated earlier, is our main motive to bring glory to God or just to meet our needs and desires. Too often our prayers are “me centered” instead of God glorifying.
My friends examine your motives when you pray and examine your life to see if you are walking in the will of God. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with praying for your needs, but I believe we can do this in the context of having God both meet them for our benefit and meet them to showcase His glory to the world around us. So, prioritize God’s glory, lead a godly life, and watch how God answers your prayers. And that’s a promise you can count on!
1 Inspirational Quotes by R. C. Sproul – page 29 (bibleportal.com)
Hi Kurt,
I just did a piece on the ‘flippant prayer’ I had been praying and I tossed in at the end, sort of a ‘and help me be more humble’ I’m
not sure how sincere it was. I think it was more like a ‘see how humble I am I’m asking to be more humble’ type of thing
So within a couple of days I got a skin infection that made it look like my face was sliding off. That was…humbling.
It’s always great to get a reminder of the power and awesomeness of prayer whether from God or you.
We need to give more thought to WHAT we want to pray about when we talk to God. We prepare book proposals, job interviews, debates, we always go in prepared, but to just wing it when we go into the throne room?
You want to know what to say and ask for before you start blurting things out. Although in our blurtings the Holy Spirit will sort things out.
Anyway, yeah, what you said