Say a Little Prayer

Say A Little Prayer

“I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God- it changes me.” - Shadowlands

The above quote is attributed to C.S. Lewis in the movie portrayal of his life. It fits rather nicely with Paul in Ephesians, “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.” (Ephesians 1:15-17) In both instances we see prayer life as unceasing and searching. Not scattered and pleading. Both pray with confidence, hope, and an unshakeable faith in the power of God. Prayer should shift our perspective by reminding us of how small we truly are. And despite being humbling this should also inspire hope! Because the point is not how small and insignificant we are, but how loving and attentive God is. By recognizing our frailty, it brings sharper focus on God’s strength, by recognizing our ignorance, it makes God's wisdom clearer, by recognizing our faults, it magnifies God’s forgiveness. Our viewpoint is so limited. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Paul asks the following: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you…” (Ephesians 1:18a) Prayer should elevate us, only God would lift us up when we fall to our knees. It should open up our eyes, our hearts, and bring us closer to Him. No wonder Scripture tells us, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) And this sits well with us intellectually. We understand that we should pray more, we comprehend that this alleviates concern for us and by laying things at God’s feet we unburden ourselves of things that we cannot control anyway. But why does our prayer life so often wither on the vine? It seems that when things are going well, then there is less need for prayer. And only when things turn south does it dawn on us to look heavenward again. So our prayers are often associated, at some level, with negative or desperate times. There are two preeminent examples in the Bible. First examine Job.

 Perhaps the best example of a rich man who still keeps God’s commands. And although he was blameless in God’s sight, tragedy was allowed to befall him. And though Job lost all of his wealth, all of his possessions, and even all of his beloved family, he refused to curse God or consider Him unjust. And make no mistake, Job was certainly distressed. As his friends approached, “When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.” (Job 2:12-13) Then the first words spoken after that week-long silence, “After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.” (Job 3:1) But in his pain and misery he turns to God, not resentful, wrathful, or self-righteous, but yearning, searching and trying to understand. And after much crying out, God answers. Job 38-41 contains God’s answer, not only to Job’s relentless searching but to ours as well. To any person that has felt the weight of life’s struggles drag them down, or felt an insurmountable pain that has no explanation. When we ask God, ‘Where are you?’ He asks us, ‘Where were you?’ Not to charge us with faithlessness, but to highlight our smallness. (**We must understand too, that smallness is distinct from insignificance. We are absolutely significant because God is speaking to us! Whatever meaning our life is to have is what He grants it. Which is cause for gratitude**) God is not challenging us with this response, but teaching us more about His nature. He shows us more of Himself in order to answer the question our heart is truly asking. Paul refers to this as the enlightenment of our heart. We see this again with Jesus.

Jesus models for us the perfect prayer life, the Lord’s Prayer is (appropriately) taken directly from His words. And while Jesus made it clear that prayer should be a regular part of your day to day existence, He also showed that in a moment of crisis, it is the only sensible response. He proved this with His actions in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is arguably the most ‘human’ moment of Christ’s time on earth when He prays fervently in the Garden without any recorded answer. (Luke 22:43 notes that an angel was sent to strengthen Him, but is also the only gospel to highlight Jesus’ sweat being like drops of blood.) And here we see the fruitlessness of relying on man as a comfort in such times. Peter, James, and John accompanied Jesus and were asked merely to stay awake and keep watch. (Like Job’s three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, they could not rise to the occasion. The apostles failed due to inaction, Job’s friends failed when they opened their mouths.) But Jesus is praying to God. In His most dire time on earth, He turns solely to the Father. There is indomitable power in prayer. And if there is that much power available to us in prayer, why would we want to stop? 

While praying out of need is preferable to not doing so, and while it is the correct response when trouble comes, we should focus more on our desire to pray! It should become an action driven by want rather than need. This notion is summed up rather tidely by Jesus in Matthew 19:24, “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” As discussed earlier, when times are good it is easy to neglect prayer, turning only to it when the storms start brewing. But what if we were to associate prayer with the relief that comes from it instead of the angst that precedes it? Paul’s prayer in Ephesians chapter 1 shows that his prayer stems from gratitude. He is spurred to prayer by hearing the encouraging reports of the faith and love exhibited by the faithful in Ephesus. He reaches out to God, praying for others (not focused on himself) asking that they have wisdom to know God better. That such knowledge will give them hope, that such hope will bring realization that they are God’s inheritance, and that such confident assurance will allow God’s power to work through them. (Benny brought up a good point as it related to last week's discussion about the current state of the (non-existent) church at Ephesus. How you finish a race is far more important than how you start one. How you finish a fight is infinitely more important than how you start. 2 Timothy 4:7-8) 

Prayer is so much more than our laundry list of longings. If Scripture is God’s Word written out for us to have access to, then the best way to keep those lines of communication open is to immerse yourself within it and to speak back. There is only an upside to this. When Paul is referring to God’s power here he is very specific. “That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 1:19b-20) God’s power does indeed include the ability to speak all of existence into creation. But extends even so far as to bring life back to the dead. That same power is available to you in your life. What aspect of your life needs resurrection? We are not doomed to suffer, we are not destined for ruins. Even if we find ourselves on a path far astray you are not beyond saving. God can raise even the dead. So if you still have breath, you still have hope. The same hope driven by a faith like Job. “And he said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord–that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’” (Job 28:28) Can you stand so steadfast in sorrow? We have hope. Hope founded on the love of Christ. A love that led Him in His most desperate moment to say, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) If prayer can support us in the most trying times, what a springboard it could be when the sun is shining! Our prayer doesn’t change the great ‘I Am.’ It changes us. Look at the world around you, it is in desperate need of change. Want to know how to make a difference? Say a little prayer. 

Jordan Williamson