Imperishable Inheritance

I have admittedly, my whole life, had a low view of prayer. I admittedly, to this day, have a low view of prayer. It has started to become evident about how important this facet is to one's spiritual endeavor in Christ, and it is also evident when it is lacking in one's life. I have started to feel at times as though I am just talking to the wall. It is frustrating to do something that you know is Biblical, but yet you are deriving nothing from the endeavor. It is times like this that I see the difference between living religiously and living in the Spirit.

I sit down to a meal and pray in a generic fashion. It's then as though I checked off that bullet. I pray corporately for the approval of men, and that is one of the things mentioned literally by Christ as something to not do several times (cf. Mat 6:7). (My friend Jason Wing wrote a neat article on seeking the approval of men through corporate prayer.) I admittedly rarely pray with the intentional thought of, "how can I glorify my Father during this time?"

When I present the Biblical basis of missions, I often gloss over prayer in the five ways you can implement a world Christian lifestyle into your life (I means "missions minded" not "worldly minded"). There is one passage that strikes the cord for me as to how God views prayer and our role in doing it. Jesus exemplifies both His love and compassion and how prayer is involved in the outpouring of those characteristics. If this doesn't convict you on your prayer life, I don't know what will!

Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."
Matthew 9:35-38

I came upon my lower view of prayer a lot from my study both in God's immutability and sovereignty. Christians who hold to a reformed understanding of predestination see the doctrine as being all inclusive. That means, that predestination doesn't simply refer to election but also everything around seeing the election manifest itself (metaphysical determinism). When I debated the Open Theists who thought strongly that prayer could in fact change God's mind by contorting passages such as Moses' intercession for Israel in Exodus 32, I became more and more disheartened at the idea that prayer doesn't change God's mind.

Many Christians have struggled with the question, "if God's unchanging and everything is set, why should I bother to ask Him for anything." And as I myself think about it I can empathize more and more with this question. I often tell people who bring up this question that praying is simply the act of obedience and something we have the privilege to do. I try and convey the thought that if you're worried about God changing for you then you have your desires in the wrong place. Jesus even understood this idea. Despite His oncoming suffering, He still asked His Father to relieve Him of the suffering.

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will."
Matthew 26:36-39

This is a powerful passage, because we see Jesus' human nature act out of true fear and distress. But what is interesting is that even in His fear He did not sin (1 Pet 1:21-22). He understood that His request would not be met, and He exemplified His understanding of His necessary submission to accomplish redemption when He said, "...yet not as I will, but as you will." He reinforces this by saying shortly after the first prayer:

He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done."
Matthew 26:42

I think I, and all of us, can learn much from Jesus' example in this passage. I need to remember that prayer at first should be about our complete submission to God. It is in this understanding He grants understanding of what must take place for His Name (Mat 6:9; cf. Luk 11:12). It is time for me to build a healthy view of prayer. I don't know much, but I do know (on yes, experiential evidence) that when we turn to Him and delight in His Name and purpose—He provides comfort and rest.