Prayer

My motivation for a reflection on prayer is something from personal experience: I find that I can’t pray as I once did. 

The first scripture I have for consideration is Matthew 6:1 – 6:18. In this familiar passage, Jesus speaks of prayer but he does so in the context of a message about what it means to live in the Kingdom of God. The references to prayer are sandwiched in between instructions about giving to the needy (almsgiving) and about fasting. “When you give to the needy…,” “When you pray…,” “When you fast….” It seems that God intends that all of these activities should be part of our normal lifestyle. Scripture particularly links prayer and fasting. I want to focus on how this played out in the life of St. Paul. 

Luke describes the conversion of Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9. After the “light from heaven” struck him to the ground, and struck him blind, his companions brought him into Damascus. “And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.…” What was Paul doing during those 3 days of blindness? Praying and fasting. 

Later, in Acts 13:1-3 we see Paul as a member of the church in Antioch, one of a group of prophets and teachers. “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.” In this passage, prayer and fasting appear together in the early church. 

The last passage I want to look at is in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Here, Paul mentions the thorn in his flesh, and recounts how he pleaded with the Lord that he should be liberated from it. “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

We know that one aspect of prayer is fellowship with God. Another is presenting requests (supplication). Jesus told the disciples that the Father would grant anything they asked in his name. He also said that the Father always heard his own requests. James points out that we ask and do not receive because we ask out of selfish considerations. So it seems that we should present only those requests that Jesus also is praying alongside of us. In other words, prayer is an opportunity for us to join ourselves to the goals and desires of Jesus. Paul, in regard to his thorn in the flesh, requested deliverance on three separate occasions. But after God answered his prayer—in the negative—Paul turned from seeking deliverance to allowing the power of Christ to rest on him at whatever personal cost. 

The concept I once had of prayer is much too narrow. It is not primarily for me or for others. It is part of an expression of the life of Jesus. It is not about asking God to get on board with my program. Jesus speaks of it in the context of almsgiving and fasting, both of which are aimed at personal loss and surrender. So maybe prayer is about that, too. It seems to be about ascertaining God’s heart and then coming into agreement with Him. In Paul’s case prayer went beyond mere words and opened him to become a dwelling place for the power of Christ. 

One really precious characteristic of God that shines out from Paul’s experience is that our Lord will override what we are seeking explicitly to give us something better that we are seeking implicitly. Saul of Tarsus traveled to Damascus with the intention of defending what he understood to be the one true faith; God revealed the actual Truth in Jesus Christ and changed his trajectory 180 degrees. Paul pleaded with the Lord that his thorn in the flesh would leave him; God permitted that condition to persist but transformed his perspective on weaknesses, insults, troubles, persecutions and calamities suffered for the sake of Christ. The prayer of fellowship, in which we pledge ourselves to the King and His Kingdom, supersedes the prayer of supplication. 

God has an expansive view of prayer. There is much more to say on this topic, and I hope to return to it.

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