The Purpose of Prayer (Part 2)
By Paul Lagan, Alliance for Life Ministries

Jesus knew what He would be faced with in the morning. From the mount they could see the lanterns flickering in the vast city of Jerusalem, which lie below. The twisted olive trees in Gethsemane cast an eerie tone in the darkness. It was the night of His arrest and He was deeply troubled and wanted to be near His closest friends. Only moments before, they all assured Him that He would never be abandoned during this dark hour. “My soul is crushed with horror and sadness to the point of death...stay here...stay awake with Me,” He pleaded (Matthew 26:39). Being human, as well as divine, He was filled with despair. Sorrowfully, He fell on His face and prayed, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). Three times He knelt and prayed, “I want Your will not mine,” after which He rose and climbed the hill of Golgotha - to do what He was called to do.

The “Lord’s Prayer” or the “Our Father,” (which Jesus never prayed personally) is considered to be a pattern prayer in which Jesus seems to be showing His disciples “the purpose of prayer.” There are many prayers recorded by Jesus, His disciples, and the Apostle Paul, and all of them follow patterns Jesus taught in this prayer. In Jesus’ model prayer, we first pray about the concerns of God’s Kingdom and His will. This is a disciple’s prayer to show how to learn to think, pray, and act, with God’s Kingdom foremost in our minds. Christ makes the point that all our prayers conform first to God’s will. It’s not for those who hunger for God to rubber-stamp their selfish plans, for it begins with, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Scripture advises us to petition God for the salvation, safety, health, and the general well being of fellow Christians and family. But where many Christians become confused is with verses of Scripture that seem to suggest we pray for the well being of those who wish us harm, or corrupt leaders or clergy that spread falsehood. Are we to do this? The answer is simply no! Why would I want to ask a Holy God to protect an evil person? As Mark Crutcher of Life Dynamics said to me some years ago, “People that pray in this manner are asking God to do something that is against His nature.”

So how then, do we explain Jesus’ statement in Matt. 5:44, “I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you?” Common sense tells us that this verse cannot mean as it appears. The accepted view among biblical scholars is that such an approach (which parallels Buddhism) would be unrealistic and unworkable! It is important for Christians to realize that if a New Testament quotation by Christ seems to contradict the greater part of Holy Scripture, the reader must be interpreting the quotation incorrectly. Jesus has no authority to contradict His Father. The oldest Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, the Alexandrian text, do not mention “bless those who curse you, do good to those that hate you.” The Alexandrian text reads, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” which is not a commandment but a lifestyle guideline for happiness. The remainder of the quotation has been added by man. This verse simply means that we are to show restraint, and pray for the correction of governments, corrupt churches, courts etc., not because we want these people or groups to prosper - but because their actions affect the quality of our lives!

Our Lord taught and educated those He came in contact with, but He did not pray for everyone He came in contact with. “I do not pray for the world but for those you have given me, for they are yours” (John 17:9). The Greek meaning for “world,” is “inhabitants of the earth.” A great preacher during the Civil War, Dwight L. Moody, was asked to pray for a person who he did not admire. “I will not pray for him,” Moody said. “He does ten days of work in five, and eats everything in sight. If he doesn’t care enough to take care of himself I will not ask God to.” Moody understood the purpose of prayer.

Prayer is not one sided, prayer is a discussion between God and us. We need to listen to what God is telling us during our conversation. It is interesting to note that in communication between God and man in the Old Testament, God did almost all of the talking, and man did the listening. How do we know that it is He who is addressing us? Because God will never advise us to do something that is contrary to His Word. God will not tell us to cheat on, or leave, our mate. He will not tell us to shoot an abortionist, or to abandon our family in order to become a missionary in Africa. And God will not tell us that all we need to do regarding the great evils of our day is to pray and do nothing else. He will not say that!

The words “Give us this day our daily bread” are the only words in the Lord’s Prayer that could possibly refer to supplying our physical needs, and as a result, this verse is often used by “free loaders” as a petition for favors. All the rest of the prayer is in praise of God or to request spiritual gifts so we may better please and serve Him. But the truth of the Lord’s Prayer is that Jesus Christ is the “bread of life” and the daily bread we need even more than physical food (John 6:51). Jesus taught many things using the example of bread and, typically, His focus was on the spiritual need rather than on the physical. In Luke 12:23, Jesus again used the example of eating to show the primary need we have is spiritual. He said, “Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.” In Luke 4:3-4, we can read about the confrontation Jesus had with Satan. Satan told Jesus to change the stone into bread, but Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” He was referring, of course, to needing spiritual sustenance more than physical bread. God’s truth, God’s Word, is spiritual (John 6:63). It provides the “food” we need to be spiritually sound.

The simplest minds should reason that we do not receive everything that we ask for - nor should we. Trials are part of everyday life. Job was tested. So were Abram, Jacob, Joseph - and Jesus. Scripture tells us that trials can be positive and Jesus wouldn’t be teaching us to pray to escape what is strengthening us. Guiding and loving parents do not give their children everything they request, and neither does our Heavenly Father. Additionally, there is rampant starvation in many parts of this world, so common sense tells us that there must be another explanation for Matthew 6:11, and 7:7-11, and 18:19, than the lame rhetoric most biblical writers and clergy would have us believe. The fact is that this portion of the Beatitudes (Sermon on the Mount) refers to receiving knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures regarding personal ethics, and is not a green stamp for food or a credit card for everyone’s wish.

The Jewish religion, which Jesus observed, does not advocate begging for selfish favors as do modern day Christians. If this is what Jesus practiced, why should we do differently? The Hebrew word for prayer is tefilah. It is derived from the root Pe-Lamed-Lamed and the word l’hitpalel, meaning to judge oneself.  The Jewish purpose of prayer is to increase awareness of God in life and the role that God plays in life. For an observant Jew, prayer is not something that only happens in synagogue, it is an integral part of everyday life.

Many of the prayers that Jews recite today were composed by Ezra and the Men of the Great Assembly nearly 2500 years ago. In Deuteronomy 8:10, Jews are commanded that when they eat and are satisfied, they must bless God, which means in Hebrew, “to kneel before, or an act of adoration.” The grace after meals is recited in addition to the various prayers recited before meals which thanks God for giving food to the world.

Observant Jews are constantly reminded of God’s presence and of their relationship with God, because they are continually praying to Him. Their first thought in the morning is a prayer thanking God for life. There are prayers to be recited before enjoying any material pleasure; prayers before performing any commandment; prayers upon seeing anything unusual; prayers whenever some good or bad thing happens; and prayers before going to bed at night. All of these prayers are in addition to formal prayer services, which are performed three times a day. Jesus never disobeyed directives in the Old Testament concerning prayer and neither must we.

There is significant truth to the verse, “Ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2), because we may be asking for the wrong reasons. Sometime ago I viewed a program on NBC television titled “A twist of faith.” The true story talks about an attractive Christian family that relied on prayer exclusively to control their daily living. Among their spiritual ventures was a trip to Cape Cod. Without food for the family, or money they prayed that God would provide. After awhile the children began to cry because there was only clover to eat, and their automobiles soon ran out of gas. They eventually borrowed money from a police officer and returned to their homes. However, the church leader decided the reason they failed was because they did not have enough faith. To prove this he instructed his flock that a new born child was not to be fed solid food, only breast milk, and of course after a few months the baby died of starvation. Upon questioning during the trial, it was pointed out that these people did nothing for their child other than pray - the jury deemed them insane!

I recall a time not that long ago when I accidentally tuned in to a Christian television network and a Christian radio station that were both in the process of going through their annual fund-raising campaigns. I found it interesting that neither of these programs simply trusted God to provide for their income. Rather than praying about the problem, as they suggest everyone else do regarding the great moral issues of our world, they promised almost everything under the sun but eternal salvation, if their listeners or viewers would sent them, not a “I'll pray for you” - but MONEY!

The “pray only” Christians are the “Marys” who choose to sit at the feet of Jesus rather than meddle with the pots and pans so important to Martha. In commenting on Jesus’ response to Martha in Luke 10:41 – 42, the Calvinest theologian R.J. Rushdoony, offers the following corrective measure: Our Lord’s comment to her simply said that His presence and His teaching were more important than maintaining traditional standards of lavish hospitality. It was not a statement about the superiority of the contemplative to the active life. It was a statement about, priorities, and, from a reading of all Scripture, we see that at times the priority is action, at other times prayer, because at all times the service of the Lord must govern us. Here is the balance to which we must strive: to pray as if it all depends upon God and to work as if it all depends upon us. When Saint Paul declared that He is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” he added that God’s response would be “according to the power that worketh IN US” (Eph. 3:20, emphasis added).

When Hudson Taylor, the famous missionary, first went to China, it was in a sailing vessel. Very close to the banks of a dangerous island, the winds calmed and the ship started to drift shoreward. The Captain came to Taylor and asked him to pray to God for the safety of the ship and its inhabitants. “I will,” said Taylor, “provided you set your sails to catch the breeze.” While engaged in prayer, there was a knock at the door of Taylor’s stateroom. “Who is there?” Taylor’s voice yelled. “The Captain. Are you still praying?” “Yes,” said Taylor. “Well, you’d better stop,” said the Captain. “We have more wind then we can manage.” Taylor knew the fact that in most cases, for prayer to be effective it must be associated with willing effort.

In 1938, the voters of Austria were faced with a dilemma: Would they voluntarily elect to have their nation assimilated into Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich? In the final analysis, only a small handful voted against the “take-over.” Today, little is remembered of the 99.75% who hoped to avoid a fearful outcome by casting their ballots for a “lesser evil.” History remembers them as those who lived and died with the world’s and God’s judgment on them. Compromisers and cowards, who stood by silently and only prayed and did nothing. I have visited battlefields both home and abroad, and I can state this with certainty - no time in recorded history has a major dispute been settled by only praying for our enemies!

Exodus 14:15 states, “Then the Lord said to Moses, Quit praying and get the people moving!” When Joshua fell on his face praying, God said “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? . . . Get up, sanctify the people.” (Joshua 10-12). In like manner, Marguerite Wilkerson, a poet from the 19th and 20th centuries wrote: “I never cut my neighbor’s throat; My neighbor’s gold I never stole; I never spoiled his house and land, But God have mercy on my soul! For I am haunted night and day by the deeds I have not done; Oh un-attempted loveliness! Oh costly valor never won!”

Any mention of Count von Zinzendorf is not found in the Bible, but he is found in history. He was a wealthy young man that lived a prodigal-like, but somewhat religious lifestyle. One day as he was leaving church, his attention was drawn to a large painting of the crucifixion of Christ. Von Zinzendorf saw, and thought, about the agony Christ was going through. Then he looked down at the brass plate at the bottom of the painting and read these words: “All this I did for thee - what hast thou done for Me?” There he stood, for six hours praying for guidance as to what he should do, his eyes transfixed on the scene. He returned home a transformed man. Count Von Zinzendorf understood “the purpose of prayer.” Out of his vast real estate holdings, he built Herrnhut, the headquarters of the Moravian church, in Saxony, England. From there missionaries went out all over the world, one of those being the famous John Wesley, all the result of responding to the question, “All this I did for thee - what hast thou done for Me?”

We need to stop praying for the wrong reasons and ask ourselves the same question - what have I done for Him?


Alliance for Life Ministries
P.O. Box 5069
Madison, WI 53705
Email: ministry@alliance4lifemin.org
www.AllianceForLifeMinistries.org