Prayer is a significant part of the Christian life. Yesterday I wrote about
three myths we often hold regarding prayer. Today I would like to share three
more myths that seem to be common in the church.
Myth
#4: God knows everything anyway so there is no reason to pray.
Yes, God knows everything, but he
still invites us to pray. Matthew 6:8 reminds us that our Father "knows
what you need before you ask him." But the very next words out of Jesus’
mouth are, "Pray then like this..." Prayer reminds us of our
dependency on God. It enhances our intimacy with God. When we are honest with
God in prayer it brings us to a place where we are better able to hear from
God. The fact that God knows everything should motivate us to pray, knowing
that God already knows our needs and is anxious to answer. Sometimes God is
simply waiting for us to ask.
Myth # 5: God is obligated to answer my
prayer, especially if it is formulated correctly (e.g. we get someone to
"agree" with us in prayer, or we close our prayer saying, "In
Jesus name...").
Prayer is not an incantation that
God is obligated to answer if we get the formula right. Prayer is heart
communication with our Father. Praying in Jesus name has nothing to do with
tacking on the words, "In Jesus name, Amen" at the end of our
prayers. Getting someone to "agree with us in prayer" is not what
Matthew 18:19 is talking about. That passage needs to be understood in the
context of the Old Testament principle of two or three witnesses. You don't
walk up to someone who knows nothing about a case and say, "I'm going to
testify in court today. Will you come and agree with me that what I'm saying is
true?" Neither should we ask someone to "agree" with us in
prayer. Rather, when two or three people independently sense that God is moving
them to pray about something, that is evidence that this is truly from God.
They are in agreement and can pray in agreement. If we were somehow able to
obligate God to answer in a particular way because we have formulated our
prayers correctly then God is no longer sovereign. We become the ones in
charge. In that case, God must do what we tell him. He is no longer God, but
god.
Myth 6: If prayer is not
"answered" it is because you didn’t have enough faith.
Jesus said that faith like a
grain of mustard can move mountains (Matthew 17:20). Obviously then the key to
answered prayer is not the quantity of faith. A mustard seed is pretty small.
The object of our faith is more important than the quantity of our faith. When
we are focused on the quantity of our faith, we have faith in our faith. God
calls us to have faith in him. Like a good father God knows that sometimes what
we ask for is not in our best interest. Like children, we can't always see
that, but God knows. God sometimes withholds answers to prayer because he loves
us. Unanswered prayer is not necessarily about a lack of faith.
There are many more myths and misunderstandings about prayer that I have heard over the years, but these seem to be most prevalent everywhere I go. By exposing some of this wrong thinking my hope is that we will be more motivated to chase after what prayer is really about. May God truly teach us to pray.
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