A recent discussion with my fellow Sunday School editors at Concordia Publishing House has caused me to think a bit about prayer. It seems to me that either our practical theology about prayer is underdeveloped or our teaching on the subject has been flawed.
Specifically, I think my background in this area has been neglected. Therefore, I have pondered and you get the results, for better or worse.
Here are some things I think we can say about prayer.
Specifically, I think my background in this area has been neglected. Therefore, I have pondered and you get the results, for better or worse.
Here are some things I think we can say about prayer.
- God invites, indeed commands, prayer. (Psalm 50:15 and other passages)
- Prayer does not change God; He is always loving, always caring for His creation, including all humankind. Our prayer does not draw His attention or cause Him to act against His nature. (I'm not sure prayer even causes God to change His mind or do what He wouldn't do anyway, but I really need to look more closely at that; it sounds a bit heretical.)
- Prayer does reflect changes God works in us through His Word. When we pray for God's action ("Thy kingdom come"), we are acknowledging that we have become convinced through God's Word that He is able and willing to act on our behalf, as Luther says in his explanation: "The good and gracious will of God is done even without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may be done among us also." When we ask for our daily bread, we are acknowledging that, through God's Word, we see that God is the source of our daily bread.
I'm not saying that prayer is not worthwhile; quite the contrary. But I am saying that we should not teach prayer as some kind of additional "means of grace"; we do not receive God's favor because of our prayers.
And I suggest that we should not mislead our students into thinking that, by their prayers, they manipulate God.
God does not need our prayers, but we certainly do.
What do you think?
What do you teach about prayer?
What am I missing as I think this one through?
What resources can we study to get a better grasp on this God-given practice?
I pray that God will bless you as you teach His children His Word! (That is, make you aware of all He is doing to equip and strengthen you for that task?)
Re: Prayer changes God's mind. Usually the response to that is something like Abraham interceding (though in person rather than in prayer) for Lot or Hezekiah's prayer for healing in Isaiah 38 (though again you could argue that God always intended to give H 15 more years--being timeless is a little hard to comprehend) or Moses interceding for the Israelites (Deuteronomy 9). All of them need a little study to be sure, but they're the examples I think of where God changes his mind because of what his people ask.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it's not a sure thing cf. David praying for his first child with Bathsheba.
Anyway, that's where you should start. :-)