What is prayer?

-


What is prayer? The Westminster Larger Catechism 178 asks that very question, stating in response, “Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit; with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.” Three defining truths regarding prayer emerge.

Prayer is the communication of our desires to God our Father. Prayer is not simply thinking about God or having concerns. Rather, prayer is expressing need from the heart to God. Those who do not sense their needs do not truly pray. They are like the Pharisee in the Lord’s parable who, standing in the temple stating how superior he was to others, “was praying this to himself,” not to God (Luke 18:11).

In contrast, the Scriptures picture true prayer as an offering rising up and seeking heaven’s attention, like incense offered before the Lord in the temple (Rev. 8:5). Prayer is casting anxieties on God (1 Peter 5:7), crying to God in trouble (Ps. 34:17), and making needs known to Him in every circumstance (Phil. 4:6–7). Prayer is desire offered to God.

Prayer is coming to the Father by faith in the merits of Christ. An American citizen cannot hold office in the United Kingdom or assume he deserves special privileges from the queen. Likewise, no sinner can stand on his own merits before the King of heaven. Yet by faith in Christ’s work, we become citizens of the kingdom of heaven through His righteousness. Thus, we gain “confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus” (Heb. 10:19). This righteous standing before God is what it means to pray “in the name of Christ,” as the catechism states. Consequently, every time we pray, we should remember our standing by confessing our sins and thanking God for how He mercifully receives us through Jesus.

Prayer is the Holy Spirit’s enabling us to talk to the Father. At the very moment of our conversion, the Holy Spirit who regenerated our hearts also sealed us as adopted children of God. He put into our hearts the cry of a little child to God: “Abba! Father!” (Rom. 8:15).

The Spirit then continues to help us in prayer by providing recorded prayers for us (Matt. 6:9–13), filling us with biblical praise (Eph. 5:18–19), and helping us whenever we ask the Father (Luke 11:13). When our suffering is simply too great for us to express with words, the Spirit even groans for us (Rom. 8:26). The Holy Spirit is the very breath of the church’s prayers.

Prayer, then, is having the Spirit’s breath helping us to communicate, the Son’s blood making a way, and the Father’s ear attuned to our every plea. Our triune God provides all we need to pray.


Dr. Barry J. York

Popular posts from this blog

Speaking in tongues for today - Charles Stanley

-
Image
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. … But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. … And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. … Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way - 1 Corinthians 12:4, 7, 28, 30—31 The Lord Jesus Christ had come and gone. The church—newly birthed—was in a transition time. The new covenant was seen as a threat to the Jewish leaders; therefore, there was persecution for those who had chosen to follow Christ. The new religion, in its infant stages, had no Bible, few leaders, and absolutely no support from the government. Astounding that it survived, isn’t it?  How in the world did it survive with so little going for it? Power. Not just a force, but mighty, visible power. Th...
Read more

What is the glory (kabod) of God?

-
Image
2 CORINTHIANS 4:17 "This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." Scripture places a high value on God 's glory, and it is not hard to figure out why. Since the inherent glory of the Lord is something that He will not share with others (Isa. 42:8), we know that His glory is something that He prizes highly; indeed, He prizes it more highly than anything else. We should, therefore, set the glory of God as the goal and overarching emphasis of our lives. Whatever we lose for the sake of making the Lord's glory known will be worth it when we see the dazzling light and beauty of; the divine glory (28:5; Rev. 21:23). Glory has to do with light and beauty, but those aspects do not sum up what the Bible means when it speaks of the glory of God. Interestingly, the Hebrew word kabod , which is translated into English as "glory," has the root meaning of "weight" or "heaviness....
Read more

The Holy Spirit causes us to cry out: Abba, Father

-
Image
Pentecostés. Óleo sobre lienzo, 275 × 127 cm. Madrid, Museo del Prado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) To bring out the same truth in another way, Paul says God sent Jesus (as a Man) to live under the Law in order “to redeem those under law, that we [Jews and Gentiles ] might receive the full rights [adoption] of sons” ( Galatians 4:5).  By “full rights” or “adoption” he means entering into the privileges and responsibilities of sonship. He uses it also of the sonship of Israel (Romans 9:4). Galatians 4:1, 2 indicate that the son and heir of a wealthy family in Paul’s day would be treated as a slave until he became of age.  Then he would receive the adoption, that is, all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that belonged to an adult member of that family. Adoption was also used in the modern sense, so that Gentiles who were not sons of Abraham became true heirs, true sons of God , by faith.  Jesus died, not just to save us from the fires of hell, bu...
Read more