Prayer
3 John
1:2 NASB “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper
and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.”
This is a famous verses which is frequently taken out of context by a crowd
of usually televangelists and many people who do not know anything about the
Word of God and is the crucial text for what is known as the prosperity gospel
or the health and wealth gospel. This primarily has its roots in Charismatic churches.
John the apostle is praying
specifically for “you,” a second person singular pronoun referring to Gaius. John
here is relating his intercessory prayer on behalf of his friend. He using the
first person singular present active indicative of the verb euchomai [e)uxomai]. Normally the word that we find for prayer is proseuchomai [proseuxomai] but the prefix is dropped off here and all we have
is euchomai which is the basic
word for prayer, to express a wish or a desire. In this context it is talking
about prayer. The present tense here is a habitual present tense indicating
that this is John’s standard operating procedure, i.e. to pray for those around
him. The principle here is that believers should be in regular prayer for their
friends and family.
The doctrine of prayer
Prayer
is a communication link between the individual believer priest and God our
heavenly Father. Prayer is that grace provision of the royal priesthood whereby
the church age believer has access and privilege to communicate directly with
God. The purpose of this communication is first of all to acknowledge our sin
so that we can have cleansing for sin after we are saved. The second purpose of
prayer is to express adoration and praise to God. This is a reflection of our
own gratitude, our understanding of all that we have that He has provided. We
express adoration and praise to God for who He is and what He has done. We give
thanks, we express our gratitude to Him, and we also intercede for others and
convey our personal needs, petitions and conduct intimate conversations with
God. Sometimes that surprises people. We can talk with God about anything.
Jesus
Christ described effective prayer as the mature believer’s privilege to engage
divine power in both personal and historical circumstances. In other words, prayer
can be used not only to change things in our own life but it can change things
in historical circumstances. There are some people who think that prayer will
change anything. That is not true. But it is clear from Scripture (James 4)
that we have not because we ask not. That means that there are certain things
that God has contingently provided for the believer and for certain nations,
and if we don’t ask for it we won’t get it. There is a certain element of
flexibility in the plan of God that is dependent upon whether or not the
believer asks for certain things. There are many things that people miss out on
in life because they fail to go to the Lord in prayer.
We
have to realise that prayer can be private or public. Public prayers can be
divided into different categories. For example, there are prayer meetings.
These are important and it is laid out in the Scriptures that the body of
believers gathering together for corporate prayer was viewed as a significant
form of corporate worship from the early days of the church. It is related to
an understanding of the function of the body of Christ; that we are not just
individuals out there like a bunch of atoms completely separated from one
another, bouncing down the highway of life. We are not just individuals; we are
in the body of Christ. So the prayer meeting is an important function of the
local church. Then there are also prayers for specific functions. These should
be short and to the point.
We
should not confuse prayer with many of the mystical ideas that go around today.
We live in an age of mysticism when people define worship and prayer and
spirituality in terms of personal feelings and subjectivity, how something
makes us feel, and of we pray a certain prayer or hear somebody pray a certain
prayer—Oh wasn’t that spiritual! Prayer does not hinge on subjective
experiences or meditation. In Matthew 6:7 Jesus says something that directly
applies to much that goes on in the Charismatic movement. In the Charismatic
camp there is the idea that there is a special prayer life; when you are
speaking in tongues that is really a prayer life. “And when you are praying, do
not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they
will be heard for their many words.” The word “repetitions” is the Greek battologeo [battologew] which means to utter senseless sounds or speak
indistinctly or incoherently, to babble. logeo
= words; batta = speaking in a batta manner, e.g. battabattabatta, which is what it
sounded like, like somebody uttering gibberish. So Jesus is saying that when we
are praying do not use gibberish as the Gentiles do. The
Gentiles used ecstatic utterance. Jesus said, John 15:7 NASB “If you
abide in Me [have fellowship with Him],, and My words
abide in you [have doctrinal content] ask whatever you wish, and it will be
done for you.” These are the two keys to effective prayer. First of all we must
be in fellowship with God, and secondly, our prayers must be doctrinally
correct. We must follow the procedures of Scripture in our prayers.
Some extremes to avoid. The first extreme to avoid is neglect of prayer. This
is usually a result of an over-emphasis on the sovereignty of God. We pray for
things, that is the resting aspect (that we trust God) but we also have to
function in the arena of specifically delegated responsibility. We also have to
avoid emotionalism and subjectivism in prayer. This is the idea that because I
felt better about it this time it was a more effective prayer.
We
don’t pray to be spiritual. Prayer is not a means of spirituality. The only two
means of spirituality in the Bible are the filling of the Holy Spirit and the
Word of God. We learn the Word of God under the filling ministry of the Holy
Spirit and when that is functioning, when we are filled with the Spirit then we
are spiritual. When we are not filled with the Spirit we are carnal.
Prayer is a privilege of our priesthood and functions when we are spiritual,
i.e. when we are in right relationship to the Holy Spirit. The more we grow
spiritually the more we will understand the importance of prayer and it will
impact our spiritual life. Prayer life is no stronger than our spiritual life.
Prayer
demands concentration and thought. Emotion is counter to concentration and thought.
The prayers in the Bible are prayers that are well crafted and constructed,
they are not emotional. Prayer should be the highest priority in life, next to
learning doctrine and growing as a believer. As believers our prayers fail
because we fail in our spiritual life. We don’t understand the will and the
plan of God so we ask for the wrong reasons and the wrong motives.
We
are commanded to pray. Prayer is not an option for the believer but is a
crucial part of the function of our royal priesthood. Therefore the question we
should be asking is not, should I pray or does prayer really work, but how do I
pray correctly. 1 Thessalonians
Six reasons people don’t pray
How do we pray? What are the elements of
prayer?