Confessions of a Broken Sparrow: April 2019

Prayer has never been easy. Actually, it gets quite complicated for me.

It’s one thing to understand that God knows everything. It’s another thing to be intentionally interactive with an infinitely superior, all-powerful, all-knowing, holy God, and communicate those same flawed thoughts, motives, and desires. On top of that, vulnerability is often overwhelming as it is, but vulnerability with Someone who sees everything inside and out is terrifying.

Then there’s the whole idea of God as my heavenly Father, which has been challenging because my experience with an earthly father has been imperfect and difficult at times. I struggle to trust people, especially men. I struggle to communicate with people I can’t see, and not just telephone conversations. I habitually pull into myself when life becomes unstable, which is often. The warfare within my soul is all-too-familiar, and I’m crushingly aware of the tangled mess of ongoing selfishness, ungratefulness, pride, and forgetfulness.

I’m very aware of my own frailty and brokenness, and eternally thankful for everything Jesus has done for me. I believe that God is who He has revealed Himself in the Bible to be, and not according to my own experience. I know He is sanctifying me day by day through the power of His Spirit. Often I know His peace and love in the midst of especially stressful situations, and my heart longs to respond in a deeply meaningful way. But where do I start?

It would be foolish to approach God ignorantly as I would a stranger on the sidewalk, but it doesn’t seem right to catch up with the Holy of holies as I would my best friend either. Should I fill out a prayer journal so my prayers don’t seem so haphazard? Is it okay to pray for temporal things, or simply trust His will and offer prayers of thanksgiving later? Will God still listen to my prayers when they come out wrong?

Many times I find myself slipping into the routine of prayer at meal-times, before homeschooling the kids, as a necessary heart-check before the Lord’s Table at church, and a last thought before going to sleep.

Quite simply, I don’t know how to pray as I ought. But there’s hope.

Recently, a pastor friend started preaching about this very topic. It has been so exciting to hear his wisdom over the past couple weeks and he’s been answering a million questions that I’ve had for years. Prayer is a huge topic as I’m finding out, but it is also deep and rich. Since the sermon series has taken several weeks (and provided much reflection on my part), I plan to cover the whole topic of prayer in several posts. I hope you enjoy meditating on it as much as I have.

There are three crucial questions that must be answered before we attempt to pray:

1. What is prayer?

John Bunyan (1628-1688), author of Pilgrim’s Progress, defines true prayer this way:

Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God hath promised, or according to the Word, for the good of the church, with submission, in faith, to the will of God.

In a few words, prayer is an expression of our heart to God. Revelation 5:8 poetically describes the prayers of God’s people as incense offered in faith to God. In Philippians 1:4, the apostle Paul views prayer as one of our primary outlets for praise and adoration in acknowledging who God is and what He has done for us. Jesus emphasized the centrality of prayer in our worship to God throughout His earthly ministry, not only by rebuking hypocrisy but also teaching by example.

Prayer is the cry of God’s children to His listening ear through the priestly intercession of Jesus Christ and the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is the privilege of all God’s people. We can draw near with confidence because God has caused us to be born again. He has placed us in a relationship with Him and provided everything necessary for our salvation. God has promised to work all things together for our good.

We don’t have to go through meaningless rituals to ease our conscience – Jesus has already paid the price for our redemption (Heb. 10:11-14). We don’t have to clean up our lives before we pray – God calls us to life-long repentance and faith (Luke 23:39-43). We don’t have to pray in lofty words for lengthy periods of time – God cares about our hearts (Luke 18:9-14). We don’t have to pray primly – God wants to hear our pain and suffering (Psalm 55:1-7).

Prayer is so much bigger than meal-time thanksgiving or crisis reaction. It is deeper than Christian duty and worship expectation. Prayer is the beautiful communion of a redeemed sinner with their Savior, of a beloved child with their heavenly Father, of an aching heart with the great Physician, of a beloved bride with her beloved Groom. It is the communication aspect of a relationship with the triune God.

2. Why should I pray?

When the question was first asked, there was a lengthy silence. It is assumed that everyone prays, but why should we pray? After a few moments, a few answers popped up: “because God commands us to”, “because it glorifies God”, “because God wants to hear His children talk to Him” among other responses. But the answer goes so much deeper than these: We are designed to talk to God.

The answer goes back before wherever I am in life now. It goes back before Jesus historically came to redeem sinners to God. It goes back, back, back before the nation Israel ever existed, before the promises given to Abraham, before the great Flood of Noah. The answer is found in original creation where Adam and Eve were designed to walk and talk with their Creator face to face.

There was perfect joy in their interaction, perfect communion. But because of sin, that relationship was fractured for them, and for every person afterwards. Mankind has retained its image-bearing status and each one of us is still designed to walk and talk with our Creator. But an immediate consequence of sin is that we no longer have free access to God.

At times throughout Bible history, God spoke to men and women in various ways. In these last days, He speaks to us through Jesus Christ and the word of God (Heb. 1:1-2). He creates restoration between sinful people and Himself through salvation: being made alive through regeneration and faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But things aren’t fully restored. Not yet.

Adam and Eve had face-to-face conversation with their Creator. But we do not. Even though our souls are given access to our heavenly Father, we are still bound to a sinful body. We are in a transition period along with the rest of creation which groans in the midst of the “already/not yet”. We have real communion with God through faith, but it is not yet as it should be. The greater reality of seeing Christ as He is and talking face-to-face with God is something we anticipate in the new heavens and new earth when Jesus returns permanently and makes all things new.

1 John 3:2, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

But this is where prayer comes in. Prayer is freedom of access in which we as God’s people are able to communicate with God in a special way we could not before salvation. We are given a glorious taste of true intimacy with God. He is listening and truly understands and powerfully loves us. Though we cannot audibly hear His voice, He stirs our hearts with His Spirit through His word. Through prayer and the word of God, He draws us close.

3. Who do I pray to?

Many people from many religions all over the world pray. But are they actually communicating with whoever they are praying to? There are words, but are they heard? There are acts of devotion, but are they acknowledged? Is God the only One out there, or are there other deities?

Over and over throughout the Bible, there is great emphasis on God as the only God. Even when confronted with the multitude of religions practiced around the world, we are faced with the fact that the God of the Bible is unique and unlike anyone we’ve ever known. Every other religion is centered upon man’s ability to save himself, or superhuman efforts to control the mind in order to attain higher levels of spirituality, or reincarnate according to good or bad performance in this life. Every other religion is centered upon good works or conformity to an man-made standard.

Christianity stands apart like a flame in the midst of frauds, pointing out man’s complete depravity and utter need for Someone outside himself for salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone by the word of God alone to the glory of God alone. Other religious people “pray”, but unless their prayers are directed to the God of the Bible through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, their prayers are merely empty words.

But even in Christian circles, there is confusion. Do I pray to my “heavenly Father”, my “Father God”? Do I pray to Jesus, as many children are taught to do at their bedsides? Do I pray to the Holy Spirit who intercedes for me?

The answer is a resounding YES to all three!

God cannot be separated from Himself. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same God who planned every detail of history is the same God who entered history as the Son of Man and is the same God who is drawing sinners to Himself.

For God to hear our prayers at all, we must be saved. But through salvation, we are adopted by our heavenly Father (Gal. 4:6). Through adoption, we have a permanent big Brother, our Mediator, who eternally intercedes on our behalf (Eph. 5:20; Heb. 10:19-22). In this intercession, our feeble prayers are equipped by the powerful enabling of the Holy Spirit who adds the depth of emotion and wisdom we lack (Rom. 8:26-27).

According to the pattern of the Bible, we address our prayers to God the Father, through Jesus the Son, by the enabling of the Holy Spirit (John 14:6; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 6:18; 1 Tim. 2:5).

My access and confidence is completely based on the triune God. Not on my daddy-daughter issues getting figured out. Not on overcoming my struggles to trust people or communicate verbally. Not even on analyzing every aspect of my heart before I come to a three-times-holy God.

I am free to come as a beloved child to my beloved heavenly Father. His expectations are rooted in the redemptive work of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. He knew everything about me before I was born even as He knows everything now. I can come to Him in prayer because not only is this what I am designed to do but also re-created in Christ to do!

Charles Wesley (1707-1788) captures this confidence I have been given in his hymn, “Arise, My Soul, Arise”. Consider the words:

Arise, my soul, arise, shake off your guilty fears;

The bleeding Sacrifice in my behalf appears:

Before the throne my Surety stands, before the throne my Surety stands,

My name is written on His hands.

He ever lives above, for me to intercede,

His all-redeeming love, His precious blood to plead;

His blood atoned for every race, His blood atoned for every race,

And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Five bleeding wounds he bears, received on Calvary;

They pour effectual prayers, they strongly plead for me.

“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry, “Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,

“Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”

My God is reconciled; His pard’ning voice I hear;

He owns me for His child, I can no longer fear;

With confidence I now draw nigh, with confidence I now draw nigh,

And “Father, Abba, Father!” cry.

I am not only designed to pray, but also given confidence to pray. I have nothing to fear. I am given access to the triune God and do not need to be afraid because my prayers are not based on me.

But how do I pray? What do I say in my prayers?

It would be easy to jump into the simple format of the Lord’s Prayer as though prayer is merely limited to confidence and content. But it’s not that simple. As the parable of the tax collector and the self-righteous Pharisee shows, the heart behind our prayers is of first importance to God before He will ever consider to the content (Luke 18:9-14). I should be sincere, but it is dangerous to assume that God will accept my sacrifice based on sincerity as Cain also discovered (Gen. 4:4-5). In the next post, I plan to expound on the whole topic of motivation to our prayers.

FURTHER RESOURCES:

Bible Study –

Often called the Sinner’s Prayer, Luke 18:9-14 is the perfect place to start when it comes to approaching God through prayer. Our hearts must be cleansed; our spirit must be renewed. But no good works or acts of penance can remove our guilt and shame. It starts with acknowledging the soul’s utter need for a Savior and rebirth. Only then can we have any confidence that our prayers will be heard at all.

The song “Not In Me” poetically describes the cry of a truly repentant heart:

VERSE 1

No list of sins I have not done, no list of virtues I pursue,

No list of those I am not like, can earn myself a place with You.

O God! Be merciful to me— I am a sinner through and through!

My only hope of righteousness is not in me, but only You.

VERSE 2

No humble dress, no fervent prayer, no lifted hands, no tearful song,

No recitation of the truth can justify a single wrong.

My righteousness is Jesus' life, my debt was paid by Jesus' death,

My weary load was borne by Him and He alone can give me rest.

VERSE 3

No separation from the world, no work I do, no gift I give,

Can cleanse my conscience, cleanse my hands; I cannot cause my soul to live.

But Jesus died and rose again— the pow'r of death is overthrown!

My God is merciful to me and merciful in Christ alone.