We are talking about the necessity of prayer. Yesterday, we explored the possibility that the necessity of prayer ultimately arises from God’s triune being, in whose image we are made, more so than our creaturely need! Because we are made in the image of a triune God, we are social beings. This drives us to seek communion with other human beings. But it also drives us to seek fellowship with our Maker, whose image we bear. After all, it is for our fellowship with Him that He made us moral and spiritual agents. Indeed, our need for communion with Him is more fundamental to our being and meaning of life than all other needs; it is our greatest need. Of course, as fallen sinners, we deny this greatest need. Instead of running toward God for communion, we run away. How foolish this is! As God complained, “...my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13).
Read MoreWe are talking about the necessity of prayer. Prayer is necessary because we are needy creatures. But the greatest need we have is God. This is so because we are made in the image of God. One important aspect of being made in the image of God is that we are made to have a relationship with our Maker. Today, I’d like to talk about another aspect of being made in the image of God in this regard.
Read MoreYesterday, we started to talk about the necessity of prayer. We said that prayer is necessary because we are needy creatures with many limitations. We also said that we should approach prayer, not as a business transaction to get what we want from God but as a relational interaction with our heavenly Father. Today, let’s talk about what that implies. Simply put, seeing our prayer as a relational interaction implies that our greatest need is God Himself, not what God can give us. Think about why people go on dates. Isn’t it to get to know the other person to see whether there is a possibility for a long-term relationship that can lead to marriage? At least, that should be the reason. What if someone goes on a date simply to get a free meal or a free movie or a free trip or a gift but has no interest in getting to know the other person? There are benefits to having a (social, marital) relationship with someone but those benefits should not be the reason for the relationship. The same should be true especially in our relationship with God.
Read MoreWhy do we need to pray? Simply put, it is because we are needy creatures with limitations, who are desperately dependent on God (and are fortunate enough to have God to depend on). I hope we are all aware of our limitations. As we live in the city of man with all of its technology and convenience, we often feel quite self-sufficient. But if we are honest, there are many moments we feel quite helpless despite our good intentions and busy works. Think of the times when your loved one is deathly sick and is going through a delicate surgery and all you can do is just wait outside, wondering what the result will be. Think of the times when you are applying to a school or a job and all the waiting you have to do until they notify you of their decision. Think of the times when you are trying to sleep but you can’t because of all these racing thoughts in your mind that you can’t control. Think of your loved ones that you can’t control, even your spouse or your children, who refuse to listen to your good and wise counsel! When it comes to the really important matters of our lives, the veneer of self-sufficiency proves to be quite thin and fragile.
Read MoreWe have been talking about experiencing “the sweet hour of prayer.” To do that, we need to give ourselves enough time and effort (at least initially) to work through all the distractions and racing thoughts that flood our minds when we sit down to pray. We also distinguished “the sweet hour of prayer” from the practice of mindfulness: it is something that results from our communion with God, not simply from being in tune with our feelings and sensations, etc. But what is this communion with God? Today, I want to talk about the most basic idea about our communion with God, which is the essence of “the sweet hour of prayer.” How can there be communion with God unless there is unity between God and us? But this unity is not achieved by negotiations and compromises. That may be true in our communion with our fellow humans. But here, we are dealing with God. Because God is God—infinite in wisdom, sovereign in authority, perfect in all His ways—we cannot have true communion with God unless we submit to Him and His will fully, willingly, and gladly. There cannot be true communion with God unless He is the Sun and we are the planets.
Read MoreFollowing is an extended quote from C.S. Lewis on what we have been talking about—the distinction between a monology and an actual prayer to God. I think you will find it helpful. As you read it, keep in mind that this is a devil speaking: “Whenever they are attending to the Enemy Himself we are defeated, but there are ways of preventing them from doing so. The simplest is to turn their gaze away from Him towards themselves. Keep them watching their own minds and trying to produce feelings there by the action of their own wills. When they meant to ask Him for charity, let them, instead, start trying to manufacture charitable feelings for themselves and not notice that this is what they are doing. When they meant to pray for courage, let them really be trying to feel brave. When they say they are praying for forgiveness, let them be trying to feel forgiven. Teach them to estimate the value of each prayer by their success in producing the desired feeling; and never let them suspect how much success or failure of that kind depends on whether they are well or ill, fresh or tired, at the moment” (Screwtape Letters, Letter IV).
Read MoreWe are talking about how difficult it is to be diligent in prayer without experiencing “the sweet hour of prayer.” To experience it, we must set aside enough time to work through all the distractions and racing thoughts. We also need to trust that we can pass through them and rise above them. But there is more to consider. That state of spiritual tranquility and clarity cannot be attained simply by persisting in prayer long enough. As we said yesterday, it has to be a result of communing with God. Unless we consciously and intentionally focus on God as the Audience of our prayer, we can engage in a monologue and a sort of self-talk therapy. How can we know that we actually had communion with God instead of engaging in a monologue?
Read MoreYesterday, I put forth a difficult challenge for you to pray longer—not for the sake of simply praying longer, repeating yourself over and over again, which is what Jesus told us not to do, but for the sake of “ascending” through the overcast clouds of distraction to reach the clear, blue sky of tranquility and clarity of spirit for a fully engaged communion with God. When you get there, you don’t want to stop praying because there is such a profound sense of peace and joy coming from the presence of God. Have you experienced it in your prayer life—a time of prayer so sweet that you don’t want it to ever stop and you are sad because you have to stop to do other things that God has called you to do? To go through one’s entire Christian life without ever experiencing a moment like that is tragic, especially because Jesus made it available for all of His people through His suffering, death, and resurrection!
Read MoreWe are talking about why prayer is so difficult for many of us. The first problem we addressed was fear of disappointment—in God and/or in our faith. The second was not feeling the need to pray as we live in the city of man. I’d like to address another problem today. It may sound paradoxical but the reason we have difficulty praying is that we don’t pray long enough. I know what you may be thinking. How can we pray long when praying is so difficult? That’s why I said it was paradoxical. But this is what I mean: one reason that you have difficulty with prayer is that you have not experienced its sweetness, or it’s been a long time since you experienced it last. Our natural tendency is to avoid things that are not pleasant. We know that, even when we know something is good, we may be too lazy to get back to it. Think about working out. You know how good it feels to work out, especially after you are done. But it’s so hard to get off the couch and hit the gym again. Imagine how much worse it is to get back to something as difficult as prayer if you haven’t experienced how good it is!
Read MoreYesterday, we talked about how prayer does not guarantee security and protection from trouble. This is not to say that God disregards all our prayers for protection. God uses our prayers to shield us from many troubles—but not from all. We talked about why: because He uses suffering and pain for our good. So, our goal in prayer should not be simply to get what we desire or to be protected from all troubles. Then, what is our prayer for? We said that prayer is our declaration of our reliance on God, not in the city of man. But we must now see that we do not look to God in prayer because God is more reliable than the city of man to give us what we want to obtain in the city of man and help us keep it. What do we do in prayer? We speak to God. In speaking to God, we look up to God. Could it be that the ultimate purpose of prayer is not to ask God to shower His blessings down on us but to carry our hearts up to God in heaven? Jesus resisted Satan’s temptation to turn stones into bread by saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). This was the very lesson God wanted to teach the Israelites in the wilderness (Deut. 8:3). These words show that man is made up of both body (which requires bread for its sustenance and vitality) and spirit (which requires God’s Word for its sustenance and vitality).
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