THE STATE OF THE CHURCH - Part 13: Prayer

The early church was a praying church. If you need evidence, consider the following:

Acts 1:14 - They were "continually united in prayer" after the ascension of Jesus.

Acts 1:24 - Before selecting Matthias to replace Judas, "they prayed."

Acts 3:1 - Peter and John were at the Temple for prayer when they healed a lame man.

Acts 6:5 - Deacons were chosen so that the Twelve could "devote themselves to prayer and to preaching."

Acts 6:7 - When the deacons were selected, the Twelve "prayed and laid hands" on them.

Acts 8:15 - When the Samaritans began to believe, the church "prayed for them."

Acts 9:40 - Peter prayed before raising Tabitha from the dead.

Acts 10:9 - Peter was praying on his housetop when he received the vision about the acceptance of Gentiles.

Acts 12:5,12 - The church prayed for Peter while he was in prison.

Acts 13:3 - The Antioch church prayed for Barnabas and Paul before their first missionary journey.

Acts 14:23 - Paul and Barnabas prayed for churches they planted in Asia Minor. 

Acts 16:13 - Paul, Timothy, Luke, and Silas were at a place of prayer when they met Lydia and baptized her.

Acts 16:16 - The same men were on their way to prayer when they met and healed a demonized slave girl.

Acts 16:25 - Paul and Silas prayed and sang while imprisoned in Philippi.

Acts 20:36 - Paul prayed with the Ephesian Christians before leaving them the last time.

Acts 21:6 - Paul prayed on the beach before sailing to Rome.

Many churches today are no longer praying churches. They regularly sing songs, hear sermons, take communion, and study the Bible but do not often pray to God. Although they have never heard of Thomas Jefferson's religious views, these churches have become very Jeffersonian in their approach to prayer.

In regard to his religious views, Thomas Jefferson was a deist. He, like Voltaire and all other deists, believed that God was active in creation but since has been passive. He believed that “in the beginning” God wound up the universe as one would wind a clock; thereafter, He let it run its course. After the first chapter of Genesis, He never again interfered with the universe, removing Himself from the everyday lives of men and women. To Jefferson, God was unapproachable. He gave humanity “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” then He left us alone. 

Jefferson could not fathom such a long-distance God intervening and doing the miraculous. Any thought of the Divine breaking into the natural world was considered absurd. Nothing supernatural had occurred since creation, so he advised everyone to quit looking for miracles altogether. This, of course, placed him at odds with much of the Biblical story. So Thomas Jefferson, in an attempt to mesh the scriptures with his own personal theology, took it upon himself to amend the Bible. He eliminated every gospel reference to the miraculous and compiled the remaining verses into what became known as the Jeffersonian Bible. Even the resurrection of Jesus, the focal point of Christianity, was eliminated and dismissed as untrue. To say the least, this abridged version of the gospels stirred quite a controversy!

Now I can relate in part to what Jefferson was trying to do. I understand what attracted him and other intelligent men to deism. This philosophical view was (and is) nothing other than an attempt to mesh the existence of God with all the suffering in the world. Deists, past and present, refuse to explain suffering by limiting God’s power or knowledge or even His love, choosing instead to worship a God whose availability is limited—a God, alas, who is not available at all. God has distanced Himself from us. He formed us then forgot us. We, according to the deists, are presently the victims of divine neglect, examples of the old adage, “Out of sight, out of mind.” This means, as a corollary, that deists worship a God who will not answer prayer.

Sadly, many church congregations, if they are honest, would here concede to the deist. How often their prayers seem to fall on deaf ears! How few, if any, of their petitions are granted! If asked to give personal testimonies on answered prayer, how awkward  they would feel, stuttering and groping for an example! Granted that stories of miraculous prayer do exist (entire books have been written about them), they always seem to happen somewhere else. Thus many churches find themselves in regard to prayer much like those deists. They have abandoned all faith in its utility. While they refuse to assert that God has totally removed Himself from the world, they get the impression that at least He has withdrawn from their prayer bench. To use a well-worn phrase, their prayers seem to go no farther than the ceiling. And since nothing is seemingly accomplished time after time when they pray, the inevitable happens: they quit praying altogether. They become like that apathetic mouse in the psychology experiment who, having tasted the unpalatable pellet so often, will not even venture to see if the next one could be real. In this state of learned helplessness they live—believing in God but seldom, if ever, praying to Him. 

Before I speak directly to these congregations, let me address deism in general. I must admit that deism is one logical way to think of God and, in particular, one way to make sense of suffering in the world. But it is, at best, pessimistic. At worst, it is downright depressing. It is also has a shaky and tenuous foundation, for if just one example of miracle could be documented in history, deism would be declared once and for all false. If only one occasion could be found where God intervened in the world, Jefferson and his colleagues would have to change their tune. They would have to reinsert the gospel verses he omitted, because a single divine intervention opens wide the door to the possibility of others.  

Fittingly, the pin that bursts the bubble of deism is the very miracle upon which Christianity is founded: the resurrection of Jesus. I believe the weight of the evidence points toward its veracity. At least on this one occasion, it appears, the miraculous occurred. Although some people may disagree with me, they must  admit this: if the resurrection did happen, deism crumbles at its foundation.  

Before going on, an inherent inconsistency about deism should also be exposed. Deists ask us to deny the possibility of the miraculous in the present, but even they acknowledge the miracle of creation “in the beginning.” If God was a miracle-worker back then, how can deists exclude any possibility of miracle now? To me, they are being just as presumptuous as those overly religious folk who see a miracle at every turn.

And, now, to the subject of prayer. I do not claim expertise in the art and manner of prayer. All I can and will offer is what seems to make sense from personal study and experience. In keeping with a popular trend, I will present my thoughts on prayer in the form of a Top Ten List: 

TOP TEN TRUTHS ABOUT PRAYER

• The primary purpose of prayer is communion, not petition.  It is, as George MacDonald puts it, a “coming-to-one” with God. This sense of fellowship with God is truly prayer’s “sole end.”

• God is aware of every prayer. Nothing that happens, including my prayers, goes unnoticed by Him.

• Honesty is the best policy. God knows my thoughts before I say a word. He is big enough to handle anything I throw His way. (If I need proof, I can read the books of Job and Lamentations.)

• Some prayers of petition are answered. The possibility exists that God, infinitely powerful, will intervene and grant my requests.

• Many prayers of petition are not answered. Don’t ask me why, but God does not always intervene, even when I pray for deliverance from illness or injustice. In these times I must yield to His sovereignty, trust in His power, wait for His justice, and cling to His love.

• More prayers are answered than it seems. I believe that God hears and answers more of my prayers than I imagine and that someday I will fully understand this and give thanks.

• Most miracles are not the result of prayer. Every time I suture a laceration, I am reminded of this. All I do with the nylon thread is approximate the edges of the wound. A few days later I remove the thread. In between, healing occurs, and to me it still is a mystery and miracle. So many things, trivial to me and taken for granted, are just as miraculous. What I need here is not prayer but perception.

• The motive is more important than the method. Forget about time of day, posture and position, sentence structure, etc. If I come to God with a heart desirous of communion, I'll be better off than the person has attended all the seminars but has not attended to his heart.

• Private is more important than public. I should pray in private more than I pray in public. I believe that no one should ever know how much I pray in private. The more I pray in private, the more important it is that no one knows.

• Hard prayers should be prayed more than easy prayers. It’s easy for me to ask God for something or thank Him for something. It’s quite a bit harder for me to pray for my enemies, default to His will, grant and seek forgiveness, or surrender my life in service. If it is true that “prayer changes lives,” then I am convinced that this hard road is the path that must be taken. The hardest way back is often the surest way home.

I hope that these ten truths prove somewhat helpful as churches face the uncertainties of prayer. This much is certain: they will be of help only to those congregations who choose to pray. 


NEXT WEEK
Part 14: Charity/Giving/Benevolence