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NASB | Jeremiah 29:12 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Jeremiah 29:12 'Then you will call on Me and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear [your voice] and I will listen to you. |
Bible Question: Does prayer really help? What kind of prayers does God answer? How can one develop an attitude of prayer? It seems that the prayer I have been hearing are no more than begging God for things? Is that the object of prayer? |
Bible Answer: It is sometimes so difficult to know what a person has in mind when a question is asked. And yet, these are good questions. They seem to have come from a sincere and caring saint. “Does prayer really help?“ suggests that the questioner realizes that some types of prayer do not help. In other words, it may not really make a difference whether one prays or not, if one prays that way. A common situation is where one prays for a sick person to get better. Sometimes he does. Sometimes he does not. One then wonders if it makes any difference whether one prays or not. And yet, it is God who asks us to pray and he promises that he will answer (Matthew 7, etc.). Moreover, he says that the reason we do not have some things is because we do not pray for them (James 4). Clearly then, God is saying that prayer does help, that it makes a big difference. In the words of the apostle James: it “avails much” (James 5). Yet we fail to get what we ask for when we ask amiss (James 4). “What kind of prayers does God answer?” suggests that God answers one type of prayer and not others. We know that we need to ask for things that are within God’s will (1 John 5). It seems logical that God will give us want he wants to give us. It is important then, that we know what God’s will is (Ephesians 5). The prayer that God answers, then, is one that matches his will. God answers the prayer of Elijah (1 Kings 18) because he was doing as God had directed him (v.38). Paul stopped praying for a thorn to be removed (2 Corinthians 12) and prayed for grace instead (every epistle he wrote) because God revealed that it was his will to give grace. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us, and we get what we ask for (1 John 5). “How can one develop an attitude of prayer?” seems to be a completely different question, posed in in anticipation of satisfactory answers to the previous questions. If prayer is worthwhile, then we may want to develop an attitude of prayer. I am assuming that “an attitude of prayer” is a readiness to pray at all times. Jesus said men ought always to pray (Luke 18) and Paul says that we should be “praying always” (Ephesians 6), and praying “without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5). “It seems that the prayer I have been hearing are no more than begging God for things?” suggests an awareness that prayer should be more than that. One can agree that prayer is more than that. Prayer might well include worship, thanksgiving, confession, intercession, etc. (See Matthew 6, Ephesians 3, James 5, etc.). Even in thanksgiving and supplication, one might suggest we should be thanking God for spiritual things (as in Colossians 1) and asking for spiritual things (as in Ephesians 3). “Is that the object of prayer?” (to beg for things) suggests the questioner knows it is not. One might suggest that the purpose of prayer is to know God’s will, and to do God’s will. Men of God have prayed that God would open their eyes to behold his will in his word (Psalm 119) and Jesus taught (Luke 11) and exemplified a prayer that God’s will be done (Luke 22). One may say that prayer is the expression of a desire to play an active part in God’s program. Prayer, whether constant or sporadic, whether the right kind or not, is a habit. We do what we have learned to do. But the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. And we might well pray to the Lord for that. But we have to be willing to change, to learn, and habits are often hard to break. The questions seem to have come from one who knows the nature and worth of prayer and is somewhat frustrated with the way it is practiced in the church today. It may be difficult to change what the church does, but we can change what we do in our private communication with God. We are happy to note that God listens to the individual and to the two who agree (on what his word reveals about his will). One person can pray, even silently, and the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. |