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<\/a><\/p>\n*Note: If you choose to comment, make sure your comment is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, addressed to me, civil and respectful (not hostile or argumentative), and devoid of pictures or links.*<\/p>\n
This is the third blog post in a series about prayer. I have already established that prayer is \u201cconversation with God\u201d that can, of course, take many forms but is never entirely \u201cwordless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the years of my life among evangelical Christians and non-evangelical Christians (and people who thought they were Christians but weren\u2019t!) I have often heard this cliche: \u201cPrayer doesn\u2019t change things; it changes me.\u201d Another version is \u201cPrayer doesn\u2019t change God; it changes me.\u201d I would guess I\u2019ve heard it a hundred times or more\u2014from all kinds of people.<\/p>\n
The truth is that prayer does both! Prayer can change me, but that is not its only purpose or effect. Especially petitionary, intercessory prayer, can change what is going to happen to something else AND it can change God because God allows it to change his mind and plan of action. That is, if you believe the Bible. The Bible is full of examples of prayer changing events and God\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n
I can only think of a few examples in the Bible of prayer changing the person praying, although I have no doubt it can do that.<\/p>\n
So why do so many people think and say \u201cPrayer doesn\u2019t change thing [or God]; it changes me\u201d?<\/p>\n
Well, this seems to me a version of an advertising slogan fad. A billboard says about a bank \u201cWe don\u2019t do business; we help people.\u201d Uh huh. When I see this type of advertising I always think to myself\u2014maybe you do both! But I know you do business.<\/p>\n
But I think the reason for the cliche about prayer goes deeper. Friedrich Schleiermacher, the \u201cfather of modern, liberal theology,\u201d argued in his massive systematic theology \u201cThe Christian Faith\u201d that petitionary prayer is immature, that prayer\u2019s purpose is to align our wills with God\u2019s will. And, of course, our prayers should praise and glorify God. Schleiermacher did not believe that anything outside of God could have any affect on God. He thought it was silly, immature, even ignorant to ask God to do something because God is always already doing the right and best thing.<\/p>\n
This idea of prayer, even if not surrounded by all of Schleiermacher\u2019s high theological explanations, has trickled down to many religious people, including some evangelical Christians who should know better! JESUS PRAYED PETITIONARY PRAYERS! And yet even Schleiermacher believed that Jesus was the perfectly, fully God-conscious man!<\/p>\n
The next time you hear someone say \u201cPrayer doesn\u2019t change thing [or God]; it changes me,\u201d correct them with \u201cIt does both.\u201d You will find that either the person who uttered the cliche is just ignorant of the Bible or does not believe the Bible (like Schleiermacher).<\/p>\n
So there\u2019s another reason why some people utter (or write) this cliche. They don\u2019t want to have to think about or explain why petitionary prayers are not always answered in the way they are prayed. The Bible gives us several reasons. I won\u2019t go into them all here, but just point to Jesus\u2019s prayer to the Father in the garden \u201cIf it be possible, let this cup pass from me.\u201d Also, the New Testament tells us that in one part of Palestine Jesus could do no miracles because of the people\u2019s lack of faith! We have to be careful with that one, though. Most often, the answer to unanswered prayer is \u201cwe don\u2019t know why God didn\u2019t answer the prayer as you hoped and expected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, the basic problem that I am addressing in this series on prayer is that some Christians simply don\u2019t connect how they pray with the Bible. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray he didn\u2019t say \u201cOkay, close your eyes and empty your mind of all words and thoughts.\u201d He gave them words to say. When Jesus prayed, he asked the Father for specific gifts of different kinds, he didn\u2019t just intend to align his will with the Father\u2019s although, of course, he intended that all of the time, not only when he prayed. But he prayed petitionary prayers that clearly intended to persuade the Father to do something. When Jesus asked the Father to forgive his persecutors and tormentors, was he just attempted to change himself, to align his will with the Father\u2019s? Would the Father have forgiven them anyway, even if Jesus had not asked him to? I doubt it.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What Does Prayer Do? *Note: If you choose to comment, make sure your comment is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, addressed to me, civil and respectful (not hostile or argumentative), and devoid of pictures or links.* This is the third blog post in a series about prayer. I have already established […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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