{"id":18,"date":"2016-06-20T11:44:18","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T15:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/troublerofisrael\/?p=18"},"modified":"2016-06-20T11:56:47","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T15:56:47","slug":"prayer-is-not-a-placebo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/troublerofisrael\/2016\/06\/prayer-is-not-a-placebo\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayer Is Not a Placebo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It\u2019s become an all-too-common trope, especially in my own Reformed circles, to say that \u201cthe purpose of prayer is to change us, not God.\u201d<\/p>\n

I really dislike this statement. On one level, it\u2019s true, of course. We can change, and God does not. He is immutable. But on another level, it\u2019s unscriptural nonsense. Prayer is not some psychotropic therapy we perform to make ourselves feel better. It is not a placebo. It really serves a purpose. It is the conversation of children with their Father (Romans 8:15), a bride with her Groom (Ephesians 5:22-33), and priests with their God (1 Peter 2:9). The Bible is abundantly clear that prayer \u201cavails much\u201d (James 5:16), that God will give us what we ask for in His name (John 14:13-14), and that if we don\u2019t ask, we shouldn\u2019t expect to receive (James 4:2-3). Jesus compares God\u2019s role in prayer to that of a loving Father, delighted to give His children what they ask (Luke 11:11-13). Jesus, Who is God in human flesh, constantly lifted up thanks and petitions to His Father, even asking for something which He knew to be contrary to God\u2019s ordained will (Luke 22:42). And when asked to teach them how to pray, Jesus gave the disciples a prayer filled with petitions for God\u2019s kingdom to come on earth, for bodily provision, for forgiveness, and protection from temptation. (Matthew 6:5-15).<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"Ejsmond_The_Anchorite\"In the Old Testament, God is portrayed as responding to prayer and even changing His mind (Genesis 18:24-32, Exodus 32:14, 2 Samuel 24:16). While we know by comparing these passages with others (Numbers 23:19, James 1:17), that God does not truly change, but rather uses anthropomorphic language in His dealings with man, these don\u2019t mean that, in a conditional sense, prayer does not change things. It does. It was prayer that saved Nineveh (Jonah 3:10), prayer that caused Jesus to become incarnate in Mary\u2019s womb (Luke 1:38), prayer that freed Peter from prison (Acts 12:5-17), and prayer that expresses the faith which unites us to Christ, and changes our eternal fate (1 John 1:9, Luke 18:13, Romans 10:9, Acts 16:25-40). Indeed, when we pray, we\u2019re told that God the Spirit joins us and makes up for the deficiencies in our prayers with \u201cgroans that cannot be uttered.\u201d (Romans 8:26-27).<\/p>\n

So does prayer change us, or does it change God? That\u2019s the wrong question, and it betrays a stunted view of God\u2019s sovereignty. God, knowing all because He ordains all, does not change through prayer. Instead, He has appointed prayer as a means through which we can participate in His work. He has decreed that certain things will happen. And the prayers of His people are the means through which He has decreed they will happen. Pitting prayer against God is like pitting the Bible against God. Does God need the Bible to save someone? Of course not. But it is the means by which He has chosen to save. When a condemned sinner cries out to Heaven for mercy, he does not change God\u2019s plan his life. He brings that plan to fruition. When the High Priest intercedes and sacrifices for the people, He really does, in the rawest sense, turn away God\u2019s wrath. But don\u2019t forget: the High Priest and the Altar are all there by God\u2019s instruction.<\/p>\n

The answer, then, is this: prayer changes us, yes. But that\u2019s not primarily why we pray. We pray because God is so sovereign that He has invited us to enter into His counsels and participate in working out His unchangeable plan.<\/p>\n

Image:\u00a0Ejsmond The Anchorite, Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s become an all-too-common trope, especially in my own Reformed circles, to say that \u201cthe purpose of prayer is to change us, not God.\u201d I really dislike this statement. On one level, it\u2019s true, of course. We can change, and God does not. He is immutable. But on another level, it\u2019s unscriptural nonsense. Prayer is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2783,"featured_media":19,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9,8,4],"tags":[12,13,10,11],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible","category-devotion","category-prayer","category-theology","tag-bible","tag-devotion","tag-prayer","tag-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nPrayer Is Not a Placebo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's become an all-too-common trope, especially in my own Reformed circles, to say that "the purpose of prayer is to change us, not God." 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