On the Road to Emmaus

The often heard saying, “prayer doesn’t change God…it changes us” is an addage notoriously absent from the Bible.

As many of you may know, by occupation I am a full-time intercessor. This means my full-time job is primarily to pray as a staff member of the International House of Prayer of Kansas City (IHOP-KC). When I tell other Christians what I do with my life, I am frequently greeted with peculiar blinks, squints, head tilts, lip twitches and eyebrow crunches. I know, I know – who’s ever heard of someone whose main job is to pray? Unfortunately this response often betrays two facts:

1) Our historical and religious myopia – throughout history and even to the present day, many Christians have been employed as full-time intercessors. They were often called monks and nuns. Their central occupation was prayer, but they frequently also had additional tasks such as teaching, spiritual direction, evangelism, etc. (much like myself and other staff members at IHOP-KC). Granted, this is predominately part of the Roman Catholic tradition, though Eastern Orthodox and Anglican traditions also have significant monastic movements.

2) Our disbelief in the efficacy of prayer. Don’t be afraid to admit this – its almost universal. The sooner we admit it, the sooner we can rectify it. We who give ourselves full-time to prayer, also often have a hard time believing it. It is one thing to confess that prayer is important. It is entirely different to believe it actually makes a real difference in the world. My goal in a series of posts is to address this subject.

There are some Christians who believe that the concept of a ministry like IHOP or people being full-time intercessors is inherently a bad thing. They often preface their statements with something like, “well…I’m not against prayer, but…” and then go on to say how we should do something better or more useful with our time. I would like to respond by saying it is almost entirely irrelevant whether you are “for” or “against” prayer. Do you actually do it?  That is what matters. The Scripture never says “be in support of the idea of prayer,” but rather says “be devoted to prayer” (Col. 4:2), meaning – actually do it as a prioritized activity in your individual and communal life. Luke’s description of the apostolic church was not that they “held the concept of prayer in high esteem,” but that they “devoted themselves to the prayers” (Acts. 2:42). You will only do this to the extent that you believe prayer is in fact useful time spent.

In my opinion there are two extremely popular yet woefully unbiblical and inadequate understandings related to why one is to pray. It seems that both of these seriously curtail attempts to “be devoted to the prayers” after the model of the early apostolic church.

1) Prayer as self-help – this can be epitomized in the cliche quoted above, “prayer does not change God (or any circumstances for that matter), prayer changes us.” This perspective is rooted in a certain understanding of God’s sovereignty in which every detail of every event of all time has been perfectly pre-planned by God in an inviolable blueprint. Thus it would be ridiculous to suggest that we could alter that blueprint through our intercessory prayers. If then, asking for circumstances to change (intercessory prayer) does not actually change those circumstances, we must somehow account for the Biblical insistence on such types of prayers. The answer becomes that these prayers in fact, over time, change our desires and conform them to God’s will, so that we want what God already had planned to do.

2) Prayer as obedience – once one comes to the conclusion that praying about people and circumstances does not actually change them, but merely change us, one then often asks, why are these prayers necessary? Why are they so frequent in the Bible (say in the Psalms), why was the early church (Book of Acts) so eager in making them, and why does the New Testament regularly exhort us to make such prayer? The answer to these questions becomes “because God has commanded such.” The reason to pray (even though it doesn’t actually do or change anything that corresponds to what we are actually requesting) is because God said so and we as his servants are to be obedient.

I think almost every phrase of every sentence in the previous two paragraphs could be questioned and challenged from Biblical and theological perspectives. Instead of performing such a painful dissection, I have opted today merely to look at a few verses in which Paul talks about prayer (subsequently, I will look at other sections of Scripture as well). I want to make simple observations related to what he says and ask if they correspond to the two reasons to pray given above.

Romans 15:30-32 - Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by  the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,  31 that I may be  rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my  service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints;  32 so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company.

1) First we might note that Paul urges the Romans to pray for him. There is a sense of urgency and gravity to this request.

2) Paul considers that when believers pray for him, they are joining with him in the apostolic labor. Prayer is not merely a “duty” or a “nice thought” but is in fact “striving together” with him. He believes the saints to be working and struggling with him as they pray for him.

3) Three purposes or outcomes of the prayers are listed, indicated by the term “that” or “so that:”  (a) being rescued from people in Judea; (b) his service proving acceptable to the saints; and (c) being able to visit the Romans and find refreshing and rest with them. Describing these three as purposes or outcomes of the prayers shows that Paul does not consider their occurrence to be inevitable apart from the Roman’s prayers. In other words, the prayers of the Romans will in some manner make it possible for these three desired outcomes to come into fruition.

2 Corinthians 1:10-11 – He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again,  11 as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

1) Paul considers his rescue to be conditional upon the Corinthian’s prayers – “he will rescue us again, as you also, join…”

2) Paul considers the prayers of the Corinthians to actually be helping him and his apostolic company. His concern was not that the prayers would help the pray-ers, but that the prayers of others would actually help him.

3) The phrase “so that” indicates that Paul sees the “blessing” to be either the purpose or result of the prayers.

4) He sees the blessing of rescue being “granted through the prayers.” In other words, the prayer was not to be a self-help mental technique, but was the actually means by which the deliverance would be granted to Paul.

5) The blessing is granted through the prayers of many. The prayers of many different people combine to contribute towards Paul’s deliverance.

Ephesians 6:18-19 – And take  the helmet of salvation, and the  sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel…

1) The primary observation I would like to make here is the frequency of the word “all:”  all prayer and petition, pray at all times, all perseverance, for all the saints. The urgency with which such an extravagant request is made gives an indication as to how Paul felt about prayer. It is difficult to conceive that such enormous amounts of prayer were needed and with such incessancy if the prayers were not in fact effecting something that would not be the same without the prayers.

2) Of additional note is that the call for this extraordinary quantity of prayer is in the midst of an extended warfare metaphor. Its seems as though this praying at all times is part of the “sword of the Spirit.” If prayer is part of a “spiritual sword,” then it seems self-evident that prayers do change actual circumstances and play a role in the defeat of the powers of darkness (cf. Eph. 6:12).

3) Paul asks the believers to pray so that he might preach with boldness. He sees that the purpose or outcome of the prayers is that something might be different than it would have been otherwise.

Philippians 1:18-19 – Yes, and I will rejoice,  19 for I know that this will turn out for my  deliverance  through your  prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ…

1) Paul expects his deliverance to happen through (by means of) the prayers of the saints.

2) There is a co-operation between the prayers and the “provision of the Spirit.” If the provision of the Spirit would have effected deliverance on its own, its seems unnecessary to have mentioned the “prayers.”

My apologies if this has been repetitive and pedantic. It may seem that these observations are a little obvious or asinine. Yet it is remarkable how easy it is as a Christian to come to the conclusion that prayer doesn’t actually do anything and then defend the notion theologically.

My hope is that intercessors will be emboldened and strengthened with the simple notion that prayer actually does something and that such an idea is profoundly biblical.. Paul seems to express over and over again his expectation that when the people of God pray, circumstances will in fact be different than if they had not. Whether you can spend 5 minutes or 5 hours a day devoted to prayer, know that every minute is time well spent.  Be assured that every 15 second prayer whispered throughout your day is mysteriously causing the future to unfold differently than it otherwise might have. In fellowship with the God of Hope, the God who envisions possibilities beyond all we could ask or imagine, we truly have the privilege, pleasure and glory of shaping the future of life on planet earth.

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