The Complications of Prayer - PART 1

"Just pray about it" is sometimes the fallback solution many Christians offer when our problems appear too complicated for their interest and involvement. If only it was that easy for prayer to bring about the resolutions we want.

What has made our struggle with prayer more challenging is that some overly eager evangelists have used the seeming simplicity of prayer as a selling point for Christianity. They promote it as something anyone can do, as personal as a conversation, and the God of the universe hears you. However, many have become disillusioned with their faith and with God when their prayers fail to change their difficult circumstances. This simplistic approach to prayer has led others not to deepen their understanding of what prayer is supposed to do in their lives. They believe they know how it works because they engage in the activity. Yet, if you were to ask them to compare the times they felt their prayers were answered to the times they were not, the latter would greatly outweigh the former.

Every so often, we read of those promoting formulas for effective prayer: pray multiple times, use Bible verses, pray the prayers found in the Bible, or follow the example of how those in the Bible like Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, or Daniel prayed. However well-meaning such endeavors may appear, any attempt to commoditize prayer will never guarantee us the results we want. Once someone creates a formula for answered prayer, all it takes is one exception to disprove it, and we are no better off than when we started. This inconsistency is not just applicable to formulas for effective prayer. How many times have you tried living by the faith standards of others only to be disappointed by their ineffectiveness when applied to your unique circumstances?

Effective prayer does not hinge on the number of times we pray. Paul prayed three times before God denied his request (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). However, Isaiah 65:24 states that even before we pray, God answers. Daniel prayed for 21 days before he received a response (Daniel 10:13), but Gideon prayed once and got his answer (Judges 6:36-38). Neither does effective prayer hinge on what we say. There are times we cannot use words, and the Holy Spirit still makes intercession for us (Romans 8:26). Jesus cautioned that the amount of words used in prayer guarantees nothing from God (Matthew 6:7). Effective prayer is not even based on our intuition. According to James 4:2-3, our prayers can go unanswered because we do not always know what is best for us, and at other times, we simply do not ask.

END OF PART ONE. TO BE CONTINUED.

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