Prayer is a central part of most religions. Through prayer, people strive to make connections with their gods. Scripture informs us that during the time of Elijah, the priests of Baal shouted for assistance from their god on Mount Carmel. The Muslims hold specified hours of prayer and the Jews pray at the Western Wall. Prayer also belongs to the Christian faith, and the Scriptures encourage people to pray. Jesus gave an example of this and also taught His disciples to pray.
What does it mean to pray?
According to Christian Doctrine, “Prayer is the heart’s humble and sincere conversation with God” (Christian Doctrine, 78). The Reformer Martin Luther (1483-1564) wanted to free prayer from all the formal rituals that had been attached to it in the Catholic Church. He taught that the essence and nature of prayer is to raise the mind and heart to God. Without the right attitude of heart, prayer is useless, no matter how uplifting it may be.
The effect of prayer does not depend on its outward form, nor on our emotions or our fervour. Neither is it an achievement that earns us merit before God. Prayer is a conversation between God and man, in which God can also speak. Sometimes we feel that God does not respond. But it is not caused by God’s poor hearing or our quiet or unclear speech. God truly hears and understands. He also responds, even though we often only understand this later.
In prayer, we can speak to God of our needs and our hopes. Scripture guides us also to intercede or to pray on behalf of others. We may enclose within our prayers our close ones, our friends, our people, and our homeland. Paul described in his epistles how he prayed for the congregations. He also asked that the children of God would pray for wisdom and courage for him to proclaim the gospel (Eph. 6:18–20). We, too, can pray to the Heavenly Father that He would bless the work of His kingdom. Prayer also inseparably includes thanksgiving. When we, in silence and with open minds are before God’s face, we understand with thankfulness how much we have received from Him.
Prayer and justification
The Bible tells us to pray, but does that have anything to do with whether we are acceptable to God? Many people believe that they can confess their sins privately to God through prayer and that God Himself will forgive their sins in prayer.
This belief can be heard when someone is urged to repent so that they can be born again as a child of God, according to the teachings of the Bible: “I don’t need anyone’s help with that. I will settle my affairs privately with God”. However, God does not make sinners righteous privately, without His congregation and preaching of His Word. Instead, He can send ministers of forgiveness, His own children on earth, to forgive the sins of those who are sorrowful and want to repent. You see, faith comes from hearing (Rom. 10:17).
I remember how once at the conclusion of some services, I asked a service guest if he felt the need to receive the forgiveness of his sins. He answered, “I say the Lord’s prayer every night and confess my sins to God in it. I do not need to repent in the manner that you mean.” I answered him, “I notice that you believe that God hears your prayers. Every night, you have petitioned, “Thy kingdom come”. God has heard your prayer and now His kingdom has come to you. God also wants to answer your other prayer and forgive your sin of unbelief along with all of your other sins”.
Does God hear the prayers of an unbeliever?
There are some passages in the Bible where God seems to prefer the prayers of the believers and refuse to listen to the prayers of unbelievers. James wrote: “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). In Isaiah 1:15 God himself says: “even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood”.
However, there are several examples in the Bible that indicate that God has heard the prayer of an unbeliever and also answered it. The decisive factor appears to be what, and with what mind, they pray. I will take three familiar examples from Scripture.
The Eunuch, a servant of the queen of Ethiopia (Acts 8:26–40), had made a long and difficult journey to pray in the temple in Jerusalem. He thought that it was an acceptable place to pray. There, he hoped to find help and an answer to the distress in his heart, but he did not find help. On his way back, he studied the Scriptures. Again in vain, for he did not understand what he read. However, God had heard his prayers. He sent Philip to the place to explain the writings of Isaiah and to preach the gospel. The eunuch heard Philip’s sermon and believed it.
Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:1–8), on his way to Damascus, met the resurrected Christ. Heavenly light blinded him. He, who thought that he knew the will of God and that he was righteous having fulfilled the Law, found that he was blind and without understanding. In his distress, he prayed. God heard the prayer even of a persecutor of the congregation and sent Ananias to help. Saul received his sight and living faith in his heart. He became Apostle Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.
The Centurion Cornelius (Acts 10) prayed to God. God heard his prayers and answered him first through an angel. This angel did not preach the forgiveness of sins, but told him to send men to get Peter from the city of Joppa. Cornelius followed the angel’s instructions. When Peter came and preached the gospel, Cornelius, along with his family, believed and they received the Holy Spirit.
From these three examples, we can conclude that God hears even the prayers of unbelievers when they are in accordance with His will. David, who, despite his sins, was a man after God’s own heart, prayed: “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place” (Psalm 51:2-5). As you can see, David was not forgiven for his sins in prayer either, but God sent Nathan, who had the office of the Holy Spirit (2 Samuel 12:13).
Jesus’ teachings about prayer
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught His disciples how to pray (Matt. 6:5–13). He warned them against vain wordiness and praying for their own merit. At least one matter was clarified to the disciples as they listened to His speech: they do not know how to pray by their own means. Many sincere people have probably experienced this while praying.
To His own, Jesus gave the Lord’s Prayer, the “Our Father” prayer. According to Martin Luther, the Lord’s Prayer is, without a doubt, the highest, noblest, and best, since it originated from our Lord. If our righteous and faithful Master had known a better prayer, He would have taught it to us also. This must not be understood to mean that all other prayers in which these same words do not appear are wrong. Many saints prayed before the birth of Christ and had not heard these words.
Our Father
The beginning of the Lord’s Prayer, where the holy and righteous God was called as Father, could be strange and even offensive for a contemporary of Jesus. Luther, however, taught: “The best beginning and preface is that we know clearly how to name, respect, and relate to Him, to Whom we are praying, and how we should behave toward Him, so that He would be merciful and willing to hear us”.
Luther continues, “There is no name among all the names that would make us more acceptable before God than ‘Father.’ It is a friendly, pleasant, deep and heartfelt address. It would not be equally loving and comforting to say ‘Lord,’ ‘God,’ or ‘Judge.’ For that reason, the name ‘Father’ is naturally innate in a person and naturally pleasing. Therefore, it also pleases God the best and moves Him most to hear us. At the same time, we confess ourselves to be children of God by that name”.
Almost half a century ago, I was sitting in a church on a winter evening. The theme of the event was prayer, and three priests had prepared to give presentations on the subject. In two of the presentations, prayer was described, contrary to the Bible, as a means of becoming acceptable to God. The subject of the second speech was the words “Our Father, who art in heaven.” After them, the third speaker rose to the pulpit and read a text even shorter than the previous ones: “Our Father, amen.”
Starting with these words, he led his listeners, with the understanding given by the Holy Spirit, to see what had to happen so that we could pray “Our Father”. How great was the Father’s love that he gave his only Son for the forgiveness of sins. In place of prayer, another option opened up, the only true way to become righteous before God. That way is Christ, who in his Great Commission left the ministry of forgiveness to his own. This ministry is still in use where Jesus’ sisters and brothers, the children of God on earth, are found.
Thy will be done
Our prayers are often about distress, oppression, difficulties, and the obvious hopes and desires that arise from them. There is nothing wrong in this, for a child has permission to speak freely to his Father. However, in the Lord’s Prayer Jesus brings a new dimension to prayer. He instructs us to ask, “Thy will be done”. This is not always easy.
Jesus did not only teach in this manner, but also set an example when the cross, suffering, and death awaited him. An even more frightening thought was that the Father would cast upon Him the sins of the entire world and, for a moment, would turn His back upon Him. In this situation Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matt. 26:39).
Jesus’ example leads us to the correct humility and childlike trust. The Father knows what is best for us, even when we find it difficult to be content with it. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:6,7).
Author: Juhani Uljas
Image: SRK