Recently, I’ve been talking with some friends about prayer and was
getting some disturbing anecdotes about believers not bothering to pray
because “God’s going to do his will anyway.” This bothered me on many
different levels, not the least of which was that I was about to lead a
mission trip where I was going to encourage people to pray!
getting some disturbing anecdotes about believers not bothering to pray
because “God’s going to do his will anyway.” This bothered me on many
different levels, not the least of which was that I was about to lead a
mission trip where I was going to encourage people to pray!
I don’t remember how I found it*, but it’s right after one of my favorite scripture passages, II Corinthians 1:3-5. II Corinthians 1:8-11 says the following:
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
As you can see, Paul was helped by their prayers. He even states that they were given “gracious favor…in answer to the prayers of many.”
So with this information, I was ready to present to the participants of the mission trip some biblical justification for prayer.
I’m not really worried that people will stop praying. I’m more concerned that some people may pray only out of obedience, not out of a desire/need to communicate with God.
But wait, there’s more…
*Update: Carla showed it to me.
