How Does Prayer Work?

Now, Contending for the Faith. In this regular feature, Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call. Here’s this week’s question: “Dear Dave and Tom, How does prayer work? It’s obvious that God wants us to pray, or Jesus wouldn’t have taught His disciples to pray. But since He already knows what we’re going to pray for, it seems like a pointless exercise. Also, how much do our prayers help a situation? If they do move God to get involved in a situation, then does our not praying have an adverse effect? In other words, aren’t we actually controlling an outcome or even manipulating God?”

Dave: Tom, I don’t know where these people—where do you find these people? I guess they just write in?

Tom: Hey, Dave, you know, how long have we—The Berean Call—we’ve been going for about twelve years now. We get hundreds and hundreds of letters and some are new believers, and some are, you’d think would know better, and so on, but look, it’s…

Dave: This is a tough one. This is a good one.

Tom: It points out—it also points out the confusion in these last days, with those…even letters that we get from people who are in solid, Bible-teaching churches.

Dave: Well, Tom, this is a legitimate question, and it is a difficult one. Jesus didn’t tell us to beg for things to happen. In fact, He said, “After this manner, pray ye…” It’s not the Lord’s Prayer, it’s the Disciple’s Prayer—it’s a pattern for prayer. And there’s nothing in there asking God except “Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are indebted to us, who have trespassed against us. Lead us not into temptation,” and so forth. But most prayer for most people—Christians—is “Gimme, gimme, gimme!” We don’t spend much time praising God, thanking Him for who He is, but “Well, Lord, give me this. I’m in trouble.” “Oh, Lord! Help me out.” That’s not what prayer primarily is to be.

Furthermore, Jesus said it is to be “in His name.” If it’s in His name, then I’m asking what He would ask—I’m not asking for my own desires. So prayer is an opportunity for me to get in touch with God—for Him to put on my heart the things that He would have happen—and it gives me the opportunity to join in with Him and to be submissive to His will.

I like the way William Law—I’ve been criticized for quoting him, but I like the way William Law put it. He had one of his Latin characters—he had him say this: “I have learned the great value of souls by appearing so often in the presence of God on their behalf.” Now that’s very well put, very well put. “I pray for others for their needs, and it cultivates some love and concern in my heart.”

Tom: Now, we’re joining with God in that. And, as you said, it’s really for our benefit, but is there any—suppose we don’t? You know, you have mothers out there who have been on their knees for their children, and then other mothers who don’t pray at all, and fathers as well, and…is it affecting their lives?

Dave: Again, Tom, that’s a tough one. James tells us, “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Now, “effectual”? “Fervent”? “Righteous”? Jesus said, “Just keep praying. Keep praying.” James says, “You don’t receive from God what you pray for because you’re asking for selfish reasons.” So we’re not praying according to His will.

On the other hand, the questioner says, “Well, does it matter whether we pray or not?”

Well, we get the impression that prayer is answered—not every prayer is answered. How does this fit in with God’s scheme of things? Tom, I can’t tell you. But I know that we’re supposed to pray. And I know that God hears and answers prayer. It is not a vain thing to call upon the living God, the Scripture tells us.

So, if I don’t pray for something, and it…it really is God’s will, is it really going to happen anyway? I think so. On the other hand…

Tom: But, Dave, then you don’t get the benefit of it.

Dave: Right.

Tom: For example, one of—in my testimony of coming to Christ, answers to prayer. You know, I grew up Roman Catholic, and I thought we had prayer wired. We had novenas, and rituals, and all of those kinds of things.

Dave: All the saints up there.

Tom: Yeah, but I never saw answers to prayer. But in coming to Christ, when I began to see Him work based on the prayers of others, and they let me know what they were praying for, and I saw it! I mean, it was really…it was wonderful, and it’s wonderful today to see God answer prayers. And if I don’t, I’m losing out on that part.

Dave: We can look at it another way, Tom. You had the early apostles, for example, and they healed the sick. Peter’s shadow—this was an unusual miracle. It doesn’t happen today, and it only happened maybe briefly with Peter. His shadow went across the sick. They brought them out in the streets. They were healed, okay? Now if they hadn’t brought them out into the streets, would they not have been healed? I don’t think they would have been healed.

So God intervenes by means, sometimes, and the means is prayer. This is not fatalism. Everything isn’t predetermined and God’s going to make it happen. Certain things are up to us. We’re supposed to give some effort. For example, Paul says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you.” Well, if it’s God that’s working in me, why do I have to do something? Why do I have to cooperate? And so forth.

Paul says—he talks about the purpose that God has called us for—His glory! And then he says, “Whereunto do I labor, striving according to His workings that worketh in me mightily.” Well, there is a partnership between God and man. There’s no question about it. Man has responsibilities to know God’s will, to do God’s will, to pray, and to join in in this effort. And Paul asked for prayer. He asked in Ephesians 6: “Pray for me,” you know, “that God will give me utterance.” And he prayed for the Ephesians. He prayed…he says, “Pray that I will be delivered from wicked and unreasonable men, for all men have not faith.”

So how it all fits in, Tom, I don’t know. But we are supposed to pray, and I believe that it has a purpose and an effect.

Tom: Yeah, Dave, I think of Jesus, you know, where he could perform no miracles in His hometown, as it were—not because He wasn’t able, didn’t have the power to do it, but I don’t think anybody came to Him.

Dave: Well, no, it was because of their unbelief.

Tom: Well, yeah, but that was my point. They didn’t cry out to Him for Him to do these things…

Dave: Right, they were skeptics.

Tom: … and that can—but on the other hand, as believers, that can happen to us where we become apathetic and we don’t go to the Lord.

Dave: Exactly. Good point.