Mystery of Prayer

Prayer confuses, astounds and confounds me. We're told we should "believe in prayer" or, at least, trust in "the power of prayer" or that "prayer works." And yet, prayer is just something we do, a conversation we have. I recognize that I have so little power. What is it about my prayer that I'm supposed to believe in?

Forgive me if you've used those phrases before, but I don't think we should believe in prayer or even in the power of prayer. I don't believe that prayer "works." I'm not saying we shouldn't pray; far from it. But the "power" does not lie in our words or our posture or even our obedience in praying. The "power," as it always has, resides in the one to whom we are speaking. Prayer doesn't "work" like some magical formula; God is the one who is constantly working (John 5:17). Don't believe in prayer; believe in God. Pray, and watch God work.

Prayer is first and foremost about a relationship; it's an ongoing conversation with our heavenly Father. He knows what we need, but how patient he is to wait until, in the midst of the conversation, we figure out what we need, too. Too often our prayers start with what we want: give me this, give me that, make me well, make me special. If we hang in there long enough, if we stay in the conversation, my experience is that we eventually get around to what we need, not what we want. That's the way a good conversation works, and talking with God is always a good conversation. He helps us understand and see what it is that we need and, like a good father, he is always ready to give us what we need.

That's the essence of the word John gives his readers here near the end of 1 John: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him (5:14-15). It's hard for us to know what God's will actually is (I'm going to be preaching on this in just a couple of weeks, so I don't want to say more about that here), but we are assured that once our will lines up with his will, we will receive what we need. He "hears" us when we ask "according to his will." In other words, God is always listening but he "hears" (i.e., responds) when we get around to actually listening to him, when we stop demanding our will and allow ourselves to be shaped by what he knows us best for us.

It's an old story, and perhaps you've heard it, but it bears repeating. A little girl had a string of fake pearls that she dearly loved. She wore them everywhere, even to bed. One night, her Daddy came into her room and asked her to give him her pearls. They were dirty, bedraggled and a few were even broken. "No, Daddy," the girl said. "They're my pearls and I love them." The Dad smiled. "It's okay, sweetheart. Good night, I love you." This same routine happened each night for about a week, the Dad asking the girl to give her pearls and the girl tearfully (moreso each day) refusing. Finally, one night after the Dad had turned out the light, the little girl came out of her room, approached her Daddy's chair and held out her pearls. "Here you go, Daddy. I'm sorry for hanging onto them for so long," she said through her tears. The Dad took the pearls without a word and as the girl turned to go back to her room, he touched her arm. When she turned back to him, he was holding out to her a real string of pearls...for her. He had been waiting for so long to give her the real thing, once she gave up her grasp on the fake.

God longs to give us the very best if only we will let go of all the "fake" things we hold onto and allow our desires to be conformed to his. And somehow, that conforming and shaping takes place in prayer. That's the true power of prayer.