Is This a Prayer that Works or a Work that is Prayer?

Is This a Prayer that Works or a Work that is Prayer?

 

Top of Form

Good Morning Friends,

 

The supernatural power of God activated through the devotion of people of faith, not just talking to God but more importantly listening in solitude, is an act of worship designed to engage God’s heart and Spirit as well as the one trying to communicate with the divine. But, Is This a Prayer that Works or a Work that is Prayer?Bottom of Form

 

 

Scripture:
¹¹The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

 

Ephesians 4:11-12 (NRSV)

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

 

¹¹To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfil by his power every good resolve and work of faith, ¹²so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 (NRSV)

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

 

¹⁶Rejoice always, ¹⁷pray without ceasing, ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NRSV)

 

Message: Certainly not all work is prayer even if it creates results. For in some ways we are as a nation working ourselves to death and that I think has little to do with prayer but more the will of man. Typically it is better to work for the alternative is the devil’s playground, but some work is not productive. As C. S. Lewis points out, “in every action, just as in every prayer, you are trying to bring about a certain result; and this result must be good or bad.” Still we are to rejoice in it all and be thankful God does not grant all prayers. So with that in mind and to make this devotional less confusing, I suppose we should define prayer. And this may not be such an easy task. Prayer means different things to different people. I would like to believe that the best of work is prayer that prepares us for a work as a matter of a calling in Christ. Prayer can be more powerful than work with an effect across time and space. And sometimes prayer can combine with work in a powerful way that reflects divine creativity, redemption and sustainability. And here God refurbishes our lives as our work becomes prayer. C. S. Lewis writes about the subject in his essay, “Work and Prayer“:

 

You cannot be sure of a good harvest whatever you do to a field. But you can be sure that if you pull up one weed that one weed will no longer be there. You can be sure that if you drink more than a certain amount of alcohol you will ruin your health or that if you go on for a few centuries more wasting the resources of the planet on wars and luxuries you will shorten the life of the whole human race. The kind of causality we exercise by work is, so to speak, divinely guaranteed, and therefore ruthless. By it we are free to do ourselves as much harm as we please. But the kind which we exercise by prayer is not like that; God has left Himself discretionary power. Had He not done so, prayer would be an activity too dangerous for man and should have the horrible state of things envisaged by Juvenal: “Enormous prayers which Heaven in anger grants.”

 

Friends, I confess my struggle with this topic. It is complex yet simple. So complex that we will not even begin to scratch the surface of this profound topic this morning. We could list why we should pray, what we should pray for, or how prayer works and still not really grasp it at the end of the day. What we want from prayer is usually not what we get, and the deep lessons of prayer are lost because we do not have the discipline to reach for it until we have it. Prayer at its core is designed to stretch our faith. Finally, and probably most troubling for me is my insufficient practice of it. I have good intentions and strong passions to pray but I do not pray without ceasing. How many hours a day do you pray? Are you praying for the right things? But this I know…prayer is not pointless even if the holiest of all petitioners prayed at Gethsemane and his request was not granted.

 

Pray we do more than just dip our toe into prayer. Pray we touch more than the surface of this mysterious and explosive thing called prayer. Pray we are thankful that God is in charge of granting prayers. Pray our prayers are worthy of being granted. Pray we realize that prayer can have an effect more powerful than work. Pray that our work is a prayer. Pray that if we are hoping for something supernatural to occur we had better talk it over with the creator. Pray we be active in prayer as well as purpose.

 

Blessings,

 

John Lawson