UNDERSTANDING PRAYER
Part2 of 2

In the first part of this article, we discussed what prayer is; the necessityof prayer; the elements of prayer; and the requisites for acceptable prayers.In this concluding part of the article, we discuss the relationship betweenprayer and the Holy Trinity; what kind of answers we may expect for ourprayers; how not to pray; and when not to pray.

Prayer and theHoly Trinity

The Roman Catholic church teaches that “The prayer of the Church is sustainedby the prayer of Mary [the holy Mother of God]” and that “we can pray with andto her” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [Doubleday, 1995],¶2579). And furthermore, the intercession of “those whom the Church recognisesas saints” is “their most exalted service to God’s plan. [Therefore] we can andshould ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world” (ibid.,¶2683).

All Protestants will no doubt recoil from such anti-biblical teachings. TheBible clearly teaches that there is but “one mediator between God and men, theman Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5). However, many of us are often confused as to howour prayers relate to each of the persons in the Godhead. It has, for example,often been asked: “Is it right to pray to the Lord Jesus Christ or the HolySpirit directly?”

In this section, we attempt to untie some of the knots by examining prayer inrelation to the economic Trinity.

Prayer in Relation to God the Father

To whom should ourprayers be addressed? Foremost, it must be remembered that prayer is acommunion of man with the triune God. There is only one God, and He is triune.When prayer is answered, it is answered by the triune God. When we ask thequestion as to whom prayer should be addressed, we are, therefore, not askingwhom we should pray to, as if there are three Gods. We are asking, rather,which person of the triune God we should address our petitions to.

In this regard, Wilhelmus á Brakel summarises general Reformed consensus verywell when he says:

Thesupplicant, being stirred up to pray and directed in prayer by the Holy Spirit(the Spirit of prayer, who intercedes with groanings that cannot be uttered)approaches the Father through the Son, and thus approaches God Himself as Heexists in the first Person without exclusion of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Wemust refrain from attempting to comprehend the incomprehensible and from makingtoo great a separation between the Persons and the divine essence (TheChristian’s Reasonable Service [SDG, 1992], 3.488).

In other words, in prayer, we should address the Father as a representative ofthe triune Godhead, through the mediatorship of Christ and the assistance ofthe Holy Spirit. This should be the case, because: Firstly, the Scriptureindicates the priority of the Father in the creation of the world (1 Cor 8:6;Heb 1:2); in providence (Mt 10:29); and in the redemption of the Church (Jn3:16; 5:30; 6:38; etc.). Secondly, our adoption is the basis of our privilegeof prayer, and therefore we should pray as His only begotten Son does (Jn17:1ff).

Does this mean that our prayers should never be directed to the Son or the HolySpirit? Well, in the Scriptures, though we have no example where prayers weredirected to the Holy Spirit, we do have instances where prayers were addresseddirectly to the Son (Mt 8:25; 14:30; Mk 9:24; but esp. Acts 7:59–60).Therefore, by analogy, it would not be wrong to address the Spirit in prayer.This is especially so since the Persons in the Godhead are “the same insubstance, equal in power and glory” (WSC 6). However, there is nodoubt that it is proper and to be preferred that we should address the Father,rather than the Son or the Spirit in prayer. Moreover, we agree with Morton H.Smith, that “By self-consciously addressing our prayers to the Triune Godthrough the Father, we are kept from confusion of thought regarding theTrinity” (Systematic Theology, 2.711).

Prayer in Relation to God the Son

The role of God the Sonmay be best understood according to His threefold office of Prophet, Priest andKing (WSC 23–26).

As Prophet, Christ reveals to us the Father. He says, “All things are deliveredunto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neitherknoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willreveal him” (Mt 11:27, cf. Jn 1:18). In relation to prayer, He reveals to usthe will of the Father that we may know how to pray and for what we ought topray.

As Priest, first, He turn away the wrath of God from us that we may “comeboldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace tohelp in time of need” (Heb 4:16); secondly, He continually intercedes andmediates for us at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 7:25; 1 Jn 2:1; 1Tim 2:5). He intercedes for us in that He pleads His own blood on behalf of usfor our salvation, and is our advocate before the throne of God when we sin. Hemediates for us in that our prayers in His name are first sprinkled with andsanctified by His own sacrifice on our behalf.

As our King, Christ encourages us to cast our burdens upon Him and to rely uponHim fully (Mt 11:28–30). His admonishment of His disciples is surely applicableto us too: “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shallreceive, that your joy may be full” (Jn 16:24).

Prayer in Relation to God the Holy Spirit

The role of the HolySpirit in prayer may be best understood using three prepositions: in, by and for.

First, the Scripture instructs us twice to pray in the HolySpirit: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, andwatching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Eph6:18); and “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith,praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 20). What does it mean to pray in the HolySpirit?

Thomas Manton explains most beautifully:

Prayeris a work too hard for us; we can babble of ourselves, but we cannot praywithout the Holy Ghost; we can put words into prayer, but it is the Spirit that[who] puts affections, without which it is but a little cold prattle and spiritualtalk. Our necessities may sharpen our prayers, but they cannot enliven ourprayers. A carnal man may feel the impulsion of a natural fervency, and so cryunto God as the young ravens cry unto him, and in all creatures there is adesire of relief: the rude mariners in the tempest were very earnest (Jon 1:6).But now gracious affection is quite another thing than this natural fervency.There may be cold and raw wishes after grace, but not serious volitions andspiritual desires; these we must have from the Holy Ghost (The Epistle ofJude [Alabama:R E Publications, n.d.], 337).

But how does the Spirit help us? He helps us: (1) by changing our hearts sothat we desire to pray and know what to pray for (cf. Rom 8:26); (2) bystrengthening our faith that God will hear our prayers; and (3) by giving usmore and more confidence to come unto the Father by helping us more and more todie unto our sins.

Secondly, the prayer or intercession of the Holy Spirit mustnot be confused with the intercession of Christ. Christ intercedes in heaven atthe right hand of the throne of God, whereas the Holy Spirit intercedes in ourheart: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not whatwe should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession forus with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom 8:26). Since Paul speaks aboutthe Spirit making intercession instead of we making the intercession, he mustbe referring to the Spirit praying through us rather than we praying in theSpirit. Calvin explains:

Though,in a peculiar sense, Jesus is the believer’s intercessor in heaven, yet theHoly Spirit intercedes in him on earth, teaching him what to ask, and excitingin him groanings expressive of his wants, though they cannot be uttered; thatis, they cannot be expressed in words. Yet these wants are uttered in groans,and in this manner most emphatically express what is meant, while they indicatethe energy of the operation of the Spirit (Comm. in loc.).

Thirdly, we cannot miss the fact that the Scripture teaches us to pray for theSpirit. The Lord Jesus says: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give goodgifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give theHoly Spirit to them that ask him?” (Lk 11:13). Surely, the outpouring of theSpirit at Pentecost must have been in answer to the disciples’ prayer for theHoly Spirit as they were taught by the Lord (cf. Acts 4:31). But what aboutafter Pentecost? Is the Lord’s instruction about praying for the Spirit stillapplicable? I believe so. The Apostle Paul instructs the Ephesians, and us, tobe “filled with the Spirit” (Eph 5:18). Surely Paul means more than just livingobediently, as he was using a language which the early Church would have knownto involve an effusion of the Holy Spirit. Whatever else Paul may have in mind,it must surely include our asking the Lord to fill us with the Spirit. In anycase, as we desire to pray in the Spirit and to have the intercession of theSpirit, we must surely not neglect to pray that the Spirit will fill us.

Answers to Prayer

The common Christian cliché, “God answers prayer,” unlike “Prayer changesthings,” is both rationally and theologically correct. God does answer prayer.However, it must be noted that God does not always answer positively oraccording to our prayers. There are four ways in which God commonly answers ourprayers:

Direct

In such an answer, Godanswers immediately, directly and positively, thus granting the desires of ourheart (e.g., Gen 30:22; Num 21:3). Most of us, when we pray, would generallylook forward to such an answer. Nevertheless God is sovereign and, while He maymore frequently answer in this manner if we have learned to ask according toHis will, He reserves the sole prerogative to answer in any manner according toHis good pleasure. Let us learn to submit to Him however He answers ourprayers. For we know that “all things work together for good to them that loveGod, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).

Delayed

Another common way inwhich God answers our prayers is the delayed answer. In other words, He answersour prayers positively, but after a delay of some time. Such delays to ourprayers have often caused even the greatest of saints much anxiety (e.g., Ps13:1–2; Hab 1:2). However, we must not lose heart. Let us learn that God’stiming is the best timing. God has His reasons for delays (see Ecc 3:11; Jn11:6, 4, 15).

Denied

Thethird way God answers our prayers is to deny our requests. Such was the casewith Moses’ prayer that he should be allowed to enter the promised land (Deut3:23–27). The reasons for denial are many. It may be punitive as in the case ofMoses, or it may be simply for our own well-being. As a father will not grant achild’s request to play with fire in the house, so the Lord will not grant uswhat may be detrimental to our lives, be it spiritual or physical.

Different

Finally, the Lordsometimes answers in a different way from what we ask (e.g., Deut 23:5). Thisis corollary to denial, but in this case, He grants us an alternative. Our Lordknows best our needs and what is good for us (Mt 6:32). Let us thereforerejoice and give thanks for whatever answer that He gives us to our prayers.

How Not to Pray?

Prayer is such a personal and sensitive matter for most of us that we wouldhardly think of correcting another person’s prayer. We reason that since prayeris communication with God, it is not really intended for our ears. Furthermore,we reason that God is more concern with our heart than with our words. As aresult, many of us form bad habits in our prayers that are hard to correct.Such bad habits are not only distracting to those who are praying with us, butmay be dishonouring to God, for after all, our words do reflect our hearts (Mt12:35). Let us therefore check ourselves to see if we have been guilty of thesefaults:

Vain Repetitions

The Lord Jesus, inteaching His disciples about prayer, begun negatively by telling them how notto pray. He says, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathendo: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” (Mt 6:7).This, surprisingly, is a common problem today. There are some who claim to beChristians today who would mechanically repeat stock phrases over and overagain as they count some beads. Such ‘prayers’ are abominable to God in thatthey are directly contrary to the teachings of Christ. But among genuinebelievers, this problem also occur, though in more subtle forms. For examplethe use of “Lord” as a punctuation for every sentence in our prayers. Thisbecomes vain repetitions in that the Name of God is repeated for no realpurpose at all.

Long for Length’s Sake

Goinghand in hand with vain repetitions is “long prayers.” Our Lord says, “Woe untoyou, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, andfora pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greaterdamnation” (Mt 23:14). When we are called to pray publicly, many of us areuncomfortable with making a concise, to-the-point prayer, especially if it isshort. As a result, we often pad our prayers with additional and incidentaldetails in order to make up the length. This must be consciously avoided notonly for sincerity sake, but for the sake of those praying with us.

Showmanship

Yet another commonproblem with prayer noted by our Lord is that of showmanship: “And when thouprayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to praystanding in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may beseen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward” (Mt 6:5). Today,the problem may not be quite the same, but showmanship sometimes appears in thesudden bursts of pretentious eloquence in public prayers. It is true that inpouring out our hearts to God, we sometimes need to use words that we would notuse in ordinary conversations, but when big sounding words are used onlyin public prayer, but never in our privateprayer,it is symptomatic of showmanship. Let us therefore abandon all efforts toartificially make our prayers sound lofty and eloquent. It is to say the leastabominable to try to please men rather than God in our prayers (Gal 1:10).

When Not to Pray?

Prayer is an important aspect of the Christian life. We are called to pray andto pray constantly. But that does not mean that we are to continue in prayeruntil God grants us our requests. There are at least two situations in which weare not to pray:

When We Ought Rather to Act

When the Israelites lostthe battle against Ai the first time, Joshua rent his clothes and prayed beforethe ark until the evening. But instead of receiving the Lord’s approval, hereceived a rebuke from the Lord for continuing in prayer: “Get thee up;wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?” (Jos 7:6–10). There was sin in thecamp, and Joshua should have understood that. Instead of praying only, heshould have investigated and rid the camp of the offending party. In the sameway, remaining in prayer after we failed an examination is not very helpful. Weshould rather begin to study for a re-examination as soon as possible.

When it is Clear that our Desire is against God’s Will

Moses was told by theLord to stop asking to be allowed into the promised land (Deut 3:26). It wasclearly against His will to do so. In the same way, we ought not to persist inprayer when we know that what we are asking is contrary to God’s will. Prayingthat the Lord will bless your relationship with an unbelieving girlfriend orboyfriend is certainly not pleasing to God. A proper course of action would beto call off the relationship rather than pray.

Conclusion

As we mentioned in the introduction, this article is intended to be a kind of akey-facts reference, which seeks to answer some of the most common questionsconcerning prayer. It is hoped that this is achieved to some degree. But nowremains the most difficult question: How to put into practice the ApostlePaul’s injunction: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17). We must answer thisquestion individually as we seek to have a disciplined Christian life and alife that is constantly lived before the face of God.

—JJ Lim