The Efficacy of Prayer

 Second Friday of Advent

Within the Wesleyan Quadrilateral: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, Experience, prayer encompasses all four but particularly the second and fourth, Most Protestants would think in terms of prayer falling entirely under the Experience category. Catholic and Eastern Orthodox would think of it more as tradition than anything else. Over the next few Fridays I'll hope to be deepening our understanding of prayer, especially with discussion about forms of prayer from other Christian traditions. Today I just want to deal with what we all fairly well know, Protestant talking to God prayer, often called conversational prayer. 

Why do we pray? We have all seen the bumper sticker/license plate slogans, "Prayer Helps," "Prayer Works," etc. There are other reasons for people to pray, but most folks pray because they believe it does work and they know that it does help. 

The primary form of prayer for Christians (and others) who don't do have a regular habit of praying is petitionary prayer. When people are in trouble, they pray. When they are in deep trouble, they pray more. They ask God for help, for rescue, for relief. Most petitionary prayers are for God's help in short term situations, especially in emergencies. 

For those of us who have a regular dedicated prayer life there may be a tendency to look down on such "emergency only" Christians. I suspect that God does not look down on them. 

Then there are the Prosperity Gospel Christians whose belief is that God will reward prayerful and holy lives with health and wealth. For those of us who have experienced tragedies, chronic pain, unrelenting poverty or have worked with people who have, there may be a tendency to look down on these "Good Times Only" Christians. I suspect that God does not look down on them.

Then there are those Pentecostal Christians for whom prayer is intense emotional release. For those of us who are mainline Christians, especially White Anglo-Saxon Protestant mainline Christians, such prayer appears to be in--what shall I say--"poor taste." We WASPs may have a tendency to look down on such "over emotional" Christians. I suspect that God does not look down on them.

However theologically suspect such folks' prayers may be, God sees the good in them. People are honest to God in prayer. We don't lie to God in prayer. Even those who know God only fleetingly, know that lying to God won't work.

People offer petitionary prayers to God because they believe that God will answer, that God will actively do some sort of directly divine, or divine through human hands, or divine in ways we never could have thought of--some sort of something--that will help.

I can't speak for petitionary prayers other than my own, but I have offered plenty of them. God has not always granted everything I have asked for, but there have been so many times God has granted what I have asked, and granted it abundantly, that there is no way I will ever stop asking.

Let us pray.

Faithfully,

Christian