Theology MATTERS~ in prayer

Because "theology matters" has become my 'mantra' over the years I was very pleased to read The Secret to a Better Prayer Life by Pastor Joe Thorn (I found his blog this a.m. through Justin Taylor's Between Two Worlds).

Of course, I hope you'll take time to read Pastor Thorn's post, but here are a few highlights:

• I am convinced that one of the best things to help your prayer life is systematic theology.
  
  The more we know of God, the better equipped we are to praise him for who he is.
  
  Good theological meditation of both the glory of God and the heinousness of our corruption will be of great assistance in both knowing and mortifying your sins.
  
  Our thanksgiving will only be as weak as our theology.
  
  At the very least, good theology teaches us to what we may appeal in God when making our requests.
  
  In the end, I believe prayer is impossible without systematic theology. It is the secret of a healthy prayer life. Theology of course is inherent in any prayer, but systematic theology helps us to develop a more holistic, comprehensive and detailed picture of God, self and the world.

Praying Like an Unbeliever?

Lisa, at Lisa Writes, has posted some thoughts on prayer by John Piper--though the post is a pretty quick read, it is plenty full of "meat" to chew on.

I'm reminded that "prayers soaked in scripture", begin with meditation as described by Don Whitney who says, "Meditation is the missing link between Bible intake (reading) and prayer." For more from Whitney and others on the topic of prayer, read my earlier post on the topic of prayer.

If God is Sovereign, Why Pray?

I don't know about you, but I live mostly in the world(s) of, "Wish I'd said that", and "Wish I could say it that clearly"!

Truth is, I spend most of my time simply nodding my head as I read and listen to Godly men and women who CAN and DO "say it clearly". With that in mind, I urge you to read the following series of posts on prayer--if you truly consider God to be completely sovereign, this has crossed your mind at some point!

"If God is Sovereign, Why Pray?"

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Crucifixion and Resurrection

O LORD,
I marvel that thou shouldst become incarnate,
be crucified, dead, and buried.

The sepulchre calls forth my adoring wonder,
for it is empty and thou are risen;
the four-fold gospel attests it,
the living witnesses prove it,
my heart's experience knows it.

Give me to die with thee that I may rise to new life,
for I wish to be as dead and buried
to sin, to selfishness, to the world;
that I might not hear the voice of the charmer,
and might be delivered from his lusts.

O Lord, there is much ill about me - crucify it,
much flesh within me - mortify it.

Purge me from selfishness, the fear of man, the love of approbation,
the shame of being thought old-fashioned,
the desire to be cultivated or modern.

Let me reckon my old life dead because of crucifixion,
and never feed it as a living thing.

Grant me to stand with my dying Saviour,
to be content to be rejected,
to be willing to take up unpopular truths,
and to hold fast despised teachings until death.

Help me to be resolute and Christ-contained.

Never let me wander from the path of obedience to thy will.

Strengthen me for the battle ahead.

Give me courage for all the trials, and grace for all the joys.

Help me to be a holy, happy person,
free from every wrong desire,
from everything contrary to thy mind.

Grant me more and more of the resurrection life:
may it rule me,
may I walk in its power, and be strengthened through its influence.

(from: The Valley of Vision - A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, published by Banner of Truth)

Pondering Prayer

Since my earlier post linking to Dan Phillips' post on What Prayer Is and Isn't the topic of prayer has been on my mind constantly. Partly because I've been wrestling with the practice and understanding of prayer for several years now, and partly because I was concerned that MY post may have left the impression that we just don't need to pray at all!!! May it never be!!!

As I've evaluated my own understanding and practice of prayer in light of Scripture, I've found some excellent discussions and teaching on the topic by J.C. Ryle, John MacArthur, J.I. Packer, Don Whitney, and many others. I hope you'll enjoy them too!

In "Concise Theology - A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs" J.I. Packer offers this: "God made us and has redeemed us for fellowship with himself, and that is what prayer is. God speaks to us in and through the contents of the Bible, which the Holy Spirit opens up and applies to us and enables us to understand. We then speak to God about himself, and ourselves, and people in his world, shaping what we say as response to what he has said...Petition, in which the persons praying humbly acknowledge their need and express themselves as trustfully depending on God to meet it out of his sovereign resources of wisdom and goodness, is the dimension of prayer that is most constantly highlighted in the Bible...There is no tension or inconsistency between the teaching of Scripture on God's sovereign foreordination of all things and on the efficacy of prayer. God foreordains the means as well as the end, and our prayer is foreordained as the means whereby he brings his sovereign will to pass...Christians who pray to God sincerely, with reverence and humility, with a sense of privilege and a pure (i.e., purified, penitent) heart, will find in themselves a Spirit-given filial instinct prompting prayer to and trust in their heavenly Father (Gal. 4:6, Rom. 8:15), and a desire to pray that outruns their uncertainty as to what thoughts they should express (Rom. 8:26-27). The mysterious reality of the Holy Spirit's help in prayer becomes known only to those who actually pray."

Donald S. Whitney points out a lost aspect of prayer in his book, "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life". Whitney writes, "This is one of the most compelling concepts on prayer I've ever learned. Meditation is the missing link between Bible intake (reading) and prayer. The two are often disjointed when they should be united. We read the Bible, close it, and then try to shift gears into prayer. But many times it seems as if the gears between the two won't mesh. In fact, after some forward progress in our time in the Word, shifting to prayer sometimes is like suddenly moving back into neutral or even reverse. Instead there should be a smooth, almost unnoticeable transition between Scripture input and prayer output so that we move even closer to God in those moments. This happens when there is the link of meditation in between...The process works like this: After the input of a passage of Scripture, meditation allows us to take what God has said to us and think deeply on it, digest it, and then speak to God about it in meaningful prayer. As a result, we pray about what we've encountered in the Bible, now personalized through meditation. And not only do we have something substantial to say in prayer, and the confidence that we are praying God's thoughts to Him, but we transition smoothly into prayer with a passion for what we're praying about. Then as we move on with our prayer, we don't jerk and lurch along because we already have some spiritual momentum."

I don't know about you, but I find these principles and practices to be much more in line with Scripture than the popular man-centered notion that "prayer changes things".

Prayer, do we rightly understand it?

I've already confessed that I enjoy reading other blogs of well-respected Xians--those I agree with and those I don't. So you won't be surprised that I'm going to link you to a recent post from one of my favorite blogs, Pyromaniacs (see "Favorites" sidebar).

In this particular post Dan Phillips (one of several Pyros) gives us a great deal to ponder about prayer. I'm grateful for his challenging post because for years I've been very uncomfortable with the cliches used by Xians about prayer, especially this one, "Prayer changes things".

Humor me for a moment,will you? If prayer literally "changes things" then wouldn't we be doing it a WHOLE LOT more praying than we do?. The fact is, prayer changes ME and puts ME in line with GOD's ordained plan, and most of us find that to be way too uncomfortable. Ouch!!!

On top of that, if prayer changes things then that means we, the created, have some sort of ability to change the mind and/or actions of God, the creator. With that sort of unbiblical thinking, we bring into question the very nature and character of God, is He immutable (unchangeable) or not?

Do you see how our unbiblical theology impacts EVERY area of our understanding? If I don't clearly understand and embrace God as He has revealed Himself in scripture, then my understanding of prayer, salvation, suffering, sanctification, etc. will be impacted as well. We do God great disservice and damage our sisters and brothers in Christ by proclaming things that scripture simply does not support.

So, please give Dan's post a good slow and thoughtful read. Then, share your thoughts and comments with me.