God’s Providence and Our Prayer Life

by Pastoral Intern Cilas Menezes

Few aspects of the Christian life are more neglected than the cultivation of a habit of personal and private prayer. According to the well-known preacher of the 20^th century Martin Lloyd Jones “everything we do in the Christian life is easier than prayer.” One of the most astonishing testimonies about the reality of the sinner’s struggle with prayer, however, comes from the pen of one of my heroes, the puritan John Bunyan. Pay careful attention to what he wrote:

“May I but speak my own experience, and from that tell you the difficulty of praying to God as I ought; it is enough to make you . . . entertain strange thoughts of me. For, as for my heart, when I go to pray, I find it so reluctant to go to God, and when it is with him, so reluctant to stay with him, that many times I am forced in my prayers; first to beg God that he would take my heart, and set it on himself in Christ, and when it is there, that he would keep it there. In fact, many times, I know not what to pray for, I am so blind, nor how to pray, I am so ignorant; only (blessed be grace) the Spirit helps our infirmities (Romans 8:26).”

Maybe you can relate to him. Or maybe you are so accustomed not to pray that you don’t realize your weakness in this regard. It is my hope however, that you will use Bunyan’s words as an encouragement to engage in self-examination with the disposition of becoming a prayer warrior.

But this is not all that I wish! I want to share a truth with you that has been a tremendous source of encouragement to me as I strive against my own prayerlessness. Did you know that God, in His absolute sovereignty and freedom, decided to govern the world using the prayers of the saints to carry out a significant portion of His will? Let me give six examples:

• The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was God’s answer to the outcry of the oppressed: Gen 18:20,21 and Ezekiel 16:49,50
• The deliverance from the bondage of slavery in Egypt was an answer to prayer: Exodus 2:23-25 with 3:7-9
• Your conversion here in America is the answer of prayer both of saints of the Old (Psalm 67:3-5; 117:1) and New Covenant (Romans 15:8-13)
• Christ’s resurrection was the answer to his prayer on the cross (Psalm 22:19-22)
• The effusion of the Holy Spirit was an answer to Christ’s prayer (John 14:16)
• The conversion of Saul in Acts 9 was, arguably, an answer to the prayers of believers who, being taught by Christ to pray for those who persecuted them (Matthew 5:43,44), prayed for him.

For this, you might ask: Are you saying that we change God’s mind or plan by our prayers? Or even that we play a role in determining God’s will? “No!.” I am saying that the Lord cannot be bound by anyone except himself. Think about it. There is no necessary connection between means and ends. In fact, the law of causality is simply the result of a decision made by the ruler of the universe. There is no ultimate connection between the food we eat and the improvement of our bodies, or in the fact, that water extinguishes fire, or even between the cultivated ground and the expected harvest. Understanding this will give us a deeper appreciation of biblical truths such as this “And what do you have that you did not receive? Now, if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Cor. 4:7).

Can you see now how majestic the privilege of prayer is? Although God could carry out all His purposes instantaneously by the word of His power (just as in creation) He chose to operate by means and He has made it our duty to observe them. We are so inclined to dwell on the visible surface of the effect that we are in danger of crediting it to the mere machinery in the hand of the LORD, that agency which ought to be referred to the efficiency of God Himself. Hence, while the Bible inculcates the diligent use of the means of grace in general, and of prayer in particular, at the same time cautions against resting in those means. We must, therefore, look through and beyond them to their divine Author, who alone can make them effective.

What are you waiting for? Go to your secret place and lift up your prayer to our Heavenly Father; and I hope to see y’all at our next prayer meeting!