21. WHY PRAY

You might as well ask, “Why use a mobile phone?” The answer is that we need to communicate, and prayer is the best “mobile” you will ever have because you can use it anywhere (even in the subway) and it connects you to the Creator of the universe. It is direct and personal.

Paul’s formula for victory over worry is praise, poise, and prayer. You cannot omit prayer. That’s why Paul’s answer goes so far beyond positive thinking. To win over worry, you must effectively connect with God. As Paul says, "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6).

Peace is possible only to those who have related themselves to God through Christ, who is the Prince of Peace. The Bible declares: "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked" (Isaiah 57:21). By "the wicked" is meant not only the guttersnipes, the ne'er-do-wells, the riffraff of society. The wicked are those who, unrepentant of their sins, have either refused or neglected to come to the Son of God by faith. They have not received Him into their hearts.

Prayer takes us to the heart of life

Read very carefully, for what you are about to read is a staggering truth.

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now work-eth in the children of disobedience. —Ephesians 2:1,2

God's Word here states that until you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you are "dead in trespasses and sins." As one who is dead in trespasses and sins you are dead to God and to every quality inherent in His nature.

What are these qualities? Some of them are holiness, righteousness, love, truth, wisdom, justice, and power. As one who is dead to God you are therefore dead and insensitive to holiness, righteousness, love, truth, wisdom, justice, and power.

Now pause just a moment and think about what that means. To be sure, those who are dead in sin and therefore dead to God have set up standards. Unfortunately they are not God's standards. "Every man is a law unto himself." That explains marital discord, domestic strife, civil factiousness, labor-management antagonism, national crime, and international tensions.

A person dead in sin and therefore dead to God is alive to Satan and to the qualities inherent in his nature. Some of these qualities are sin, hostility, error, folly, injustice, weakness, and fear. A child of disobedience is dominated and controlled by him. Read Ephesians 2:1,2 again: Satan is "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."

Someone takes issue and says, "Well, I'm not a drunkard. I'm not a murderer. I'm not a sex libertine. I'm not an extortionist. I'm not a troublemaker. I'm not a thief. I'm not a blasphemer." Of course not. It is not in Satan's interests that everyone be a drunkard, a murderer, a sex libertine, an extortionist, a troublemaker, a thief, or a blasphemer. He transforms himself as an angel of philosophic light, moral light, social light, political light, and cultural light. Satan is a master of public relations.

Until you come to Jesus Christ as a self-confessed sinner and by faith accept the salvation that He has provided, you are spiritually dead. Death means separation. Physical death means separation of the body from the personality. By personality I refer to all of the unseen facets of our being, including soul, spirit, mind, and heart. Spiritual death is our separation in this life from God. Eternal death is our irremediable and unalterable separation from God forever.

Now, because you are spiritually dead, you are separated from God. Therefore you have no peace. Nor can you have any peace. You can use the power of positive thinking, resort to Gestalt psychology, or adhere to Freudian therapy, but it all will be to no avail. Your only hope is in Christ, the Prince of Peace, through whom you have access to God.

Life is union just as death is separation. Physical life is the union of the body and the personality. Spiritual life is union with God through Christ.

When you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you do not receive simply a new concept or a new creed, or a new formula for living. You receive a Person. It is "Christ in you" (Colossians 1:27). You receive a new nature. "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:4).

Eternal life is the life of God in the soul of the believer. For the child of God, that which we call physical death is but a transition from life to life more abundant, from time to eternity, from the finite into the infinite. Therefore when one receives spiritual life he receives in kind, though not in degree, right here and now, everything that he will enjoy in heaven: communion with God, the favor of God, victory over sin, a transcendent love, divine motivation, and peace.

As mentioned, the formula for peace—victory over worry—is praise, poise, and prayer. No unbeliever can have this perfect peace. The prayer of the unrighteous is an abomination before God (see Proverbs 28:9). God will not hear those who persist in unbelief. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Psalm 66:18).

The only way anyone can come to God is through Jesus Christ. "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). The blind man whom Christ healed in John 9 stated the truth—a truth that is refuted nowhere in God's Word— when he said, "Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth" (John 9:31).

Four facts about prayer

1. Prayer is a family matter. It is a matter between God the Father and born-again believers, His children. Worry is a weakness of the flesh. You cannot conquer a weakness of the flesh in the energy of the flesh. It must be done in the power of God. Prayer gives you access to that power.

2. Prayer is fundamental. This is because it makes available to you the divine dynamic whereby you master the mechanics leading to victory over worry. Prayer is essential to praise. Prayer is essential to poise. God shows us what we must do for victory. In response to prayer He channels to us through the indwelling Holy Spirit the ability to do what we ought to do, which is to obey His commandments.

3. Prayer raises us to God's level. It takes us into God's atmosphere. It brings us into communion and intimacy with God. Prayer signifies dependence upon God. Without Him we can do nothing. With Him we can do everything. He is the source of our strength. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).

4. Prayer recognizes God as the source of our resources. "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). The Greek says, "Man, know thyself." The Roman says, "Man, rule thyself." The Chinese says, "Man, improve thyself." The Buddhist says, "Man, annihilate thyself." The Brahman says, "Man, submerge thyself in the universal sum of all." The Muslim says, "Man, submit thyself." The twentieth-century internationalist says, "Man, learn the art and practice the principles of peaceful coexistence." But Christ says, "Without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). Conversely, with Him we can do anything.

All you need to be is weak

Prayer is the means whereby we make contact with God's strength. Only when we set aside our own strength will the Lord really become our strength. Attempt to float. As long as you exercise your own efforts to keep up, you will go down. Give yourself up to the water and it will immediately sweep under you with its waves and bear you up in its strength. The Lord Himself is our strength. Don't pray "Lord, give me strength" as though you are asking Him for a quality distinct from Himself. Rather say, "O Lord, be Thou my strength."

Listen to Ephesians 3:20: "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." The word translated "worketh" is from the Greek word energeo. And the word translated "power" is the Greek word dunamis, from which we get the word dynamic. Just as Satan and his "powers of darkness" energize the unbeliever, so God energizes the obedient Christian. He becomes the divine dynamic whereby the believer conquers all things, including worry.

The same power that burnishes each star, points each blade of grass, hurls each wave upon the shore, formed the body of our Savior, raised Jesus from the dead, and will raise our bodies or transfigure them in the hour of glory is the same power that is available to each obedient Christian. This power is made available through prayer.

But remember: This power is available only to those who are weak. God's helpfulness is meted out only to those who confess their helplessness. "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Corinthians 12:9,10).

Our strength lies in childlike helplessness. In your helplessness through prayer, cast yourself upon Him who is our strength. The very essence of the meaning of prayer is that you need help beyond your own strength.

The reason many of us do not pray is that we are too strong—strong in our own false, swaggering, blustering strength. We are strong in our own strength, the very heart of which is utter helplessness, emptiness, and weakness.

Worry is an intrusion into God's province. You are making yourself the father of the household instead of the child. You are setting yourself up as the master of God's kingdom instead of the servant for whom the Master provides.

The basis of prayer is man's need and God's ability to meet that need. When you really pray you are confessing your utter helplessness. You are casting yourself completely and wholly upon God. You are delighting yourself in the Lord. Consequently the Lord grants you the desires of your heart.

Our needs are manifold. Our perplexities are multifarious and variegated. Don't worry. Instead, turn your care into a prayer. Follow the example of Paul, who said, "I conferred not with flesh and blood" (Galatians 1:16). Conferring with flesh and blood about your worries instead of taking them to God is a fruitful cause for increased worry.

The woman who found her weakness—and God's victory

Years ago, while I was still in the pastorate, I concluded a Sunday night service with the benediction. Even before the choir's response had ended, an anxious woman rushed up to me and asked if I would talk with her child, who was under the conviction of sin and wanted to be saved.

It was my joy to see that keen and energetic youngster enter into peace with God through Christ. We had prayer together. As I rose to dismiss them, I realized that the mother was in agony, and she looked at me as if to say, "\ am in such trouble. Can you help me?"

I asked her if she would like to speak with me. She grabbed the opportunity as a drowning man would grab a life vest. I asked the youngster to step into the next office for just a moment. Turning to the mother I said, "All right. Would you like to share with me the problem that is causing you this grief?"

She burst into uncontrollable sobs. I assured her that having been pastor of a church of over 3,000 members for several years I was now shockproof. I further reminded her that everything would be held in strictest confidence.

Let me stop here long enough to tell you that this lady was one of the outstanding members of the church. She taught a Sunday school class, was prominent in the Training Union and in the Women's Missionary Society. She almost never missed a service. She tithed her money. She knew her Bible. If Gallup had taken a poll of the membership, I am sure this lady would have ranked among the most respected of all members.

Finally, she blurted out her story. I sat transfixed with astonishment as she told the most sordid story of duplicity and sin I ever had heard from a supposedly respectable woman. At the end she nearly screamed out, "Preacher, have I committed the unpardonable sin?"

It was my joy to assure her from God's Word that if she still desired to repent, God would receive her. I assured her in the words of Jesus, who said, "... him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37b).

For 11 years she had been trying to win in her own strength the battle of life. Though not yet 40 she had already aged considerably. Her health was poor. She was under psychiatric care. Finally she came to Christ, and became a charming, radiant Christian. Her health returned, and her mind lost its shackles of life-destroying worry.

It wasn't until she confessed her helplessness and cast herself wholly upon God that she received strength to live dynamically. Afterwards, as a child of God, she had a prayer life by which she maintained communion with God and kept unclogged the channel through which His strength could be released to her moment by moment and day by day.

Access the efficiency of prayer

Prayer is essential to poise. Recall the story of Daniel. You remember that he had been hounded by the men who were bent upon his destruction. Nevertheless, he did not alter his habit one iota. There was no ruffling of his spirit. He continued to make his prayer unto God three times a day. He prayed in a spirit of deep humility, recognizing his absolute dependence upon God. Was this a sign of weakness? No! It was a sign of strength. To be sure, Daniel put his face in the dust before God, but he did not lose his courage before the wrath of Darius. He sobbed like a heartbroken child when he knelt before his God, but he faced without a quiver the jaws of the hungry lions. What poise!

Prayer is efficient. This fact ought also to induce a greater interest in prayer. Martin Luther was not talking through his hat when he said, "I have so much business I cannot get along without spending three hours daily in prayer." How is prayer efficient?

1. Prayer is efficient in that it saves time. It saves time by conditioning you for the day's activities and personal contacts. It saves time by conditioning those with whom you will associate. It saves time in that it makes available to you wisdom, which in turn leads to quick and proper decisions. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James 1:5). This of course leads to peace of mind. How many people there are who fret and mope around wasting precious time simply because they don't know what to do or how to do it. The Lord has promised them the needed wisdom, but they either refuse it or neglect to avail themselves of it. The resultant loss of peace and time is incalculable. How ridiculous it is for the Christian to ask for wisdom and immediately terminate his prayer, taking leave of Him who is the Source of wisdom before He has had time to impart it. What would you think of a man who walked into your home and with apparent earnestness asked you a question, but then turned around and walked out before you had time to answer it? Remember, prayer is not a one-way street. It is a two-way street.

2. Prayer is efficient because it puts you in touch with infinite intelligence. Prayer will dispel the fogs of human ignorance. It banishes the darkness of self-destructive errors in judgment. People of prayer, regardless of their academic limitations, are the recipients of a proper perspective and a keen understanding imparted to them by Him who is the Truth.

3. Prayer is efficient in that it makes grace available to you. This is the grace necessary to block out negative thoughts, distracting attitudes, and worries that torture the mind and damage the body. Prayer helps us with "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). When your thoughts are Christ's, they are not worry thoughts.

4. Prayer is efficient in that it enlists divine strength. Thus it enables you to effect the proper execution of your God-given responsibilities. While in the flesh upon this earth, our Lord prayed before every great endeavor.

5. Prayer is efficient in that it can change negative circumstances. It can lead to the correction of circumstances that both consume time and saddle a person with destructive grief. Do you remember the prayer of Moses and Aaron on behalf of their sister Miriam who was suffering with leprosy? How would that story have ended had it not been for their prayer?

6. Prayer is efficient in that it leads to harmony. Read once again the first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. How differently history would have been written had it not been for the prayer of the 120 people in the upper room. The harmony that prevailed among them was one of the by-products of their prayer lives. We read concerning them, "And all that believed were together, and had all things common" (Acts 2:44). Worry cannot survive in an atmosphere of such harmony.

7. Prayer is efficient because it is productive of faith. And faith, of course, is the antidote to worry. Faith is acting in confidence upon the word of another. The one who is faithful in his prayer life acts in confidence upon God's Word. He goes to God with all his dilemmas, all of his assets, and all of his liabilities. He acts in confidence upon God's Word, which tells him that if he delights himself in the Lord, the Lord will give him the desires of his heart. He prays. God answers his prayer. The very answer is productive of greater faith—of a more eager and a more earnest disposition to act in confidence upon God's Word.

8. Prayer is efficient because it leads to inner security. The person who spends time regularly in prayer comes to know in his inmost soul that God's Word is true when He assures us: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). The resulting inner assurance leads to much greater efficiency. For instance, I know a man who always insisted on picking up the tab at the restaurant every time he and his friends were eating out. If he went to a ball game with ten or 15 other folks, he insisted on paying the bill. He constantly gave away expensive gifts—gifts he simply could not afford. Why? His dreadful insecurity is the only answer I can conceive. He compensated for the lack of inner security in his mad effort to secure the fervent friendship of a host of people whose gracious responses to his generosity gave him a temporary sense of well-being.

When a man is properly related to God he has within himself all of the ingredients necessary to provide security, joy, and peace, regardless of external conditions. This relationship is maintained only as a man spends time regularly with God.

Why pray? Pray because prayer is the means whereby you permit and invite God to so energize you that you live victoriously and overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. Yes, pray because through prayer you enlist the power of the Spirit of God to conquer the weakness of the flesh—even worry. When your thoughts are Christ's, they are not worry thoughts.