I have never been a proponent of prayer as a means of requesting things from God. Healing, miracles, safety, and other things we might ask for feel nice, but I have never been able to rationalize myself into believing it works. Prayers for personal requests are unverifiable and, outside of select biblical accounts, tend to be obscure enough in their supposed fulfillment that it has always been difficult to ascertain the truth behind the results these prayers seemingly achieve. Even prayers for another person, for their salvation, on some level, feel redundant to me. If one is in a state of loss, would God not naturally be reaching out to them anyway? Does praying for them do anything other than make yourself feel better at best, or worse, lead to a sense of pride if they return to the faith?
Perhaps I am being too heady about this, looking at faith through a lens of intellect rather than through the intangible nature of spirituality and belief. Still, if you are anything like me and hold any of these beliefs, perhaps we can examine other ways in which prayer might hold value without being utilized as a means to request something. In examining our spirituality, we may find something more profound than what can often feel like a transactional conversation with God.
“As my prayer became more attentive and inward, I had less and less to say. I finally became completely silent... This is how it is. To pray does not mean to listen to oneself speaking. Prayer involves becoming silent, and being silent, and waiting until God is heard.” - Søren Kierkegaard.
This quote, along with others made by Kierkegaard, has been inspirational to me in how I view the purpose of prayer. Engagement with the Divine is less about changing the world around you with noble requests of true belief but rather a mechanism of changing yourself to be more in tune with He who made you. We pray so that we might be changed, not to give God a wishlist.
We can even see this through what we read in our model for prayer, the Lord’s prayer.
“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,” The initial statement is one of praise to God, as we tend to offer often, but in a degree of perhaps more awe and reverence than is typically heard in the modern world.
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The next part of the prayer is about God’s action, at first appearing to contradict my stance, but if we examine further, we see a bit more nuance. Rather than asking God to change something in the world, it is asking Him to make the world as He causes it to be, no matter what we desire for it.
“Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Once again, it is a request, but a request of a personal nature. Give us our bread, the Word, so that we might be changed through its guidance. Forgive us our sins as we go out into the world and make the changes required, forgiving and loving others.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” A final request, once more similar. Deliver us from evil, perhaps not the evils of others or malevolent forces but rather the darkness that clings to our very hearts and souls. We go to Him to be changed so that we are not shrouds of darkness but beacons of His light and glory.
“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” A final recognition of authority. Everything comes from Him, and it is for His glory and by His power that anything continues to happen at all.
This model of prayer was given to us by the Lord and is something that truly resonates with me as I grow in my understanding of prayer. Some might argue that to pray for ourselves is selfishly inclined, but we are selfish creatures. We pray for ourselves so that we can become less and that He can become greater. We are to be His instruments to make the world better, not simply requesters of divine aid. So, as you go through this week of prayer and beyond, I simply encourage you to think about how your prayers can change you, not about how God could change the world around you.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of 老司机传媒. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, 老司机传媒 or the Seventh-day Adventist church.