I look at prayer in a similar way, but then slightly differently, than I do other practical aspects of Christian living. How to study the Bible can be learned as easily as learning how to read the newspaper. Except that prayer is important in making the words on the Bible page take root in the heart. That is something for which there is no promise when it comes to the newspaper or a novel. And evangelism is a subject which can be learned from a book and by experience. The problem is that evangelism, no matter how technically accurate, or emotionally charged, is never going to win a single soul to Christ without the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And that means that we should spend time in prayer for our evangelism and our contacts. Things like godly entertainment, godly speech and our attire are often legislated for us one way or another. But if our hearts are not right with God, these things may be practiced but with cold and even rebellious hearts. On the other hand when mixed with prayer, they take on a spiritual ministry of their own. We can learn the principles of humility, charity, generosity, compassion, etc. relatively easily. But all of these sorts of things intensify their meaning and purpose if they are linked together under the ministry of the Holy Spirit through prayer.
But prayer, in my mind, is not like any of the other subjects that I have just mentioned. Prayer is not a face or a garment that we put on as we go out the door to face the world. Prayer is not like grabbing our Bibles as we get in the car to go to church. It is not something mechanical or intellectual. Prayer involves actual communion with God. It means putting our hand on the Ark of the Covenant, remembering full well that Uzzah put his hand on the Ark, and God stuck him down. Prayer means pulling back the curtain and looking into the Holy of Holies, which was forbidden to all but High Priest. And that priest didn’t open the curtain out of curiosity or vanity – it was with a God-designed purpose. And yet at the death of Christ Jesus, the veil that God ordered to separate Himself from sinners was split down the middle. Now, anyone who is a priest of God can not only look in, but enter into the holiest of all rooms. To my way of thinking, prayer is the most holy part of the Christian life. Can something this holy, this close to God Himself, be reduced to a mere outline or definition?
Over the years I have collected and read a small library on the subject of prayer. And once again, anyone can do this. But a collection of books on prayer doesn’t make someone effective in prayer. Furthermore, all those books on prayer have made me just a little reluctant to address the subject. There are literally thousands of books on prayer, all written by people who considered themselves experts. I don’t suppose that a professed fool on any subject would deliberately go out of his way to write a book on it. So all those thousands of books were penned by professed experts. When I look at the titles of the few books that I have, many of them are contradictory, if not embarrassing. Do these two books agree? “Teaching yourself to Pray” and “The Holy spirit, our Teacher in Prayer”? How about “Five Laws that Govern Prayer” and “Beyond the Natural Order.” I have an article called “How can God Answer Prayer?” and a book called “Getting Things from God.” Is prayer all about “Getting Things from God?” Whatever our scripture says here, is prayer – “Asking and Receiving?” Is it “Taking Hold of God,” as I’ve read? The more that I read what men say about prayer, the more questions that I have. And besides that – one author will quote another and call him a kook or heretic.
In all my reading, both in the scriptures and from my library, I have made only one real conclusion, with a couple of corollaries – My first conclusion is that I don’t pray nearly enough. Corollary number one is that I’m pretty sure that you need to pray more as well. A second corollary is that I may die with many of my questions about prayer unanswered. And a third is that if there are answers to my questions, they will only come as I pray more, not as read more of the writings and questions of other men.
Despite all this, I would like to spend another few minutes on the subject of prayer. Of course, we are wasting our time, if our study of prayer doesn’t encourage us to pray more. If we have correct theology on this subject, but no practice, than that is worse than a waste of time. As my old pastor used to say, “Orthodoxy without orthopraxy is practical heresy.”
Let’s think about what this scripture does to define prayer for us. First, I must point out that you won’t find the words “pray” or “prayer” in these six verses. But does anyone question whether or not that is the Lord’s theme?
Can we describe or does the Bible give us a definition of Biblical prayer?
Let’s start with Webster’s Dictionary where several definitions can be found. “The act or practice of praying” – not very helpful, because it uses itself to define itself. “An earnest request; entreaty; supplication” – now we are starting to get somewhere. But a request can be made to anybody from a small child to a Senator. It could even describe a wino, who was begging for a dollar to spend on more poison. “An humble entreaty addressed to God, to a god.” – remember that this is a secular dictionary. “Any spiritual communion with God” – so it doesn’t necessarily involve a supplication. “Something prayed for or requested, as in a petition.”
Here’s my old “Etymological Dictionary” by Chambers. “To pray – v.i. to ask earnestly: to entreat; to petition or address God. v.t. – to ask earnestly and reverently, as in worship; to supplicate:” It says that the word “pray” comes from a French word which came out of Latin, and it meant “to pray.” “Prayer” it says, the act of prayer; entreaty. The words used. Then it goes on, “solemn address to God; a formula of worship.” A dozen other English dictionaries wouldn’t add much more than these. So let’s move on to the Bible, perhaps where we should have started away.
What about the words which are translated “prayer” from the original Koine Greek.
There are only a handful of words – nouns and verbs and their cousins. I won’t go over them because they are pretty much the same and exactly what you’d expect them to be – “prayer,” “supplication,” and “making request.” But there are a couple of twists which I think are interesting. “Euche” (yoo-khay’) is translated “prayer” but more often it is translated “vow.” Obviously, it refers to promises made to God in prayer. And another interesting word, which I’ve mentioned to you several times but in different contexts is “parakaleo” (par-ak-al-eh’-o). The root word of this is “paraklesis” – which takes us into “comfort” and “comforter.” It means “to call to one’s side,” “to summon” and therefore “to beg,” “entreat,” “beseech” or “to pray”– for help. It reminds us of the great blessing there is in being able to call on the Lord when we are in distress.
These are the New Testament words.
But does the Bible DEFINE “prayer” for us?
My Thompson Chain Bible is a good Bible Study tool with all of its helps. It is man-made so there are shortcomings, but I like it, and I use it quite a bit. As I mentioned last Sunday, beside verse 8 there is the word “importunity” and a number. When I turn to the back of this Bible and locate that number, I can find several verses, which the editors think speak about “importunity.” Just two notes above “importunity” here in the margin of Matthew 5 there is the word “ask,” and another number, but then following that there is a scripture reference, which means that I don’t have to go to the back of the Bible. If I turn to that verse, I find another reference to “asking” and it leads to another and another all linked, or chained, together. Something else which this Thompson Bible does can be seen when I look up the word “prayer” at the back. It breaks down prayer into several subdivisions with scriptures, which essentially amounts to an outline. And this case here is that outline on “prayer” – General references: First mention, Universal need, Holy Spirit aid, preciousness, and ascending like incense. The next division lists scriptures which “enjoin” or exhort us to pray. Then there are answers to prayer as given to: Moses, Gideon, Hannah and others…. Following that there are promises; causes of failure; social and family prayer. There is a section on conditions of successful prayer, postures in prayer, and importunity, which I mentioned last week. And finally there are a number of references to the prayers of Christ.
I mention all of that to point out that according to the experts who edited this edition of the King James Bible, there is no Bible verse which defines prayer. Some of you have a Nave’s Topical Bible which has the same sort of outline. Again that helpful book doesn’t have any definitions of prayer.
I am going to come back to this, but if these outlines are correct and there is no Biblical definition of prayer, are we then at the mercy of the “experts” to define prayer?
What are some of those “expert” definitions and descriptions?
I would like you to think about these and compare them with what you know the Bible to say. On a scale of 1 to 10 rate these definitions – as to Biblical accuracy. I am not saying that they are all 10, 0 or 1 or one, but are they accurate or full enough?
Here are some statements made during the midst of men’s sermons. Philip Brooks – “A wish turned Godward.” Charles Trumbull – “Asking God to do what we can’t” – “Being intimate with God.” Richard Trench – “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance; but laying hold His highest willingness.” Samuel Zwemer – “Prayer is the gymnasium of the soul” – “The voice of faith” – “Endorsing God’s checks.” Spurgeon said that prayer was “the autograph of the Holy Spirit, upon the reverent heart,” and “the thermometer of grace.” Henry Ward Beecher –“Prayer is the soul of a man moving in the presence of God.” “The slender nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence.” Preachers have a tendency to get eloquent at the expense of accuracy, and from time to time I’m sure that I’m just as guilty as the rest.
hat do the theological books say? The first thing that I have noticed is that many theologians don’t attempt to define prayer. That is what we might expect from the scholar who is really listening to the Bible. But on the other hand, the expert should be able to draw some conclusions from the Bible. The Westminster Catechism – “Prayer is the offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to His will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies.” That may be an Anglican statement, but it is hard to find much to fault in it. How about Baptist John Bunyan – “Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to his Word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God.” John Gill has an article on public prayer and in his introduction he says – “Prayer is the breath of a regenerate soul; as soon as a child is born it cries; as soon as a soul is born again it prays.” “Prayer is the speech of the soul to God; a talk to him, a converse with him.” “Prayer is an address to God in the name of Christ, and through him as the Mediator, under the influence and the assistance of the Spirit of God, in faith, and in the sincerity of our souls, for such things we stand in need of, and which are consistent with the will of God, and are for his glory to bestow, and therefore to be asked with submission.” Thomas Watson – “Prayer is an offering up of our desires to God in the name of Christ, for things agreeable to his will.” Henry Thiessen didn’t give a definition, but he did say – “True Prayer is characterized by confession: adoration; communion; thanksgiving; and then petition.” Another elemental theology book that I have by William Evans says – “True Prayer consists of such elements as adoration, praise, petition, pleading, thanksgiving, intercession, communion, and waiting.” Our of all of these what is your favorite definition or description of prayer?
Are we agreed that Matthew 7:7-11 is speaking about prayer? Assuming that we are agreed, then what is it that our Lord says about the subject? What are the nouns and verbs which the Saviour employs? He uses the word “ask” five times in these five verses. Can we say that prayer involves a polite and reverent “asking” for things? He also speaks of “knocking,” but of course that was used metaphorically – There are no physical doors to rap, and certainly to “knock on wood,” is silly. But using it as an illustration, generally we knock on a door with the hope of being invited to enter. And we “seek” things for no other purpose but to find what we are seeking.
There is a lot more involved in prayer, but ultimately, it is the humble act of asking the holy and omnipotent God for His blessings. The Lord encourages and teaches prayer – because we are utterly dependent upon Him. The Lord encourages and teaches prayer – we are very lax and negligent in prayer. This is one of the several lessons that the Lord Jesus has for us in this part of His sermon.