Let’s talk about Prayer:
“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.” - 2Th 1:11
Prayer is an extremely important, if often overlooked, aspect of our christian walk. However, when we read the Bible it’s hard to miss the large place given to it in its pages. As with many topics that can be found in the Bible, an enormous study can be done regarding the topic of prayer. For this week’s Theology Thursday, we will simply focus on the intercessory aspect of prayer. That is, praying on behalf of someone else.
In 2Th 1:11, Paul says that he constantly prays for the Thessalonians. And this shouldn’t be surprising as he seems to pray for the other churches as well (i.e. Eph 1:16, 3:14; Col 1:3). He also exhorts for intercessions to be made for others (1Ti 2:1).
It’s not just Paul of course. You’ll also see James encouraging Christians to:
“… confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” - Jam 5:16
Intercessory prayer is a key feature for fulfilling the Law of Christ. As prayer is one way in which we can “carry each other’s burdens” (Gal 6:2). In fact, Samuel considered it a sin for him to cease praying for disobedient Israel (1Sa 12:23). On top of that, the Lord Jesus Christ made intercessory prayers as well:
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” - Luk 22:31-32
With all the tremendous examples given to show the importance of intercessory prayer, it may come as a surprise that some Christians (and non-christians) have come to think that it’s not important. That it’s unnecessary or serves no purpose. The reason for that opinion is because some have been confronted with the notion of God’s absolute sovereignty. Which seems to be at odds with intercessory prayer. After all, if God has a plan based on His exhaustive foreknowledge that is sure to come about (Act 2:23) and if God declares the end from the beginning (Isa 46:10), then what God has planned will come to pass with or without our prayers, right? For who can resist His will (Rom 9:19)? So, then intercessory prayer has no purpose.
As a reminder, Theology Thursdays are meant to provide short introductions to topics like these. So, we don’t have enough space to tackle harmonizing intercessory prayer and God’s sovereignty. But there’s generally a few ways Christians go about answering this problem:
The purpose of intercessory prayer is to alter our own mindsets and to help us grow in our faith and trust in God. As well as strengthen our relationship with God and others (Rom 12:2).
God is sovereign but He isn’t so set in His plan(s) that He can’t alter it/them occasionally to accommodate His beloved children (Luk 11:11-13).
God has middle knowledge and He knows what people would do in any situation and took their intercessory prayers (among other things) into consideration when He decided which world to actualize (Mat 11:20-24).
Well, I hope that this has whet your appetite for looking into these matters. What are your thoughts on intercessory prayer? Are you going to follow the example of the apostles, prophets and Christ? Or do you think God’s sovereignty provides you with sufficient justification to sin against Him and your fellow man by not doing it? (I might’ve worded those questions a little biasedly…) We’d love to hear what you think!
SOURCES:
Erickson, Millard. Christian Theology 3rd Edition (pg. 378-379). BakerAcademic
Theissen, Henry. Lectures in Systematic Theology (pg. 396-399). Eerdmans Publishing Company 1951.
Laing, John. Middle Knowledge: Human Freedom in Divine Sovereignty (pg. 283-317)
Sproul, RC. St Andrew’s Expositional Commentary: Romans (pg. 327-331). Crossway.