A Question About Prayer

Hey All, remember me? Things have been a little hectic since my last post (in September). I put up this blog as a way of talking about the work of the church in Bayfield (and beyond, I suppose). And although I think a lot about the work Christ calls us to do here, I regret that I don't write about it as much as I'd like to. (As a Lenten discipline, I plan to post something every week and I hope it becomes a habit.)

That being said, I have recently had some interesting questions posed to me via email. After thinking through and writing out my responses, it occurred to me that they kind of sounded like the stuff I ought to be posting on my blog.

So here's the first. It comes from Lisa S. (with contribution from her husband Jim). Lisa writes:

Pastor Brian, I have a question I have been pondering over for a number of years. Bear with me as I try to find the missing piece to this puzzle. The bottom line to the question is … Does the greater number of people praying for a situation affect the overall outcome? It seems like the answer should automatically be yes, but should it? What started me on my road of confusion was a comment a well known Christian man made a number of years ago when his wife was ailing from cancer. He didn’t understand how his wife, receiving hundreds if not thousands of prayers, should receive more blessings than someone else in a similar situation, but not as fortunate to have fame and notoriety. Does someone who receives more prayers get more comfort from God? So does the individual who knows only a few people and also has cancer receive less comfort? We pray to God for his will to be done, but does he change the direction of his healing because 100,000 people are praying for this individual as oppose to one? I don’t believe it for a second. Is the power of prayer the same if one person is praying or 100?

We have prayer chains. Does it help to have 5 or 50? If I thought numbers made a difference I would place an ad in the Wall Street Journal asking for prayers. If the actual number of people praying doesn’t matter than I can’t help but come to the conclusion that it isn’t about numbers. I believe in the power of prayer. Great miracles happen through prayer. It’s an expression of ones heart. Putting your troubles at Gods feet is what we as Christians do. God asks us to pray to him for the blessings we have received in our lives and those who are in need. When we pray for someone in need we too are the ones receiving blessings.

So it is not about numbers. So when we ask for prayers it’s an invitation for the individuals who are praying to be blessed and to have a relationship with God. So the prayee gets the blessing. But how does the individual in need get the blessing from God when numbers don’t matter?
I feel like I going in circles.

So I wrote:

Lisa, the questions you raise about prayer are not uncommon. I think these questions about prayer are so often asked because they are also so difficult to answer definitively. We are not God and so we're not able to fully explain why God does what God does. What troubles me most about prayer--especially about prayer for someone's healing--is that sometimes miracles do happen. Kyra is actually a good example of this: when Sherry was pregnant with Kyra, her water broke at about 19 weeks. The doctor said that nothing could be done: the amniotic sack does not heal up so the baby would eventually miscarry; so the best course of action would be to induce labor before an infection could set in. On the day of the procedure, Sherry wasn't ready. She told the doctor that they could do it at the first sign of infection, but she just couldn't do it. Meanwhile, church friends and family around the world were praying for Sherry and the baby. And as the days went by, the sack did indeed heal back up (a feat the doctor could not find other examples of) and you've met the evidence of what eventually happened.

Now comes the complicated part: explaining why this happened. To the godless, I suppose it could be rightly stated that the natural world is vastly more complex than we suppose. But it's not so simple for us. We know the privilege of a personal relationship with the God of all creation. We see that same Creator's hand in events like this... what we can't always see is why. Why did God spare my baby? Babies die in the womb all the time; why this one? Was it because so many were fervently praying for her? Maybe. Maybe it was the earnest, heartfelt nature of their prayers. For that matter, what if it were my prayers? What if God was waiting on me to finally surrender and leave everything, even my children, at the feet of God? But in the end, these are not questions I can know the answers to; and for me, that's kind of the conclusion I've come to.

For me, prayer isn't about bending God's will to conform to mine, it's about yielding my will to God's. I know that when two or more are gathered in our Savior's name, he is present in a unique way. That doesn't mean he is not present when I am alone or that he is super-present when I'm praying with a stadium filled with his followers either. It doesn't guarantee the answer to prayer that I may have been hoping for, but it is the promise of presence. I think you're absolutely right: we need prayer because God uses prayer to be present with us, if only through the comforting presence of the one-or-more kneeling next to us on our behalf.

Why do we pray for the needs of others? Because God is present with them when we do. Oh, and because sometimes miracles happen; sometimes prayer fixes our gaze on something just long enough to see the impossible made possible. But for me that's just the icing.

Lisa's response:

Excellent. This is what I was getting close to figuring out, but couldn’t grasp it. Like you said “we need prayer because God uses prayer to be present with us, if only through the comforting presence of the one-or-more kneeling next to us on our behalf”. I will reread your response in days to come and let it sink in. I will probably have more questions for you. I like the way you are able to tie it all together.

What a wonderful story of lil Kyra and how she is your miracle baby. It warmed my heart.

Then Jim chimed in with:

Great question, and great thoughts on the subject of prayer. I think, as with so many examples of Gods work, prayer is a multifaceted gem with many benefits for all involved. Probably one of the most poignant, and well worth mentioning is that after the “fall of man” God abandoned this world and gave it over to Satan. Instead of God walking with man in the cool of the evening in the garden we are called to wait on the Holy Spirit.

God still desires relationship with his people, but I think it’s like when we go onto someone’s property we generally prefer to either be invited or ask to come on to it. Although we would be capable, if we wanted to, just to trespass and barge on. I think God deeply desires relationship with his people and finds it very pleasing to be invited.

Even though there are so many more facets of this gem to be explored I think that this aspect is one that has great significance in our walk.

Please feel free to throw in your $.02 as well in the comments section. I'd love to hear from more of you on this.