Gary Millar - Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer

New Studies in Biblical Theology is a series of monographs that address key issues in the discipline of biblical theology. Contributions to the series focus on one or more of three areas: (1) the nature and status of biblical theology, including its relations with other disciplines (e.g. historical theology, exegesis, systematic theology, historical criticism, narrative theology); (2) the articulation and exposition of the structure of thought of a particular biblical writer or corpus; and (3) the delineation of a biblical theme across all or part of the biblical corpora.

Above all, these monographs are creative attempts to help thinking Christians understand their Bibles better. The series aims simultaneously to instruct and to edify, to interact with the current literature and to point the way ahead. In Gods universe, mind and heart should not be divorced: in this series we will try not to separate what God has joined together. While the notes interact with the best of scholarly literature, the text is uncluttered with untransliterated Greek and Hebrew, and tries to avoid too much technical jargon. The volumes are written within the framework of confessional evangelicalism, but there is always an attempt at thoughtful engagement with the sweep of the relevant literature.

Many books have been written on prayer. Not a few are of the how to variety. Some are almost mystical. Others carefully work through biblical passages the prayers of Paul, for instance, or of David. Still others survey the many different kinds of address to God found in the Bible. The approach of Dr Gary Millar, in this volume, is unique: he combs through the entire Bible to discover the focus of prayers in each book or corpus of the Bible: this is a biblical theology of prayer. At one level what he uncovers is scarcely surprising: the vast majority of biblical prayers are tied in one fashion or another to Gods purposes across the sweep of redemptive history, culminating in Jesus and the gospel. At another level what he finds is revolutionary: a great deal of contemporary Christian praying is centred on individual anxieties, needs and preferences, and not on the purposes and promises of God. This is not so much wicked (after all, Peter tells his readers, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you, 1 Peter 5:7) as horribly imbalanced. In other words, Gary Millars work not only informs us about prayer in the Bible, but also, rightly absorbed, drives us to prayer that is in line with Gods saving purposes. And suddenly it becomes clearer what it means to pray in Jesus name.

D. A. Carson
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

All theology needs to be preached and lived. That is why writing an academic book on prayer is a deeply challenging experience, and it is why I am so grateful to Fiona, my wife, for her partnership in the gospel and all of life, and her constant encouragement to live out what I have been teaching and writing during the past couple of years. It is also why I gladly dedicate this book to my daughters Lucy, Sophie and Rebekah, who share with us (and create!) the unique delights and disasters of family prayer time, a daily reminder in our house of our need to call on the name of the Lord.

Thinking and writing about prayer, as well as seeking to grow in my own commitment to and enjoyment of prayer, has also lead me to reflect on and thank God for the people who have taught me most about prayer over the years. I am deeply thankful for my parents, John and Lorna Millar, for encouraging me to pray from my earliest days; for my youth fellowship leaders at my home church in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, who introduced me to praying with others; for my fellow students in the Christian Union groups at Queens in Belfast and Aberdeen; for the unique and life-changing experience of congregational prayer modelled on Saturday nights by William Still and the church family at Gilcomston South, Aberdeen; for my in-laws, Warner and Sheena Hardie, who introduced me to the delights of praying for world mission around the breakfast table; and for the faithful prayer warriors at Hamilton Road Presbyterian Church, Bangor. Our experience over twelve exciting years in Dublin heightened our commitment to pray for gospel faithfulness and gospel growth, and we will never forget the times of prayer we enjoyed in Howth, and Malahide Presbyterian Church in both good times and bad.

Writing this book has also deepened our gratitude for those precious people who have prayed for us so faithfully over many years we need it more than ever, and hope they will be encouraged to pray on for God to do his work in and through us by the Spirit through reading these pages.

Since my move to Australia in 2012, many people have listened to me think out loud about prayer, and helped me to sharpen that thinking. I am deeply grateful to those involved in the Tasmania Christian Convention, Ignite Conference in Brisbane, Coffs Harbour Presbyterian Church in New South Wales, the Ministry Training and Development Conference of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, Queensland and Northern New South Wales Church Missionary Society Summer School and the churches of the central coast of New South Wales, who have all been exposed to the developing ideas in this book, and have helped make it better than it otherwise would have been.

I am also grateful to my colleagues at Queensland Theological College, who have listened to random extracts of the argument of the book (and often sharpened them), helped track down resources and set me free to write. The peerless Annette McGrath, our librarian, has been an immense help. A special word of thanks is also due to the students/graduates who helped in the latter stages of production Kamina Wust, Katie Allan, Melinda Smith and Lorissa Achjian. It is a privilege to be part of a godly and supportive community like Queensland Theological College, which is committed to calling on the name of the Lord to keep the promises he has made to us in the gospel.

Don Carson continues to be an example and an encouragement to me, and this book is much better than it would have been because of him. Philip Duce at Inter-Varsity Press has been a pleasure to work with, as always. My thanks go also to Eldo Barkhuizen, whose rigorous and gracious copy-editing brought new clarity to the argument.