David Crump - Knocking on Heavens Door: A New Testament Theology of Petitionary Prayer

2006 by David Crump

Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com

Ebook edition created 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher and copyright owners. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

eISBN 978-1-4412-3904-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Too often books on prayer offer practical advice but are almost entirely devoid of sound exegesis, or they demonstrate sound scholarship but make no attempt to connect to everyday life. David Crump does a splendid job of bridging the gap between exegesis and application in this stimulating book on petitionary prayer. One does not need to agree with all of Crumps conclusions to benefit from his careful study of the biblical text, his attention to biblical theology, and his theological synthesis that speaks to our contemporary situation.

Thomas R. Schreiner , James Buchanan Harrison Professor of
New Testament, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

By limiting his focus to petitionary prayer, David Crump is able to deal thoroughly with the kind of prayer that raises the most problems for believers and unbelievers alike. In this work, he has made accessible a wealth of recent New Testament scholarship while engaging in a theological critique of the most revered prayer warriors of the last two centuriesa bold move that is both refreshing and long overdue.

Sharyn Dowd , professor of New Testament, Baylor University

This is not just another book about prayer. David Crump has achieved a very satisfying blend of exegetical analysis and theological reflection in a volume that provides insightful and, at times, challenging perspective on the tough questions. His presentation of the biblical teaching on prayer is very helpful and needs to be heard.

Clinton E. Arnold , professor and chairman,
department of New Testament, Talbot School of Theology

For Terry,
who prays for me

Contents

Introduction
When Prayer Becomes a Burden

1. All Things Are Possible for Those Who Believe
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

2. I Believe, Help My Unbelief
Prayer, Faith, and Miracles

3. Persistent Prayer
The Parable of the Friend at Midnight

4. Patient Prayer
The Parable of the Widow and the Judge

5. Praying to the Sons Father
The Lords Prayer, part 1

6. Gods Will and Our Wishes
The Lords Prayer, part 2

7. Our Wishes and Gods Will
The Lords Prayer, part 3

8. Asking in Jesuss Name
Johannine Prayer

9. The Early Church at Prayer
The Acts of the Apostles

10. The Impossibility of Petition and Prayers of the Spirit
Pauline Prayer, part 1

11. Petitionary Prayer in the Life of Paul
Pauline Prayer, part 2

12. Paul the Intercessor
Pauline Prayer, part 3

13. Asking Ethically
Petitionary Prayer in the General Letters and Revelation

Acknowledgments

I have the good fortune of teaching at a college that is not only serious about scholarship but is generous in providing the institutional support necessary for its accomplishment. My work on this manuscript would have taken much longer to complete were it not for the teaching relief I enjoyed through a Diekema research fellowship (20023) and sabbatical leave (20034) granted to me by Calvin College. For this, I am grateful.

Introduction

When Prayer Becomes a Burden

T he young woman entering my church office was a stranger to me, but it took only a moment to discern that she had been crying for a long time. Her sobs were more groans than sighs, deep groans that rumbled upward from the wellspring of a fractured heart. I sat waiting and praying, asking for wisdom. After a few moments, she told me why she had come to my door.

Only the day before, her best friend had died of cancer in the prime of life, leaving behind a husband and several small children. But this young woman now found herself mourning not one but two shocking deaths, for she discovered that her own Christian faith had begun to die soon after her friend.

Both women had attended the same church. Once the cancer was diagnosed only a few months earlier, their pastor had organized an around-the-clock, 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week prayer vigil. He told everyone that they would storm the gates of heaven, claim their sisters healing in the name of Jesus, and if they only had enough faith, then they would prove that the God who brings healing is still more powerful than the devil who breeds cancer.

So the church prayed.

Now, this broken, deflated woman stared at me through swollen eyes and asked, Pastor, why did God lose? How can the devil be more powerful than Jesus?

My friends son had just been released from the hospital because there was nothing more to be done. The twelve-year-old wanted to return home in order to spend his last few days of life sleeping in his own bed. The boys grief-stricken father, a local pastor and community leader, had always believed in Gods power to heal the sick and had led his family (friends and church members included) in fervent prayer for many years, asking that Jesus would heal his sons leukemia. There were brief periods of remission, but overall the boys condition only deteriorated.

Late one night a group of men from the church knocked on the familys front door. A spokesman stepped forward and announced that they had been sent to deliver a message from God: the boy was dying because his father lacked faith. That was why God had refused to answer the familys prayers: my friend was not praying faithfully enough. God had told them that if the family would allow the groups leader to lay his body down over the boy, shielding him from the familys unbelief, and then pray once more for his recovery, he would be healed. My stunned friend stepped in between them and the bedroom door, blocking their march into his sons room, and angrily insisted that they leave his home immediately. As they reluctantly turned and walked out, the groups leader looked over his shoulder and said, You are now responsible for your sons death.

My friend buried his twelve-year-old child later that year. He also left the pastorate.

My wife and I had been dependent upon prayer to pay the bills from the very beginning of our married life. For a seven-year period, while we started a family and I pursued graduate studies, we never knew the possible sources of all the income needed for next months expenses. We learned to pray daily for regular, monthly miracles.

Eventually, I began to sense Gods nudging me to pursue doctoral work overseas, a project that would involve the daunting task of relocating our young family to a foreign country with no savings, no regular income, and no prospects of financial support once we arrived. This would not be the first time we had done something that friends and neighbors might describe as crazy, but it certainly was on a much larger scale. So, I did something I had never done before; I asked God for a very specific signa fleece, if you will, much like Gideons (Judg. 6:3640). My wife, Terry, and I began to pray for a financial sign. We often received anonymous financial gifts to buy groceries and keep the bills paid, so we needed to ask for something noticeably out of the ordinary. We prayed that if the Lord wanted us to move overseas, then he needed to send us $2,000, above and beyond our normal expenses, to begin a travel fund within the next four weeks. My wife and I kept this prayer to ourselves and waited to see what would happen.