Bryan Chapell - Praying Backwards: Transform Your Prayer Life by Beginning in Jesus Name

2005 by Bryan Chapell

Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.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 meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-5855-8263-1

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

Scripture is taken 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

Names of individuals and occasional specifics have been changed in some personal accounts appearing in this book to respect the concerns and wishes of those involved. My debt is great to those who have taught me the gospel of grace by the testimony of their lives.

The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.

Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.

For a study guide/workbook, please go to www.BryanChapell.com

That we all need help in our praying is a Christian truism. In this intriguingly titled book, the wisdom of a wise, experienced, and theologically alert pastor-teacher offers help, much help, and nothing but help. Every reader will be grateful for what President Chapell has written.

J. I. Packer, author, professor of theology, Regent College

Across the years I have learned so much from Bryan Chapell that I thought the laws of mathematics would keep me from learning much more. But it happened again!

I never close a prayer without saying in Jesus name, but suddenly I came to see that merely to stack my own agenda for God on top of the word Jesus doesnt quite trim the egotism from my conversations with God. Now it is clear: the first word of my prayer should be Jesus. This will keep my selfish needs to influence the Almighty in perspective.

Calvin Miller, author, professor, Beeson Divinity School

Christians are often perplexed and discouraged by the seemingly few answers to prayer they receive. With his usual careful exposition of Scripture and his helpful applications to daily life, Bryan Chapell tackles this issue head-on with a book that should encourage all of us to pray and not give up (Luke 18:1).

Jerry Bridges, author, speaker, Navigators representative

This is the book I have been waiting for! Finally, a book on prayer that puts the Person of our Lord before the petitions on our lists. What a novel idea... prayer as a means of becoming more preoccupied with the beauty of Jesus name than paralyzed by the burden of our needs! Bryan has given us an incredibly timely and practical study on prayer. He shows us how the gospel moves us from using prayer as a formula for manipulating God to enjoying prayer as a forum for fellowshipping with our heavenly Father... who delights to care for us and bring great glory to his Son, Jesus. If you buy only one book on prayer, Id recommend this one.

Scotty Smith, senior pastor, Christ Community Church, Franklin, Tennessee

This book answers questions about prayer that I have pondered for many years. In view of Gods sovereignty, I have wondered how some specific verses should be understood and applied. Bryan Chapell has given me the key.

Nancy Prentis, Bible Study Fellowship teaching leader

To
Lanny Moore Sr.

Valiant leader of Gods people
and
humble servant of the Spirit
claiming God as Father
for the
Children of the Covenant
and the
cause of Christ

Contents

Acknowledgments

I am thankful for the Board of Trustees of Covenant Theological Seminary who provided me a writing sabbatical to complete this book. The constant support and encouragement of this body of faithful leaders has made my years of seminary leadership rewarding and joyful. I am especially thankful for the friendship and wisdom of Chairman Walt Turner, who has been careful to protect my calling and encourage my gifts for the sake of Christs kingdom.

I am thankful for the Covenant Seminary administrators whose expertise and energies were applied with extra devotion to enable me to have time away from my regular duties. The Lord has greatly blessed me with Wayne Copeland, Mark Dalbey, Donald Guthrie, Brad Hough, and Dave Wicker as colleagues and friends. We are a team!

I am thankful for Mrs. Kathy Woodard. As secretary to the president, she dedicates herself to honoring the Lord by enabling me to do more than I have a right to accomplish, while offering to do more than I have a right to expect.

Introduction

Praying for Change

H ow would your prayer change if you began where you normally end? We habitually end our prayers with the phrase In Jesus name, amen. The amen means truly or even I really mean this. But what are we actually saying? We are supposed to be saying that everything we prayed for was offered in Jesus namefor his honor and purposes. When we pray in Jesus name, we pray for his sake more than our own. We still present our desires and concerns to God, but we do so in the context of yielding our priorities to Christs priorities. The final phrase of our prayer reminds us, as well as commits us, to submit all our requests to the glory of Jesus.

Yet thats not always the way we pray. Often we focus on asking God to ease our worries and satisfy our wants before adding in Jesus name as an obligatory spiritual seasoning to make our petitions palatable to God. Some of us may even have been taught to use the name of Jesus to claim the desires of our heart. Such teaching encourages us to end prayer in the name of Jesus to get whatever we want. But Jesus is not like a genie in a bottle whom we can command by invoking his name. When we pray, we should be doing more than looking heavenward, believing with all our might that our wish will come true, and instead of repeating, Star light, star bright, bring the wish I wish tonight, saying, In Jesus name, amen.

Two problems immediately arise when we treat prayer like a surefire wishing star. First, we limit God by the wisdom of our wishes. If God were really obligated to do what we think should happen, then God would be tethered to the leash of our understanding. Our wishes would fence Gods omniscience within the limits of our brain and restrict his plans to the extent of our insight. But if our wisdom defines the limits of Gods, then our world will inevitably unravel. The job we may want for extra income may take us from the family that God knows needs us more. The immediate cure for our sickness may deny doctors an insight that would save millions or may deprive us of the patience that God will use to bring Jesus into the hearts of our children. We must trust God more than our wishes or concede that our world will be controlled by billions of competing wishes that we have neither the power nor the wisdom to control.

The second problem with making prayer a wishing well is forcing the conclusion that prayers, like wishing wells, are fantasies. Though it may seem very holy to say, I believe that God will be true to his promises and provide what I want, such expressions ultimately deny everyones faith. Everyone suffers. We live in a fallen world. Biblical prayer does not solve all our earthly problems, and God never promised that it would. Jesus did not even promise his disciples a perpetual bed of roses. Instead, he said, In this world you will have trouble (John 16:33).