Warren W. Wiersbe - Prayer 101

We all know what light is, Samuel Johnson told his friend James Boswell, but it is not easy to tell what it is. He might have said the same thing about prayer, although he did mention that to reason philosophically on the nature of prayer was very unprofitable. Ponder that statement.

What, after all, is prayer? Can we define it? Do we really have to define it? And if God is an all-powerful God, why doesnt He just do what needs to be done? Does He really need our help, through prayer, to accomplish these things? And if Hes an all-knowing God, why do we need to pray at all? Even Jesus taught that the Father knows what we need before we ask Him (Matt. 6:8), so why ask? If Hes a loving God and knows what we need, must He wait for us to pray before He can act on our behalf? Is God our servant?

The more you think about prayer and try to explain it, the more baffling it becomes. It reminds me of the fable of the centipede and the beetle. The beetle asked the centipede, How do you know which legs to move next? The centipede replied, To tell the truth, Ive never thought much about it. And the more the centipede pondered the question, the more confused it became, until finally it was so bewildered that it became paralyzed.

To make things even more challengingand I have a good reason for asking this, so please be patienthow does God, who dwells in eternity, relate to the prayers of His people, which are offered in the midst of time? Did He decree the prayers answers even before the creation of the world? How do we define time and eternity? What, then, is time? Augustine asked. I know well enough what it is, provided nobody asks me; but if I am asked what it is and try to explain it, I am baffled. Both the lowly centipede and the great bishop warn us that, in some matters, analysis can lead to paralysis.

The esteemed devotional writer Oswald Chambers pondered these questions and wrote, We are all agnostic about God, about the Spirit of God, and prayer. It is nonsense to call prayer reasonable; it is the most super-reasonable thing there is.

So from the unbelievers point of view, the question is, Why pray? But from the believers point of view, the question is, Why not pray? Were the children of God, and as such, we need to speak to our Father as well as listen to what He says. In fact, the Christian life begins with the Holy Spirit speaking in our hearts and giving us the assurance of salvation by saying, Abba, Father (Gal. 4:6), and we echo those words in our own witness (Rom. 8:15). When the ascended Lord wanted to assure Ananias of Damascus that it was safe for him to go minister to Saul, He said to Ananias, He is praying (Acts 9:11). That was all the evidence Ananias needed.

Most of us dont understand the functioning of our own minds and bodies, and yet were able to live somewhat normal lives in a difficult world. I cant explain the workings of my car and yet I can drive it, and even though the operating mechanisms of my computer completely baffle me, I can turn the computer on and off and use it to write letters and books. I hear you saying, But wait a minute. The better you understand both your car and your computer, the better youll relate to them and use them. Agreed. And the better I know the Lord and His Word, the better Ill be able to pray and see God answer. But I dont have to wait until I have a PhD in prayer to be able to come to the throne of grace. Even a baby Christian can cry, AbbaPapaFather!