SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE PART 3 - PRAYER

The greatest amount of preparation and the most devoted attempts to partner and spend time with others (see parts 1 and 2 in earlier posts) will fail miserably when it comes to being a spiritual influence if you and I don’t pray. Thinking that great effort and discipline on our part will get the job done as far as making disciples of all nations is foolish and conceited because the reality is that God and God alone has the power to change a heart. He says in John 6:44 that "No man can come to the father whom he has not called.” Until we realize our utter and complete dependence on Him to intervene and act in the lives of our friends and family, and ask him to do this through prayer, we will be ineffective and frustrated in our attempts to share Christ.

At the end of John Piper’s book desiring God, he has an appendix entitled “The Goal of God in Redemptive History”. In this section, Piper lists several key events in the history of our world such as the flood, the plagues in Egypt, and the birth and death of Jesus Christ. In connection with each and every one of these events the Bible has recorded either through Jesus’ own words or through God speaking through the prophets that God orchestrated what happened “for His glory” or “for His name sake.” Doesn’t it make sense that everything in our world should be for the glory and honor of the almighty creator God? To think that this world is about you and I is pretty ridiculous really. How do we come remotely close to deserving what God deserves?

I say all this to say that I think the purpose of prayer is no different that the purpose of everything else, it's for God'scglory. When we pray and God answers our prayer we get to praise him for his goodness and love and ultimately he is glorified when this happens. This line of thinking certainly begs the question, why is it that God doesn't always answer our prayers? To answer this question we have to look at both the nature and attitude of our prayers. While Jesus did say things like, "Ask and it will be given to you" in Luke 11:9, he also also said in John 14:13 that "I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father." From these verses we can conclude that God will always answer our prayers as long as the result brings glory to Him. I know many of my prayers are not of this nature. I frequently pray asking for things that will bring glory to me with little to no concern for the glory of the father. It's not surprising then that God doesn't answer these prayers. The other place that I often struggle in prayer is the attitude with which I approach God. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God speaks through the prophets to give these instructions about prayer: "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. " "Humble themselves" and "seek my face" are key phrases giving us clues as to how God wants us to approach prayer. I'm not sure about you but my prayers are usually quick cries for help asking God to give me the extra energy I need when feeling under the weather or asking for a little help on a test. These "give me a boost" prayers where we ask for God's extra 10% to add to our 90 don't show the humility or seeking God is asking for. We are fooling ourselves if we believe anything other than truth that we're absolutely 100% dependent on God for everything. When we realize this and stop trying to take credit for what we do, getting on our knees and talking to the Lord becomes so much easier and much more real.

If you want to be used as a spiritual influence by God, start praying daily for people by name that you see on a regular basis. Ask God to give you opportunities to share you faith with these people but watch out. You might be surprised at the new love you have for your classmates, co-workers or family. You also might be surprised at what God wants to do with believers who are ready and willing to obey his leading and his instruction to go and make disciples.