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117 | Why Pray if God is Sovereign?
633 Plays2 years ago
After a short break Verity Podcast is beginning a mini-series on prayer! We begin with the big question: If God knows everything, why should we pray? Prayer is for communion, for transformation and for opportunity to partner with God. Learn why we pray and how to start.
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Transcript
Introduction to Verity Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Verity Podcast. I'm your host, Felicia Mason-Heimer, and I am here to teach you how to know what you believe, to live it boldly, and to communicate it graciously to the world around you. I believe that women are ready to go deeper in their faith than ever before, and they don't have to go to seminary to do it. I am so glad you're here, and I hope you'll join me on this journey because every woman is a theologian.
Return & Prayer Series Introduction
00:00:29
Speaker
Hello, friends. Welcome back to Verity podcast. We took a short break this summer as we were camping and traveling a little bit, spending time with family. But now we are back and I'm excited to start a new series as we finish out the summer, a mini series, if you will, to talk about prayer and a theology of prayer.
00:00:47
Speaker
As I've been thinking about what episodes need to be done on Verity Podcast in the future, I keep coming back to this topic.
Struggles & Theology of Prayer
00:00:55
Speaker
I'm finding that not only do so many people in my audience struggle with prayer, struggle to cultivate a consistent prayer life, they often can identify the root of that prayerlessness in their theology of prayer and a need for a robust theology behind why they pray and who they are praying to.
00:01:15
Speaker
So I'm excited for this little mini-series. I'm not sure how many episodes it will run, maybe until we've covered all the necessary topics. But we're going to start this week by talking about a question I've received many times, one that I have asked in my own walk with God, which is, why pray at all if God is sovereign?
00:01:37
Speaker
Why should we pray if God is just going to do what he's going to do? If God's going to save some people or heal some people, what's the purpose of prayer in the first place? We're going to talk about this in this episode and hopefully by the end of it you have a little bit better understanding of the purpose of prayer, the nature of God, and why prayer is so essential to the Christian life.
00:02:01
Speaker
Before we begin, I want to address some underlying theologies that will impact your view of prayer.
Determinism, Free Will, & Prayer
00:02:09
Speaker
When I was writing Every Woman a Theologian, my systematic theology for lay women, in that book, I outlined some different salvation theologies and their view of how God works in the world. This is discussed in the chapter on the nature of God and in the chapter on soteriology or salvation theology.
00:02:29
Speaker
The two primary viewpoints are determinism and libertarian free will. And with these views, you end up with a different perspective on how God interacts with the world. Indeterminism, and of course there is a spectrum of perspective within these views, but indeterminism, God is literally determining everything that happens in the world. In order for God to be sovereign or
00:02:56
Speaker
Omnipotent, their perspective is that he must be all causing.
00:03:02
Speaker
But in the libertarian free will point of view, God's sovereignty is not threatened by human's choice. God, in fact, in his sovereignty, imbued people, human beings, with a will, and that his own will as a sovereign God is actually reflected in the image of God in man. He has given humanity the ability to use his will for good or for evil.
00:03:30
Speaker
And in the libertarian perspective, this is an essential foundational element for all relationship and love. We could not have a loving relationship with God if we were not freely able to choose Him. You'll find this perspective in most Wesleyan traditions, those that are related to John Wesley, such as Methodism, the Nazarene tradition, Charismatic Pentecostal, Free Will Baptist, and others.
00:03:58
Speaker
And so with these two perspectives, depending on the one you hold or where you land, it could alter your view of prayer.
Theological Perspectives on Prayer
00:04:06
Speaker
Now, all Christian traditions, regardless of where they land on determinism, definitely view prayer as important because even if God is determining everything, you don't know what he's determining.
00:04:18
Speaker
So you still need to pray in order to stay connected with God's will and have his wisdom imbued within you so you can do his will in the world. So prayer matters no matter what. Charles Spurgeon said in relation to evangelism that he didn't know who God had chosen to be saved, so he needed to preach to everybody, and God would use his preaching to save who he would will to be saved.
00:04:43
Speaker
So that's an example of how a determinist would make sense of something like prayer or evangelism where God is determining or choosing the path or the person.
00:04:55
Speaker
Now, as a Wesleyan or Reformed Arminian, as I sometimes call myself, classical Arminian, I hold to the libertarian perspective. And so in my view, prayer is even more powerful, even more important, even more essential because God has actually designed it as a way for us to partner with his work and to understand what his will is and to be a part of what he's doing in the world.
00:05:21
Speaker
This isn't taking away from his sovereignty at all. It's an expression of his love. God is not threatened by the will that he gave man. In fact, I would say it actually exalts his sovereignty that he is secure enough to give man the ability to reject him or to respond to him. But God is always the initiator in salvation and in our sanctification. All of that begins with him. Our response, though, is something that he permits us.
00:05:49
Speaker
to pursue. We can respond to Him in obedience, we can respond to Him in humility, or we can respond to Him in pride. And as we know, Scripture says that God resists the proud. So where does this take us in regard to prayer?
Prayer as Communication with God
00:06:03
Speaker
When we get to the theology of prayer, we have to begin with that underlying theology of purpose and determination. Is God determining everything? Is He literally making every single thing happen, even the evil things and the suffering things?
00:06:21
Speaker
for his glory or is he giving humans the ability to choose good or evil and then actively redeeming the evil choices and inviting us to be a part of that redemption? I would say it's the latter. I do not believe that God is directly causing suffering and evil
00:06:40
Speaker
pandemics and hurricanes. I believe that God permits the evil of this world and he also is constantly actively redeeming those things in his grace and in his love and we get to be a part of that redemption. We get to be his hands and his feet and in his sovereignty he has invited us to be a part of that great restoration and prayer is a huge part of this.
00:07:11
Speaker
But prayer is not first about getting things, and this is the segue I want to take into the purpose of prayer and our proper theology of prayer. I think part of the reason we get hung up with prayer is because we look at it as just a way of getting what we want. I pray for this and God should give it to me.
00:07:33
Speaker
If you are thinking of prayer in this way, then yes, determinism is going to be a huge hang up for you because you're still only thinking in terms of getting what you want, even if it's a good thing. If we look at prayer as like, I pray, I ask for what I want, and then God gives it to me, almost like an entitled child.
00:07:53
Speaker
We're naturally going to be bothered by the determinist idea that God is just deciding what will already happen. So I want to get this job, but God has decided that I'm going to have this other job. I don't know what that other job is. So why even pray for this job? Because God has something else for me.
00:08:13
Speaker
This attitude is a form of pessimism. It's fatalism. It's saying, well, it doesn't even matter because God's going to do what he's going to do. So if God's going to do what he's going to do, why would you pray at all? That's a valid question if you're coming from that fatalistic perspective.
00:08:31
Speaker
I would argue, though, that fatalism isn't Christianity. There is no place for fatalism in Christianity. There's only place for adventure and goodness and joy and participation and communion and intimacy in Christianity. And that is one reason why I still will always lean more towards the Wesleyan perspective when it comes to things like evangelism and prayer, because I do think that determinism
00:08:52
Speaker
throws a wrench in the biblical narrative in regard to prayer and communion, intimacy, evangelism, and the like. But we're not going to get distracted. So what's our alternative to fatalism? Well, our alternative is that God knows all things. He's omniscient. He knows what could be. He knows what will be. He knows what has been. And
00:09:18
Speaker
In that foreknowledge, God still gives us opportunities to say yes to something or to say no. God may offer you an opportunity for a great job and give you the freedom to say no to it. He may offer you the opportunity to make a great choice, and instead you make a sinful one. And He didn't make you make that sinful choice. He permitted you to.
00:09:44
Speaker
and you will experience consequences for that choice that he hopes will draw you back to his heart so you can grow and you can be redeemed and restored and go on to lead other people into greater holiness and joy.
00:10:00
Speaker
He gives us opportunities and He gives us chances, so many chances, to participate in what He's doing in the world and what He wants to do in us. And this is a part of the sanctification of the Holy Spirit in us. He's making us more like Jesus.
Privileges & Misconceptions of Prayer
00:10:17
Speaker
And prayer plays a huge role in this process.
00:10:21
Speaker
There are two people in scripture that I think kind of give us an example of the difference between fatalistic or utilitarian prayer, prayer that's only about me and what I want, and prayer that's about communion. And those two people are Saul and David. So in 2 Samuel
00:10:41
Speaker
we see the depiction, first and second Samuel, we see the depiction of Saul and David's relationship unfold. And if you're part of the Bible in a year club that we run through every woman a theologian, whether you're in our January cohort or our July cohort, our January cohort just finished about a month or two ago, the David and Saul story, and we're still watching the consequences unfold. Now, our July cohort will be reaching that stage somewhere around Christmas time.
00:11:09
Speaker
And in this story, what we see is Saul, this tall, handsome, kingly-looking man who is obsessed with what people think of him. He fears people. People were his starting point for every decision, and he made all sorts of rash decisions and vows without seeking God's wisdom. But David, on the other hand, led a life characterized by prayer.
00:11:32
Speaker
When he didn't seek God, he ends up in massive, sinful decisions. We won't get into those today. But when he did seek God, he had the wisdom for what he needed.
00:11:45
Speaker
So the reflection of prayer in these two men's lives actually points us to a theology of prayer for our own. And it gives us some starting places to understand what prayer is and what its purpose is.
00:12:05
Speaker
So number one, prayer is communication. If prayer was just fatalistic, if it's just about what you get, Saul would have fulfilled that requirement. He always prayed when he needed something, or he gave the sacrifice when he needed to give it, or he thought he needed to give it.
00:12:20
Speaker
But that's not what prayer is about. Prayer is communication. It's a conversation with an Almighty and relational God. It's a privilege for us to communicate with God. And not just to communicate to Him, but to be heard by Him. God promises to hear those
00:12:37
Speaker
who speak to him, which is absolutely crazy to me and just the sweetest and most wonderful thing. Matthew 6 6 says, when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you.
00:12:55
Speaker
Part of that reward is that God hears you. This is Jesus talking in Matthew 6, 6. He's saying, I hear you. God hears you. And he wants to answer you. Jeremiah 33, 3 says, call to me and I will answer you and I will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
00:13:12
Speaker
So God is listening for our prayers and giving us the wisdom that we need. Jeremiah 29 12, the very verse after the famous Jeremiah 29 11 about God having a purpose for us. This says, then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you.
00:13:32
Speaker
The context of Jeremiah 29 12 is in exile in Babylon and how these people are suffering in a land that's not their own. And he says, if you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you after everything, after all their sin, he will still turn and hear them.
00:13:50
Speaker
David's heart, in contrast to Saul's, was open to the Lord at all times. The Psalms reflect his prayers that are poured out to God, and not just when he needed something like protection, because quite honestly, it didn't look like God was protecting David for many years. He's being chased by Saul. God is not stopping Saul from trying to kill David. Why? Because he's given Saul a will.
00:14:13
Speaker
He's given Saul the freedom to choose, and he's in his mercy giving Saul a lifetime of chances to repent. I think this is something we forget. And when we fall into this super-determinist fatalistic mindset about prayer, when there is a person who is living an evil life, yes, God is going to judge them and hold them accountable. That is scripture.
00:14:38
Speaker
But sometimes they are permitted to live, not so that God can be hands-off about their evil. He's not. But because God is a merciful God, and He's giving them a chance to repent. It says in Scripture that while Israel was in slavery, evil slavery that angered God in Egypt, they were there while the Amorites in Canaan were being given 400 years of chances to repent.
00:15:06
Speaker
God literally says, the sins of the Amorites have not yet reached their full measure. What does that indicate? It indicates that in God's mercy, he was giving the Amorites a chance to repent.
God's Mercy & Prayer's Role
00:15:20
Speaker
And the same goes for all the people that we see today that we think, why doesn't he just end them, right? Why does the Bible say that the righteous live long and the wicked don't? And then we see the wicked living till they're like 95, surrounded by piles of money, you know? Like, how is this happening? Well, God is a merciful God.
00:15:41
Speaker
And perhaps there is something that we don't know in the spiritual world that is happening. Some opportunity that's being offered to these people to repent. What if you knew that that person was still loved by God and that God, based on what scripture says, does not wish for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. We want that kindness for ourselves, but we sometimes don't want it for other people. And that is the great
00:16:11
Speaker
miraculous scandal of grace, the upside-down kingdom. So prayer is communication. It's also merciful. It's participating in God's mercy for other people. But at the same time, God's still just, and he does give Saul consequences for his actions. Eventually, he actually removes his spirit from Saul. But David, in contrast to Saul, is bringing everything to God, including his sins. Psalm 51 depicts his sin and his repentance after the situation with Bathsheba.
00:16:41
Speaker
And if we too want wisdom and direction and character, we have to start by seeing prayer as more than a means to an end. It has to be a lifestyle. God is sovereign, no doubt. And he delights to listen to our requests.
00:16:56
Speaker
We see in Scripture where it says, in Genesis 18, Exodus 32, Jonah 3.10, Amos 7.6, it uses the phrase God changing his mind. This is an interesting phrasing. Sometimes it says regret, which regret doesn't mean that God did something and then he's like, oh shucks, I can't believe I did that. That term doesn't mean regret the way that English depicts the word regret or way a human would regret their actions. It has to be cross-referenced with
00:17:24
Speaker
the passages that say God doesn't change his mind. He doesn't change. God's knowledge of the future is not limited. He can see everything. He can know everything. He can know what could be, what will be, and of course what has happened. And so when it says that God's changing his mind, there's different perspectives on this, but I would tend to lean towards a perspective that God knows all available options.
00:17:52
Speaker
He knows what could be and he knows what will be. And he doesn't always cause what will be. And this comes down to your perspective on knowing equal causing. Do you believe that God has to directly cause everything in order to be sovereign? Or do you believe that God actually uses human agents to accomplish his sovereign purpose?
00:18:15
Speaker
And if there is room in God's sovereignty to use such human agents, I think we have a way of understanding these passages about God, quote unquote, changing his mind, where he actually has invited humans to participate in what he's doing. And based on their decisions,
00:18:34
Speaker
that he has sovereignly permitted them to make, he then acts. Now, of course, as usual, people will probably disagree with this, especially if you're in the Reformed tradition. I'm not in the Reformed tradition. I am a Wesleyan, so I'm probably going to disagree with you on some of the issues in relation to definition of sovereignty while upholding sovereignty in God's absolute omnipotence.
00:18:57
Speaker
But I think we need to really think this through when it comes to prayer.
Humility & Faith in Prayer
00:19:00
Speaker
Because if you think that God is just doing what he wants and he does not want you to participate, you are very likely to become fatalistic. But if you believe that God, in his sovereignty, has invited you to participate in what he's doing in the world, and if you believe that, like Abraham with Sodom and Gomorrah, God has invited you to be a part of his purpose and a part of pleading the case of people he wants to save,
00:19:24
Speaker
then there's a big motivation to prayer. Prayer is communication. But secondly, prayer requires humility. Saul did not pray out of a spirit of humility. He only prayed when he was absolutely desperate or when he wanted something. God was Saul's last resort. But God was David's first stop.
00:19:45
Speaker
That is what I want to be able to say for myself, for everyone who follows me, that God was not our last resort. He was the first stop. Saul also had this elevated view of himself in an exalted view of people. He thought he had life under control, and then when it went out of control, he suddenly needed God.
00:20:06
Speaker
But because he constantly ignored God and he operated in his own idea of sovereignty, placing priority on man's opinion, Saul never had the wisdom needed to lead the nation rightly. He became paranoid. He was terrified of people and what they thought of him. He was hasty. He made rash decisions and ultimately destroyed his kingdom and lost the kingship.
00:20:29
Speaker
So when we also depend on our own wisdom and we refuse to consult the Lord, we're actually acting in pride. We think that we know better than God. It's really easy to do. I fall into this. It's so easy to become prayerless, to just, I'll figure it out. God will give me wisdom, but I'm not going to ask. You know what? What is that? We're putting our relationship with God on the back burner. We're not asking him for input. We're not even sitting still and waiting for an answer.
00:20:57
Speaker
An attitude of prayer that gives God the first fruits of our decisions, the first fruits of our time, that's an act of humility. We get to defer to God's sovereignty in prayer. We're inviting him into our lives. And only then can we make truly good decisions that we're secure in and we know that what we did was right. Prayer requires humility. The third thing is that prayer is a step of faith.
00:21:24
Speaker
Prayer is faith in both God's character and God's timing. Because, as I said, sometimes God is causing things, but sometimes God is letting us participate in what He's doing. And He is asking us to walk with Him every step of the way, to be listening for Him and listening to His leading and listening for His timing. God knows everything. He is sovereign. And as we walk with Him, we get to learn more about
00:21:54
Speaker
what faith in Him looks like. We get to learn what allegiance to Jesus looks like through prayer. When we pray, we're taking a step of faith.
00:22:09
Speaker
This is the big thing for God, my friends. If you're like, I want to do something big for God, start with a consistent prayer life. Take the step of faith by asking him for direction, inviting him into your work, college, family, friendships, dating, marriage, parenting, all of it. You can pray anytime, anywhere. Now, I like to have a dedicated prayer time. I like to write out my prayers to focus, but I also pray throughout the day. And I'm going to share some tips for that at the end of this episode.
00:22:39
Speaker
But don't wait for the right time or place. Simply seek God. Prayer cultivates a heart attitude that recognizes God's sovereignty and appeals to his love. God is relational, friends. Praying to him is not just about getting things. No positive relationship works that way. Praying to Jesus changes us, teaches us to listen for his voice and to walk by his spirit, even if our prayers aren't always answered the way we thought. I want to look at a couple more verses about prayer.
00:23:08
Speaker
One of them that we hear a lot is Philippians 4.6. It says, Okay, because Paul uses the word requests here, I think people get hung up on this. And they think that when you're anxious, you need to pray for the thing you're anxious about. And then if God gives you the thing you're anxious about,
00:23:35
Speaker
whatever the answer is that you want, then your anxiety will go away. I think this is what people assume. And then when they do pray their requests, they pray their anxieties, and God doesn't give them the thing that they think is a solution, they say prayer doesn't work.
00:23:52
Speaker
There's no spiritual answer to anxiety. It's just merely physical. And I've said this before, and I'll say it again, there are real physical components of anxiety that definitely need to be addressed.
Prayer, Anxiety, & Faith
00:24:03
Speaker
For me, it was a vitamin deficiency, vitamin B, vitamin D. Huge players for women, especially in hormonal anxiety. And when I supplemented with those and magnesium and the right amounts,
00:24:15
Speaker
almost completely erased physical anxiety for me, including removing caffeine from my diet. Anxiety disappeared physically almost completely and almost overnight. But at the same time, I still experience anxiety in a variety of forms for a variety of reasons.
00:24:34
Speaker
The work I do directly confronts the most sinful parts of my character. The most fearful parts of my character are confronted by leading every woman a theologian. I experience anxiety over that on a regular basis. And in that moment, I have a choice. I can bring that to the Lord in prayer the way scripture says, or I can say, prayer doesn't work and it's not going to fix this.
00:25:00
Speaker
Why would I say that? Well, if I'm praying, God, I'm anxious about what this person said about me online and God doesn't remove that person or remove what they said, how is my anxiety dealt with?
00:25:17
Speaker
When I look at this verse about anxiety and prayer, not looking for a practical, immediate, physical solution, but instead looking at this as a relationship to be sought,
00:25:31
Speaker
as communion with God, that prayer and supplication with thanksgiving is not about getting the request I want answered, but about communing with God. I can see that that relationship with God is what removes my anxiety. The presence of God and the power of the Holy Spirit through my continual ongoing prayer with Him, that not removing the person who falsely accused me,
00:26:00
Speaker
The relationship with God is the answer to the spiritual anxiety issue that I'm facing. I stress this because if we only pray about our anxieties when we want a specific like immediate answer, if God is just your Pez dispenser, then yes, you will be disappointed by prayer because you have not grasped the greater thing he's doing in you.
00:26:30
Speaker
You have not grasped the greater work that he's doing in the world through you, the greater witness that he is doing through your story and through your testimony. I had a chronic illness for six years.
00:26:45
Speaker
that broke my skin and bled and wept and looked disgusting and I had to go in public looking this way.
Personal Testimony & Prayer
00:26:53
Speaker
I had a chronic illness that destroyed my body, that was caused by pregnancy, by something that should be so life-giving and so beautiful. I was prayed over for all those years. I was anointed with oil, I had prayer chains for me, and I was not healed.
00:27:14
Speaker
I was so anxious every time that disease would flare, worrying about when it would come back and if I ate the wrong thing, if it would cause it. So, what was God doing in the years that my prayer didn't seem to be answered? How was God still able to carry me through that anxiety and even remove that anxiety from me?
00:27:39
Speaker
When I wasn't seeing the exact answer to the prayer that I wanted, was he not answering me? No, he was. He was answering me because he gave me his presence. He gave me compassion. He gave me comfort.
00:27:58
Speaker
He taught me how to understand people who are going through chronic illness. He taught me how to persevere in prayer when I didn't see the answer. He changed who I was and sanctified me.
00:28:17
Speaker
He taught me how to see beyond the physical and the immediate physical healing. He broke my vanity over my appearance and on the other side of a chronic illness where I can genuinely say I eventually was healed. I can say I was healed internally before I was ever healed physically and that God was answering me all along.
00:28:45
Speaker
This is the thing we forget when we take verses like this one and we only focus on the thing that we want and we want it immediately. And then we say that God's not good because he didn't give me what I wanted right away or he didn't answer the way I thought he would answer. It takes true faith, true confidence, a strong theology of God's character to make it through suffering and to understand God's greater purpose and to see that he's doing something bigger.
00:29:12
Speaker
that we're partnering with him and his sovereignty in prayer, whether for us or for other people. And when the answer isn't what we want or what we hoped, there is something that is being done in us and in the world spiritually that is unseen that will have an impact that we can't see yet. Prayer is an eternal work. Prayer is spiritual warfare. Prayer is something that changes more than we know.
00:29:47
Speaker
Last month, I told you about a new podcast I've been enjoying. It's called Compelled and uses gripping, immersive storytelling to bring Christian testimonies to life. On every episode, a guest shares their compelling story about how Christ completely transformed them. One of my favorite stories is episode 49 with Ron Adkins, who at the age of 19 was sentenced to almost 500 years in prison.
00:30:13
Speaker
He was violent, angry, and his fellow prisoners nicknamed him Rhino. He was in countless fights, attacked numerous prison guards, and eventually became a leader in a white supremacist prison gang. Ron's violence eventually led to him in solitary confinement for over a decade where he was told he would remain until he died.
00:30:32
Speaker
Condemned by society and separated from humanity, Ron knew that he was utterly alone. Or was he? Maybe, just maybe, a decade of silence is what Ron needed in order to hear a still, small voice. Listen to Ron Adkins share his entire story of redemption on episode 49 of Compelled. And while you're there, I think you'll enjoy the other stories they share as well, ranging from missionaries to addicts, prisoners, or just regular people sharing how Jesus Christ transformed their lives.
00:31:02
Speaker
You can listen to all these stories and more by searching for compelled on your favorite podcast app or by visiting compelledpodcast.com. Again, that's compelledpodcast.com.
00:31:22
Speaker
asked on social media for people to share their stories of answered prayer. I still have to highlight those stories because they didn't save to my Instagram highlight, but they're incredible. And when you read them, you can see what prayer is really about because some of the people who are sharing their stories are talking about walking through loss.
00:31:46
Speaker
They're talking about people dying who they prayed would live. They're talking about chronic illness that is not healed. They're talking about painful circumstances and unemployment and suffering and things that happen in the world because the world is sinful and fallen. And even in light of that, they pray boldly and specifically and continually. And through the relationship that is formed in prayer,
00:32:16
Speaker
they know the heart of God. Their eyes are open to see. They pray in confidence and they pray in boldness and they pray in the Holy Spirit. And because they do that, they see things that other people don't see. People who only focus on the physical, who only focus on the thing that's right in front of them, the thing that is immediate, the thing that
00:32:40
Speaker
is seen with your eyes. But sometimes the answer to prayer isn't something we can see with our eyes. It's something we can only see with our hearts. It's something that's greater, bigger, and sometimes not as satisfying to our immediate selves.
00:33:03
Speaker
Colossians 4, 2 says, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Matthew 26, 41 says, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Ephesians 6, 18 says, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.
00:33:30
Speaker
Prayer is something that requires your heart and soul to be awake to God. And prayer is something that awakens you to God. You might notice in all my newsletters, I sign it for the awakening. What do I mean by that? There are two major great awakenings in United States history. The first awakening was led by Calvinist and the second was led by Wesleyan Arminians.
00:33:54
Speaker
In both cases, there was a great revival of repentance, an awakening of the heart to God. But what every church historian says about those awakenings is that they began 30 and 40 years prior through prayer.
00:34:16
Speaker
There is a spiritual element to prayer that we will never fully understand. And if you do not have a respect for the spiritual nature of faith, for the fact that Christianity is a spiritual thing, you will not see prayer as the spiritual warfare that it is, or the spiritual transformation of your own heart.
Transformation through Prayer
00:34:39
Speaker
Prayer transforms you before it transforms anything else.
00:34:44
Speaker
and it touches your heart and it tunes your heart to what God is doing and what He wants to do through you and on your street and in your city. Prayer is about communication and intimacy and walking with God. It's not just about getting what you ask for. Though God wants to hear your requests and He wants you to pour out your heart to Him, keep in mind that prayer is not first and foremost about getting things.
00:35:10
Speaker
Prayer is first and foremost about you connecting with God and you getting to know God's heart, what he's doing, and the invitation he has for you to join him in the work he's doing in the world. So I said I would share with you what I am doing right now.
00:35:29
Speaker
I have historically done a model of prayer in the morning where I write out my prayer so I can focus, but then I also set timers on my phone throughout the day. So at 9 a.m., 12 p.m., and 3 p.m., I would set a timer with a reminder of who to pray for and what to pray for. But after studying more of church history and a little bit of the monastic model, oops, that was one of my timers.
00:35:56
Speaker
The monastic model of prayer, there's something called the daily office, also called the liturgy of the hours. And essentially what it does is it sets a specific time of the day for specific kinds of prayer. And the prayer is usually focused on the Psalms, praying the Psalms, so adoration and confession to God.
00:36:16
Speaker
followed by glorifying God, a canticle is sometimes what it's called, and then praying intercession. So praying for your requests. But intercession is almost last.
00:36:30
Speaker
The first portion, the majority of the Liturgy of the Hours is adoration of God and His character, talking to Him, about Him, praising Him for who He is. And so the times of day where you will pray or be reminded to pray are Lauds, which is 5 a.m., Prime, 6 a.m., Terce, or Tersi. It's in Latin. In Latin, the way I learned it, this would be a hard C, so Terce, 9 a.m., 12 p.m. is Sext,
00:36:59
Speaker
3 p.m. is none and 6 p.m. is vespers with 9 p.m. being compliant. So you have these different times of day with different types of prayer.
00:37:13
Speaker
So what I've done is I've set timers for each of these times of day. And sometimes I get up and pray, but a lot of times 5 a.m., that's not gonna happen. So when the timer goes off, as I'm still laying in bed, I say the Lord's Prayer, or I say Psalm 23. Same thing at 6 a.m., usually I get up then. And then at nine, 12, three, and six, and nine again, I am praying the Psalms.
00:37:39
Speaker
praying the Lord's Prayer and then adding my own intercession on specific issues and for specific people on top of it. I try to pray for certain friends. I pray for my kids, for my marriage, for my street, my church, and my city. Those are the primary areas that I am praying over. And then as other requests come in, I will add
00:38:02
Speaker
to my prayer. So if you're wondering, how do I pray continually? How do I make this a habit? This is one way to do that. Setting timers throughout the day to stop adore God and then intercede for his people or for the things in your life that are on your heart. But you don't have to wait for a timer. You can pray anytime, anywhere, in the car, on a walk. But one of the things that's essential to this and cultivating a prayer life is turning off the things that prevent it.
00:38:31
Speaker
So social media, your phone, watching TV.
00:38:37
Speaker
If you have things that you're going to constantly instead of prayer, there's a good chance you won't think to pray. So putting sticky notes in places where you can see them as a reminder to pray for those people, writing in dry erase marker on your mirror or on the window of your car, whatever you need to do in order to begin the practice of prayer and partnering with God, do it.
00:39:03
Speaker
And I hope that this episode at least gets you thinking. You might not agree with everything I said, but I hope it gets you thinking about why you should pray. God commands us to pray. Jesus taught us how to pray. The Lord's prayer is a model for how to pray. But the question must be answered by each of us individually. Why do I pray? Why would God command me to pray? And if I'm not doing it, why not?
00:39:30
Speaker
I hope you'll ask those questions this week, and I hope that you will begin a practice of prayer that will change your communion with God, change your intimacy with God, and open your eyes to what God is doing in your world.
00:39:48
Speaker
Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of Verity Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, would you take the time to leave us a review? It helps so many other women around the world find out about Verity and about every woman a theologian as a ministry and a shop. We appreciate you and I hope you'll be back next week as we continue to go deeper into God's word and the heart of Jesus Christ.