Prayer, in answer

Look, I don't have any advanced theological training or hundreds of thousands of people who read what I write, a knowledge of Greek or Hebrew or really much of anything that qualifies me for addressing most any topic, except the Word of God and the Spirit of God. That being said.. I want to look at a couple of things from the post on prayer from Brother Dan Phillips over at the Pyro Blog Brother Hank put up and requested people leave some feedback on.

1. "Prayer is not a dialogue. Prayer is not a conversation. Prayer has no intrinsic power, whatever."What?! Heresy!"Show me from the Bible. In the Bible, what I say to God is prayer, what He says to me is revelation, it is prophecy. If I am a Christian, I talk to Him. If He talks directly to me, unmediated, I am a prophet, or a seer. And I'm neither; nor are you."

I agree prayer, by definition, is not a dialogue. It is a one way communication to God. I'm all about being clear and defining terms so I won't take issue with that. I will say that there IS communication between man and God (prayer) as well as communication between God and man. While prayer is not a conversation, I can have conversations with God and He does speak to me through the Holy Spirit (John 14:26, Luke 21:15). And to say that prayer has no intrinsic power is both right and wrong. It's right that prayer to a false god or prayer from a false heart has no power. BUT, and I repeat BUT 'proper' prayer does have intrinsic value because God has given it intrinsic value. It's God's power, God's ability, I completely agree but prayer has power because God gave it power. He said, 'whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you," (John 16:23) and "You will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7) and "they ought always to pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1), and 2 Thess. 1:11 "to this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power." Old Testament? "Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you, and all who are yours" (Gen. 20:7), and 2 Chron. 7:14, "if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." and on, and on and on. Prayer has power intrinsically, specifically because God gave it that power. He is compelled by it, not by man's volition but by His own.

I also don't appreciate the final comment quoted above especially if I have interpreted his meaning correctly. If there's one thing I dislike almost as strongly as the denial of the Sovereignty of God or the Exclusivity of Christ, it's cessationism. Get your dadgum head out of a book. That's all I've got to say (Acts 2:17- Peter is exegeting the OT, we might want to listen- And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days will I pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy..) People prophesied in the Bible, through revelation from God who were not apostles and that continues today. It's a different standard. It's not inerrant or infallible, rather it is to be judged according to the Word (1 Thess. 5:20-21, Do not despise prophecies, but test everything, hold fast to what is good). Let me just quote one more verse on this, 1 Cor. 14:6, "Now brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues (gasp), how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?" Goodness, is that not clear enough? I'm with Tozer on this one when he said, paraphrasing, 'the church would be radically different if people would spend as much time seeking to be filled with the Spirit as they do trying to prove that you can't be.'

It's like this: If I'm walking along one day with a friend and I say, 'hey, you know I heard people can actually fly.' And he says, 'no, no that's not possible. That's just an old wives tale. People a long time ago maybe could, but not anymore, those things don't happen. We're living in a 'ground only' dispensation.' So, I say, 'oh, ok..' But then.. I look up into the sky and I see people flying, and I'm like.. what the? But I thought? And then they swoop down and shout out, 'hey you should really be up here instead of just hanging out on the ground man.' So.. who do I believe? Do I believe the person who tells me from lack of experience that something is not possible, or do I believe the person who from experience, and Scripture points to something else. Not a tough call for me. I've seen a demon cast out. 'But that doesn't happen anymore.' Umm.. I beg to differ. I've seen people afflicted or temporarily possessed or some weird something too. I've heard people speak in tongues with interpretation. I've seen people prophesy and know things no one knew about a person without ever having met them. I've been in the presence of healings. I hate to.. no, I LOVE to tell you, that the New Testament promises of the Spirit and its power still apply to us today. I'm not some crazy snake holding charasmatic. I go to a Southern Baptist church. I'm also a doctrine of the elect, reformed type of person. And I believe in the Biblical use, validity and importance of ALL of the gifts.. Moving on..

2. "But the weapon isn't prayer (Ephesians 6:18). That's just us talking to God. Our words are without intrinsic power. I don't think that us talking, per se, scares demons. In fact, I'm pretty sure that sometimes it cracks them up."

Umm... Well, define 'weapon.' It's my communication with God, so yeah, it's kind of like a flare gun. But we do have power through the work of Christ, through the Holy Spirit within us to drive out darkness where we find it so those words we speak are a weapon. Those words are not 'prayer' in so much as they are not directed to God but from God, through His Spirit in us. However, if my prayer, in line with the will of God is like Hezekiah's prayer in 1 Kings 19. "
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. " In answer to that prayer, the Lord sent an angel who wiped out 185,000 Assyrian troops in one night. That's a pretty powerful weapon. My view is much more that we are the weapon or tool in the hand of God and not vice versa though He does equip us for battle. Nevertheless God does grant us, according to His will and divine purpose, power in the nature of prayer.

I completely agree that the devil is not too concerned about what we can or can't do or our own perceived power because we have NONE. Sure, us talking doesn't scare demons at all. Us talking to God.. about their destruction? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that might get them riled up a little.

I'll close with this, from Charles Spurgeon on prayer. (just so I don't get any 'you must only read charasmatic, pentecostal authors' comments). From a message delivered May 9th 1880, found here.

"Samuel’s prayers were so prevalent that the very elements were controlled by him. Oh, the power of prayer! It has been ridiculed: it has been represented as an unscientific and an unpractical thing, but we who daily try it know that its power cannot be exaggerated, and do not feel even a shadow of doubt concerning it. There is such power in prayer that it “moves the arm that moves the world.” We have but to know how to pray, and the thunder shall lift up its voice in answer to our cry, and Jehovah’s arrows shall be scattered abroad to the overthrowing of his adversaries. How should those be able to judge of prayer who never ask at all, or never ask in faith? Let those bear witness to whom prayer is a familiar exercise, and to whom answers from God are as common as the day. Over a father’s heart no power has so great a control as his child’s necessity, and in the case of our Father who is in heaven it is especially so. He must hear prayer, for he cannot dishonor his own name, or forget his own children. "

Signing Off,
EP