CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

December 31, 2006

25424 Aldine-Westfield, Spring, TX.  77373

www.geocities.com/adon77373/cypresswoodbulletin.htm

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR:

Our congregation                                                                 Various friends, relatives and co-workers

Our nation, leaders and military                                         Leon in the Army in Korea

PRAYER: DOES IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE?

“Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1).

This year sure went by fast, at least it seems that way.  Tomorrow starts another year, at least according to the calendar.  For some it is just another day.  How should we approach the new year?  What should we focus on for 2007?

Over the past year I’ve read a number of books, a few have been very good.  One of the best is on the subject of prayer by Philip Yancey (1).  This book covers prayer from a very practical and human perspective.  Many books have been written on prayer.  Some are “how to” books, others that if you do it this way or that, your prayers will be answered.  There are books with prayers in them and the theology of prayer.  Yancey comes to prayer with the idea that it is not an easy subject to understand, that we all have our ups and down in prayer, that our relationship with God is more important than how we pray, and that prayer is talking to God.

To say that this book has a wealth of material in it is an understatement.  He examines various aspects of prayer from praise to lament.  He discusses why some prayers are answered and some are not, and the difficulties of faith involved.  Throughout the book are remarks made by people he has known, read or who have written to him over the years concerning prayer (2).  Throughout the book, he keeps a number of questions in view.  From the dust jacket of the book are the following:

                “Is God listening?  Why should God care about me?  Why do so many prayers go unanswered?

                Does prayer really help with physical healing?  Why does God seem sometimes close and

                sometimes far away?  Does prayer change God or change me?  How can I make prayer more

                satisfying?”

Along the way he examines several texts on prayer.  His insights are valuable.  For instance, he encourages us from Psalm 46:10 which says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  Here he says that the root word for “be still” means vacation.  What the Psalmist is saying is that we need to lighten up and take a vacation, for God is in control (3).  We sometimes do not hear God because we do not listen.  Another text is the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-15).  When we pray that God’s will would be done on earth, what Jesus was teaching us is that He knew God’s perfect will in heaven and wanted to teach us that will on earth in a place that it wasn’t always done.  Of course, Jesus showed us God’s will in the Garden when He prayed, “Not my will but your will be done.”  Yancey says in part: “Therefore I yield.  Your greater, more costly will, Father, becomes mine” (p. 86).  Insights like these open up a greater understanding of scripture.

He doesn’t shy away from the difficult or controversial.  One aspect of prayer is lament.  Can we argue with or be mad at God?  Many have the idea that saying anything in an angry way toward God is some type of sin.  But is that the case?  In a prayer meeting at his church, he was relating a number of the normal prayers that people pray.  Nothing wrong with that nor controversial.  Then one young woman stated the following:

                “’God, I hated you after the rape!  How could you let this happen to me?’  The congregation

                abruptly fell silent.  No more rustling of papers or shifting in the seats.  ‘And I hated the

                people in this church who tried to comfort me.  I didn’t want comfort.  I want revenge.  I want

                to hurt back.  I thank you, God, that you didn’t give up on me, and neither did some of these

                people.  You kept after me, and I come back to you now and ask that you heal the scars in my

                soul’” (p. 89).

How would we respond to a prayer like that?  Yancey commented that “Of all the prayers I have heard in church, that one most resembles the style of prayers I find replete in the Bible, especially those from God’s favorites such as Abraham and Moses” (p. 89).

How should we pray?  What words should we use?  Here are a few gems from the chapter Tongue Tied.  “Prayer is not a comparison contest.”  “The fewer the words, the better the prayer.”  “Apart from the requirement that we be authentic before God, there is no prescribed way to pray.”  “Jesus taught a model prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, but otherwise gave few rules” (p. 190-191).  Often circumstances influences the type of prayer people prayed.  The early Christians prayed for strength and courage.  The state church composed majestic prayers.  In the harsh Middle Ages of plague and poverty, the prayers were for penitence and mercy.  Others focused on love, mercy and joy.  In later years it was the silence of the heart that was emphasized (p. 190).  Yancey tells us that we must find our own prayer, or way to pray, not someone else’s (p. 163). 

Then there are the dry times of prayer, where we have difficulty praying at all, or our prayers seem useless.  We all go through this, and God understands.  Even in scripture we see this.  These difficult times might be better seen as moments of focus and self-examination.  It is a time to listen, to stop and smell the flowers along the way.  Yancey, being from Colorado, often uses illustrations from mountain walks.  Looking out and observing nature is often a means to refocus on God.

How is pray answered?  Yancey tells of visiting a South African prison with a woman who has spent time ministering to those prisoners.  One of the comments she made was the following.  God is already present in this world, what we have to do is make Him visible.  Through service we make God visible to others.  Yancey mentioned that if we want to see God, we look at Jesus.  If people want to see Jesus, they will see Him in us as we give of ourselves using the talents or gifts God has provided for us. 

God is at work in this world.  Yancey, in his talk at a local church, mentioned a Russian general who addressed his audience about the subject of repentance.  He brought two million Bibles and distributed them to Russian soldiers.  God is working in our world!  The book has other illustrations of prayer and God’s activity.

One other thing he mentioned in his local talk was the senility prayer.  “Forget people I don’t like.  Remember people I do like.  Give me the eyesight to know the difference.”

He recommends that we begin with God and then work our way down to various needs and concerns.  God is the source of our lives.  “Everything about me -- my thoughts, my motives, my choices, my moods -- attracts God’s interest (p. 318).  There are two things we need to know.  One is being honest about who I am.  David knew that the Lord searched his heart and then asked Him to do just that (Psalm 139).  Tough stuff, but needed.  Second, we need to know who God is.  We start with God, look at Jesus, and then work our way down the mountain to others, and to concerns, both personal and worldwide. 

As Paul says, “Pray without ceasing” or “Pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

                                                                                                                                                George B. Mearns

(1) Philip Yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?, Zondervan, 2006.

(2) Yancey is an author of a number of books including What’s So Amazing About Grace, The Bible Jesus Read, and The Jesus I Never Knew.

(3) Some of this material came from a Philip Yancey lecture at a local church  (11/14/06).