The Nature of Christian Prayer

Here are some thoughts from Stanley J. Grenz and others from his book ‘Prayer: The Cry for the Kingdom’. I think it’s been quite helpful so far, because I am one of those whom Stanley Grenz refers to as ‘people who put contemplative prayer above petitionary prayer’. I would like to give a little more thought to these quotes today. As part of the NECF prayer program, we have been asked to pray for our Prime Minister today. Indeed, he is a man with godly values. And I agree that it’s time we thank God for him! I think he must be going through a tough time now, with the AP issue being unresolved and blowing out of proportion lately. May God give him the courage to do what is right, the strength to carry on, and the wisdom the make the right decisions. May God’s justice come, may His will be done.

Our prayers wake us up to what God is doing all the time and everywhere. And then they make us participants from right where we are. ~ Eugene H. Peterson, foreword to Prayer: The Cry for the Kingdom

‘Heavenly’, when used of God as father is a description of priorities, not primarily of location. ‘Heavenly’ points not to where God is but to how much more God is than earthly fathers. ‘Heavenly’ refers to the extra of God as father which goes beyond our experiences of earthly fatherhood. ~ David Willis, Daring Prayer

To pray in the name of Jesus involves praying in the place of Jesus. By using Jesus’ name we are declaring that the prayer we are voicing is what Jesus would pray if he himself were speaking. ~ Stanley Grenz, Prayer: The Cry for the Kingdom

Just as the petition ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ formed the heart of Jesus’ praying, so also in every situation the petitions of Jesus’ friends ought to be a cry for the in-breaking of God’s rulership, God’s will, into our world. Gabriel Daly’s remark is surely correct: ‘Every truly Christian prayer of petition is, implicitly at least, a request that the Kingdom may come.’ In short, like Jesus’ own prayer, Christian prayer is ultimately a cry for the kingdom. ~ Stanley Grenz, Prayer: The Cry for the Kingdom

Many Christian teachers suggest that as believers mature, their prayers move away from the ‘beggarly’ activity of asking God to intervene in human situations and to provide for human needs. These teachers imply that Christians who are truly mature replace petitionary prayer with the desire simply to ‘be with’ or ‘commune with’ God. The widely enjoined emphasis on communion with God elevates adoration and thanksgiving above petition. Yet the New Testament writers seem to move in another direction. The Scriptures indicate that the Christian ought never to ‘mature’ beyond petitionary prayer. The mature spiritual person never outgrows the need to bring requests to God. ~ Stanley Grenz, Prayer: The Cry for the Kingdom