The Power of Prayer - Do You have a two-bit prayer life?

by Dr. David R. Reagan

In James 4:2 we find these words: "You do not have, because you do not ask." Let me ask you a question: If you were to stop praying, would it radically affect your life? Or is that question one that you can’t answer because it’s like that old trick question: "Have you stopped beating your wife?" In other words, is it possible that you are one of those Christians who couldn’t stop praying because you have never really started?

On the other hand, are you one of those Christians who pray regularly out of a sense of habit or a sense of duty — but who doubts seriously the power of prayer because you have never sensed its effect in your life?

Again, I ask: If you were to stop praying, would it radically affect your life?

Perhaps you are one of those Christians who would really like to pray, but you have fallen victim to the modern, "sophisticated" concept that prayer is merely a psychological exercise in self-help — and therefore you are turned off by the concept of participating in a sham — by, in effect, praying to yourself.

An Age of Unbelief

There is no doubt that we live in an age that does not believe in prayer. The great tragedy is that Christians have become caught up in the philosophy of our age, a philosophy that enthroned Science as god. We are taught on every side that we live in an impersonal universe, a world that is a great, remorseless machine, obeying relentless laws. And in the midst of it all, we tiny humans are nothing but transient pygmies.

The result is that we have a hollow god — a god that has no heart, no compassion, for Science cannot feel or laugh or show mercy. Science can only analyze, measure, dissect, weigh and speculate. And so we feel a sense of meaninglessness; a loss of significance; an erosion of hope; a lack of power.

Oh, many of us who call ourselves Christians go through the motions of prayer. But our prayers are often infrequent and vague and faithless. Most of us pray prayers that a stone god could answer:

"Father, we pray for all those who it is our duty to pray for."

"Father, forgive us of all our unforgiven sins."

Our prayers tend to be empty, meaningless rituals. We are like the king in Shakespeare’s Hamlet who tried to pray for the forgiveness of his sin of murder in order to purge his feeling of guilt. His prayer was ineffective. As he put it, "It didn’t even reach the ceiling."

When the king analyzed his problem, Shakespeare put words of wisdom in his mouth that are as profound as any that mere Man has ever written about prayer: "My words fly up; my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to Heaven go."

Like this king, we are often guilty of praying without meaning. Consider, for example, the songs which we sing as prayers, but which we do not mean at all. In fact, we would be appalled if the Lord answered them. A good example is to be found in the popular prayer song, "Take My Life And Let It Be" —

Take my silver and my gold,

Not a mite will I withhold;

Take my intellect and use

Every power as Thou shalt choose.

Even when we occasionally pray honestly, earnestly, and specifically for something, most of us pray with little or no expectation of fulfillment. The proof of this is that when our prayers are answered, we either react with astonishment, or else we react with crass unbelief, attributing the answer to some natural cause or process — like luck.

In this regard we are like the little boy playing on the roof of his house. He loses his balance and starts sliding off. As he approaches the edge of the roof, he cries out, "Help me, Lord!" A moment later his pants catch on a nail and he is saved from falling. He looks up and says, "Never mind, Lord!"
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See also:
Prayer, Revival, & the Holy Spirit
Why don't Christians Pray?