The Paradox of Prayer (part 2)
Praying in the Spirit of Adoption
As the risen Lord, Jesus pours out his Spirit to revive and transform us his people. And the Holy Spirit is integral to our praying, for he is the Spirit of Adoption (Galatians 4:1-7). He leads us to God, not simply as the Creator and Redeemer, but as our newly gained heavenly Father. We are now family, and it as children of God that we are able to pray. As a father delights to hear his children’s needs and provide for them, so our heavenly Father does for us.
So we are to pray in the Spirit, coming to God as “Father”, free to ask anything of him we will. But never demanding, never dictating to God what he should do, but as a child trusting him to hear and respond with wisdom and love.
Being adopted children of God also carries implications for our future. We are God’s heirs, waiting to inherit the kingdom our Father wishes to share with us. We are Jesus’ brothers and sisters, and Jesus (the heir) will share his inheritance with us (Romans 8:17). Which means we will rule the new creation under and with Jesus. Like Adam and Eve did back in the beginning, but better. Or to put it another way, we are partners in our Father’s business, owning a share. This is all by grace, and what enormous grace it is, as God takes us from enemies bound for destruction to members of the royal family with whom he shares everything.
Partners with God
But partnering God in his business is not just in the future—we begin here and now. And prayer is central to our role, because as we pray, we participate in God’s rule of his universe. God welcomes our input as he makes his decisions about how he will achieve his purposes, both in our lives and in the wider world around us. Even though our advice is often naïve, foolish and mixed in motive, God still welcomes it and graciously builds it into his decisions. It makes you wonder just how influential you are, when you are in the privacy of your own room asking God to change the world.
Which helps us work out what to ask God for. As his children we are free to ask for anything. We don’t have to censor our prayers, because we can trust God to only do what is good. But as our minds are renewed to “think God’s thoughts after him”, then the things we want God to do will converge with the things God wants to do. We are being made competent to rule the world like God rules—with compassion, justice and wisdom. This will be reflected in our prayers (like Paul’s prayers in his letters—eg Philippians 1:9-11, Colossians 1:9-14)—the advice we give God will get better and better.
God has done everything to make prayer both simple and easy for his children. Access is ours through Jesus, help is ours by the Holy Spirit and privilege is ours by God’s grace—there is every reason to be prayerful. We may not understand how our prayers fit with God’s pre-planning of history—there is still much mystery surrounding those questions. But we do know God is responsive to our prayers.
Then why do we find praying so hard? That is the paradox, and it has to do with sin that clings so close. Even after becoming Christ’s, we still have that deep-seated independent streak that keeps us from entrusting life to God. And we still have that apathy toward the welfare of others and the honour of Jesus that allows us to breeze through the days without asking God to change the status quo. So what to do? In the words of one brand name—JUST DO IT!
Tim Thorburn serves with the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students in Perth, and as Executive Director of the Perth Gospel Partnership. In a former life he worked as an engineer before retraining for gospel ministry. Rosemary is his partner in life and ministry, and they have 2 adult children.