In Pursuit of the Living God

Preface

In my experience, when I get discouraged about prayer I stop praying. I think this is common to many Christians, yet this is the opposite of what the Bible says we should do. Instead, it tells us to keep on praying and to pray more and more the worse things get. In fact, it tells us that the less our prayers are answered, the more we should pray. The Bible’s answer to discouragement about anything is to pray. For that matter, the Bible’s answer to anything at all is to pray. On every occasion when we would normally not pray, it tells us instead to pray. Prayer in the Bible is the be-all and end-all to every situation and circumstance, whether it is immediately effective or not. On the other hand, the be-all and end-all to me is to give up on prayer and instead to whine that God is not listening. To me praying seems counter-intuitive. I would rather find an excuse for God not answering my prayer than persist and actually hear his answer. I would rather believe that God is sitting afar off and distant, uncaring and unmoved, than believe what the Bible says: that he really loves me personally, that he lives within me, that he hears my every word, that he answers my prayers and that he will never leave me nor forsake me. My internal, unspoken attitude toward prayer is that prayer does not work and that it is boring, unrewarding and unimportant. All of these attitudes I have learned, either from others, or by myself. I need to unlearn them all and find out what prayer really is and how I should really pray. I need to learn what God says about prayer rather than what I think about prayer. I need to learn what the Bible teaches about prayer rather than what other people tell me about prayer.

This book tries to do just that: to teach what the Bible says about prayer. In its chapters I ask of prayer what, why, who, when, where and how. The latter half or even two-thirds of the book, the ’how’ section, can be read either as a normal book, or as a daily devotional. It is divided into chapters, each grouped around a prayer theme, containing Bible references and commentary relating to that theme. I developed the structure of the ’how’ section using a simple method: I read through the Bible from start to finish, searching for references to prayer and noting them down as I went. My search was based mainly around simple keywords such as ’pray’, ’call’, ’cry out’, ’praise’ and so on. I also tried to record references to prayer concepts where the wording may not have literally been related directly to prayer or praying. My search was large, though not exhaustive, yet still I ended up with a very large number of references to prayer. Once I’d finished, I sorted the references and found that they naturally fell into groups of ideas. These could often be sorted further into smaller groupings. Using these sorted groupings of Biblical references to prayer, I created chapters, each with small sections addressing a particular theme. From there I just added some of my own commentary and left it at that. Even such a simple process has provided a revelation to me of the richness of teaching in the Bible on the topic of prayer. My hope is that this richness will also be revealed to you as you read through this book.

I’d like to thank my wife Cheryl for keeping my feet on the ground while my head was in the clouds writing this book. Thanks also to all the people who read and reviewed drafts of this book and gave their honest criticisms of it, a task which has made it better than it otherwise would have been. Special thanks to Pastor Peter Dixon and Trevor Kettlewell.

Tangled Up with the Living God

What is prayer? When I ask myself this question, I answer with more questions. Of course, prayer is talking to God, but is that all? Who is this God I pray to? Is he alive? Is he listening? Does he talk back? Does he want me to pray a certain way, maybe kneeling with my hands clasped together in front of me and speaking in King James English? Is God friendly? Is praying to him like having my own private personal assistant - will he do whatever I ask him to do? Or is prayer like magic? If I recite the Nicene Creed at breakfast, wear Hessian underpants all day long and then feed the poor at night, will my prayer automatically be answered? Should I pray to angels? Should I pray to the Virgin Mary? How often should I pray - only when I am on the verge of being horribly disfigured in a tragic boating accident? Should I just let my pastor pray on my behalf? If I tell God my deepest, darkest and dirtiest secrets, will he still like me? If I confess my undying love for God and give my heart completely to him, can I trust him not to break it?

Well, prayer is indeed the act of talking to God, but there is more to it than just that. To understand how much more, we need to answer some of the questions I’ve asked above as well as many others. The answers are found in the pages of the Bible. This book as a whole aims to reveal what the Bible says about prayer and how we should go about praying. In this first chapter I’ll try to explain what I think prayer is, based on what I think the Bible tells us about the subject.

The Living God

So once again, what is prayer? Let’s begin our definition by repeating what was stated above: prayer is talking to God. I think, though, that we should immediately refine that definition to clarify who this God is we are talking to.

In the Bible, God is often described as ‘the living God’.

But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal king. Jeremiah 10:10

The adjective ‘living’, is used here to clearly distinguish the God of the Bible from other gods and idols. The prophet Habakkuk says:

Of what value is an idol, since man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to him who says to wood, ’Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ’Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. Habakkuk 2:18-20

(See also Psalm 115:4-7).

In the verse above, and many others like them, the Bible makes a distinction between the living God and lifeless idols. God himself declares that not only are idols lifeless and worthless, but that indeed there are no gods at all besides him:

I am the LORD and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. Isaiah 45:5 (See also Isaiah 43:10-11)

So, according to the Bible, there is only one true, living God. Idols of wood and stone, silver and gold, or gods of river and stream, hearth and furnace are merely lifeless, man-made or man-imagined things. They can’t hear, they can’t speak, they can’t see and they can’t give guidance. They offer us a false hope and are a waste of our time and effort.

On the other hand, the God of the Bible is really there and he’s vividly and vibrantly alive. He hears us (Acts 10:31), he speaks to us (Jer 33:3), (his voice is like rumbling thunder 2 Sam 22:14, John 12:29). He sees our every move and even sees into the motives of our hearts (Psalm 139). He has sent his Holy Spirit to give us guidance (John 14:26). He does creative work (Gen 1, Acts 14:15), and indeed constantly holds the created world in place (Coll 1:17, Heb 1:3). God also rests from his work (Gen 2: 1- 3). He is active and involved in people’s lives; he reasons with us (Isa 1:18-20); he rewards faithfulness (1 Sam 26:23, Heb 11:6); and he corrects rebellion (Job 36:8-10, Rev 3:19). He is an emotional being, shown to have experienced feelings of abandonment (Jer 2:11-13), betrayal (Hos 2:13, 13.6), grief and regret (Gen 6:6), longing (Isa 30:18, Mt 23:37), jealousy for what is rightfully his (Zech 8:1-3, Jas 4:5), anger (Judges 2:12), compassion (Judges 2:17-18, 10:16), love (Isa 43:3-4), and delight (Deut 30:9-10). These verses are just a few of the many in Scripture which give us an insight into the character of the living God who has revealed himself to people throughout history.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:20

So then, since God is the living God, prayer is not only talking to God, but it is talking to the only true, living God. We’re not talking to a dead, wooden, unfeeling figment of our imagination. We’re talking to a real, but unseen, living being with a vibrant personality, in many ways very similar to ours.

The Promises of Prayer

If it is indeed true that we pray to the living God, who has an exciting, emotional and rational presence, then you would expect prayer with this living God to be something special: you would expect it to be a living, emotional and rationally engaging experience. You would expect to be excited and immersed in your conversation with God and you would expect that he would also become immersed in his conversation with you. You would expect prayer to be amazing. Indeed the living God does claim that prayer with him is amazing.

He claims that he will reveal amazing things to us when we call to him:

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3

He claims to satisfy our deepest needs when we come to him:

Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35

He claims to be a shield for us from the world and all of its troubles when we take refuge in him:

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. Psalm 18:30

And he claims to give us the fullest life possible when we remain in him:

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:10

The living God claims that he is the most amazing thing there is - anywhere (Job 38:1-42:6) - and he wants us to love him with all of our might (Mark 12:29-31). He wants us to know him so that we might experience eternal life through him:

For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:2-3.

This living God wants you to know him. He wants to have a living, vibrant relationship with you (Jer 31:20, Psalm 149:4). He wants to live in fellowship with you (1 Cor 1:9, 1 John 1:2-3, 2 Cor 13:14). He wants to be with you so badly that he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die for you, so that you could know him (John 3:16). When you begin praying to the living God, you begin your journey to knowing him; you begin your journey of eternal life in relationship with him. This relationship is one which will last for the rest of your existence, both now and after your physical body dies and you enter into heaven.

Praying to God is not supposed to be like talking to some fusty, morose, prune-faced undertaker who only ever responds in grunts and somber drones. Prayer is supposed to be a fulfilling, two-way relationship with all of the attendant experiences, emotions, joys, sorrows and rational understandings and misunderstandings that any relationship brings. If that is indeed the case, then our definition of prayer can be further refined: prayer is entering into an eternal living relationship with the only true, living God.

So these are some of the promises of prayer: satisfaction, fullness of life, a place of refuge, close personal relationship with God, fellowship with him in his work and knowledge of God leading to eternal life (See 1 Cor 1:9, 1 John 1:3). Loving and praying to the God who claims all of these things would surely be amazing. Yet to many of us prayer is more like talking to a chocolate pudding than participating in an amazing relationship with a living being. We talk to him, we cry out to him, we might even shout at him, but we get no response from him. To those of us who can identify with this, the trite words I’ve written above seem fantastical and unrealistic. We wish they were true, but they don’t actually describe our own prayer lives or the prayer lives of anyone we know. Prayer doesn’t make us feel fulfilled. We don’t engage with God when we pray. God doesn’t talk back to us. We don’t hear voices, see visions or experience angelic visitations. We find prayer dry, dreary and unrewarding. So what is going on? Why are the promises of prayer and the experience of prayer so far removed from one another?

The Secret Prayer Formula

Perhaps there is a secret formula to having a vibrant, living prayer life with the living God. Perhaps there is some secret knowledge we need to learn before the promises of prayer can truly be ours. Is there? Is there some secret prayer formula which will magically give us the exciting prayer life we seek?

No.

However, the Bible teaches us that there is one thing we can do to guarantee a rich prayer life. It’s not really a secret, because the teaching is often repeated and plainly written. It isn’t really a formula, because praying to God is not like chanting some kind of magical incantation, where you say the right secret holy words and wave some sort of ritually anointed incense to automatically get the results you seek. This teaching requires no secret knowledge or mystical experience. It requires no sacred rituals or adherence to any form of ascetic lifestyle. It is simple and revealed plainly for the entire world to read and it is available to all men, women and children. This non-formulaic, non-secret ‘Secret Prayer Formula’, which leads us into a living, vibrant prayer life with the living God, is simply this: that to have a living prayer life with God, you need to pursue him.

Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God.

1 Chronicles 22:19

God has said that when we seek him, he will not fail to respond. He backs up his word with a promise: you will not seek me in vain.

I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ’Seek me in vain.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.

Isaiah 45:19

He says through the prophet Jeremiah:

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13.

God loves you. He sent his Son to die for you, but he can’t make you love him. You have to choose to do that all by yourself, by seeking him. The love which God expects you to have for him is not a feeling that comes upon you when you are in the right mood, a feeling that comes and goes depending on life’s circumstances. Rather, it is a choice which you have to make and commit to. It is a choice you have to act upon day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. It is a choice to love God, to find out about him, to obey him and to seek him. If you do this God will not fail to respond to you.

So we add to our definition: prayer is entering into an eternal living relationship with the only true living God and it is a relationship which we have to pursue, a relationship we have to become involved in through a purposeful act of will on our part.

God is Not on Your Team

This is all starting to sound like we need to put effort into prayer, and relationships of any sort can be hard, even when things are going well. A relationship with God, though, has one element which makes it different from human relationships. In human relationships there usually has to be compromise of some sort from both parties if the relationship is to succeed, but in our relationship with God, he will not compromise. He will not change to make the relationship work smoothly. We have to do all of the compromising and we have to do all of the changing in the relationship. If we do not, the relationship cannot succeed.

God is clearly for us, he is not against us (Rom 8:31). He has our best interests at heart (Jer 29:11) and wants to give us fullness of life in him (John 10:10). He has gone out of his way to bring us back into relationship with him, sending his only son to die for us. God has sought you at great cost, but it has not been at any cost. If you don’t respond to God’s overtures of love, he will not compromise who he is to have you. He will not change to please you. This is demonstrated very clearly for us in the story of King David of Israel. The Bible describes David as a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22); a man who was devoted to God and would do anything God asked him to do. God was pleased with David’s response toward him, and he blessed him with his presence as a result, but this did not mean that David had God wrapped around his little finger. God did not show favoritism to David, rather he responded to David’s faithfulness and obedience to him. When David disobeyed God, God was quick to rebuke him and punish him, even though he was greatly esteemed by God. God is for you, but he is not on your side. He is not going to bend the rules and compromise for you, no matter how much he loves you and holds you in his favor.

You see, we can’t manipulate God. Most of us pray as if God is a valuable player we choose for the football team we own. We expect everyone on our team to be willing to subject themselves to the goals and objectives of our team. We expect God to do whatever we ask him to do. But God is not on our team, no matter how much we want him to be. Rather, we are on his team, and we are supposed to do what he tells us to do. We approach prayer as a puppet show where we are the puppet master trying to make our puppet (God) do what we want him to do and what we think is best. When God doesn’t dance under our direction, we feel disappointed, discouraged and sometimes we even get angry at him. We question ourselves, Do I lack faith? We begin to question the promises of Scripture, and as our prayers continue to go unanswered, we may even lose hope and stop praying altogether. This is falling into the trap of thinking that God is there to do our will. It isn’t until we realize that we didn’t choose God to be on our team, but rather that he chose us to be on his team, that we can begin to experience the fullness of the promises of prayer.

When I pray I am supposed to be working towards fulfilling his team’s goals, namely ushering in the Kingdom of God and proclaiming his offer of salvation to the entire world. Prayer is not just about me. It’s not just about me being blessed by God, so that I have riches here on earth, or so that I am made spiritually acceptable to him. It’s not just about me being healed or made whole in God, so that my physical and spiritual weaknesses are taken away. It’s not just about me basking in the glorious presence of the Lord to the exclusion of all else. Prayer is about glorifying God and furthering his Kingdom on earth and it’s about caring for his people, whether they are saved or unsaved, everywhere on earth.

When he was asked which was the most important of the commandments, Jesus replied:

"The most important one, answered Jesus, is this: ’Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’" Mark 12:29-31

The most important teachings in the Bible, then, are firstly that we should focus our thoughts and attentions principally on God, and secondly on our fellow human beings. ‘I’ do not even rate a mention. This might seem an odd thing to say since this chapter focuses on the fact that prayer involves a relationship with God; you would think a lot of ‘me’ would be involved. Indeed prayer is entering into relationship with God and that relationship is what God has intended for us since the beginning of time. Why? Because God knows that we need that relationship with him to fulfill the plan he has had for us from the beginning. When we enter into relationship with God, our deepest inner needs are met through that relationship. If we remain in relationship with him, he will remain in us (John 15:4) and as we remain in him, our lives change. This can be a long process, but over time, as we obey Christ, we bear fruit. Instead of always thinking of ourselves first, we begin to put others before ourselves, sometimes even without realizing it. Our continuing relationship with Christ is quietly working away at providing us with inner security, a rooted sense of peace and a hope which is subtly more powerful than almost anything we are faced with in life. Our own needs are met in our relationship with God, and as a result we stop making our own needs the driving force of our lives. Instead of being addicted to ‘me’ we slowly become addicted to God, and our thoughts and prayers turn to others, because as we hang out with God we become like him and we start to think like him. God wants us all to come into full fellowship with him; to share in the work of pursuing his goals. Those of us who have already accepted his offer of salvation have