I was reading a passage from famed intellectual atheist turned born-again-Christian C.S. Lewis’ From The World’s Last Night and came across his view of prayer that I thought was inciteful.
The question then arises, “What sort of evidence would prove the efficacy of prayer?”(the ability to produce a desired or intended result.) The thing we pray for may happen, but how can you ever know it was not going to happen anyway? Even if the thing were indisputably miraculous it would not follow that the miracle had occurred because of your prayers. The answer surely is that a compulsive empirical proof such as we have in the sciences can never be attained.
Some things are proved by the unbroken uniformity of our experience. The law of gravitation is established by the fact that, in our experience, all bodies without exception obey it. Now even if all the things that people prayed for happened, which they do not, this would not prove what Christians mean by the efficacy of prayer. For prayer is a request. The essence of request, as distinct from compulsion, is that it may or may not be granted. And if an infinitely wise Being listens to the requests of finite and foolish creatures, of course He will sometimes grant and sometimes refuse them. Invariable “success” in prayer would not prove the Christian doctrine at all. It would prove something much more like magic—a power in certain human beings to control, or compel, the course of nature.
I believe in the power of prayer and I agree that prayers are requests, and no one is going to command God to answer affirmatively and grant our request; however, the Bible does state that the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective. The Bible tells us that God hears each of our prayers provided they are according to His will. Too He emphasizes who He chooses to hear in Proverbs 15:29 when He tells us: The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayers of the righteous. Sometimes it is not granted because our motives are wrong – James 4:3 ~ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Mark 11:24 states something that is encouraging ~ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. One problem with taking a verse like this out of context is that it leaves out things like: “provided it is within God’s will, God’s timing trumps our own, our motives are not right, God has another plan, or the prayer is coming from the wicked.
Jesus prayed so hard that He physically sweated blood that He could be spared the “cup” of agony on the cross, but it was not to be. He said, “Nevertheless Lord thy will be done and not mine.” And of course, He went to the cross. We all have experienced prayers that were not granted.
We do not have some power to control or compel God to act. Often when a prayer is not granted it is heart breaking and I have experienced it often.
God is sovereign and He setup the world order but fortunately God loves us and what happens in our lives, though we cannot understand it, is alwaysin our best interest. The Bible tells us to pray ceaselessly. It is our form of communication to God. Jesus set the example of daily prayer and ultimately, He rose victorious from the grave. When the Father sent the Holy Spirit, it was to help us and He prays for us as related in Romans 8:26 ~ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
Those of us who are faithful in prayer will likewise be victorious. Trust in God even when the chips are down and every direction we look appears bleak. Anyone can exhibit faith when sitting on the top of the mountain, but genuine faith resides in the darkest valley too.
Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.