PRAYER AS DESIRE

“When I think of the wisdom and scope of your plan, I fall down on my knees and pray to you, the Father of all the great family of God – some of them already in heaven and some down here on earth – that out of your glorious unlimited resources you will give us the mighty inner strengthening of your Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in our hearts, living within us as we trust in him. May our roots go down deep into the soil of your marvelous love; and may we be able to feel and understand, as all your children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high your love really is; and to experience this love for ourselves, though it is so great that we will never see the end of it or fully know and understand it. And so at last we may be filled up with God himself.

Now glory be to God who by your mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we could ever dare to ask or even dream of – infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes. May you be given glory forever and ever through endless ages because of your master plan of salvation for the Church through Jesus Christ. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:14-19. The Living Bible)

What is the content of your prayers? Christian Wiman writes, “I have spent so much time in the hospital recently, and so much time in truly perilous situations, yet never have I felt farther from any adequate prayer.” (My Bright Abyss, p.142) What is adequate prayer? John Stott suggests that

One of the best ways to discover a Christian’s chief anxieties and ambitions is to study the content of his prayers and the intensity with which he prays them. We all pray about what concerns us, and are evidently not concerned about matters we do not include in our prayers. Prayer expresses desire.” (God’s New Society p.131)

The desire of St. Paul is expressed in this prayer. It reveals how prayer can transform your understanding and experience of life.

First, prayer is our response to the knowledge of God’s plan of salvation. “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God… For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Rom.11:33-36) We are overwhelmed with the wisdom and scope of God’s plan and purpose in creation and salvation. It causes us to fall on our knees in praise and adoration. Prayer begins with worship, with acknowledgement of God.

Second, prayer is to our Father. The object of our prayers is God as revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus models for the proper object of our prayers by teaching us to pray, “Our Father in heaven…” In his upper room prayer he begins, “Father, the time has come.” At the tomb of Lazarus he prays, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.” He is the Father of our family. Earthly fatherhood is derived from him. “Father” is a generative term not a gender term. It has to do with origin, love, security and care. God is neither male nor female. Both male and female are made in his image. Our prayer is relational, it is familial, it is personal. It is not a computer program, it is not Googling God, it is not a divine app. or a GPS. It is a conversation with someone who loves us and wants only the best for us. “How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” (Luke 11:13)

Third, prayer is for the inner strengthening of the Holy Spirit. God is not far off and distant but near. He comes into the center of our being by his Spirit when we believe in Christ. We are marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (1:13,14). He continues to come into our lives, strengthening us as we open ourselves to him and seek the filling of the Spirit. We seek the fullness of his gifts and graces. We seek to be strengthened to grow the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. We children of God are matter and spirit. As we seek for our bodies to be strengthened by food, drink and exercise, we also seek for our spirits to be strengthened to overcome ignorance, temptation and evil by the powerful Spirit of God.

Fourth, prayer is for the indwelling of Christ by faith. We ask Jesus to live in us and through us. We open the door and invite him in. He is with us to teach us the Way, the Truth, the Life so that we may come to the Father. He gives us rest so that we can lay down our burdens, our anxieties, our worries, our fears. We can learn from him for he is gentle and humble. We learn to trust in him, to have childlike faith, to accept dependence on him, to cease striving, controlling.

Fifth, prayer is to experience and be filled with the ever-increasing love of Christ. This love should be broad enough to include all people, long enough to last through life, deep enough to withstand suffering, and high enough to reach to heaven. We are to pray that we will be “rooted and established in love” – nourished as a plant by the nutrients of Christ’s love. What are the ingredients of that love? “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” “God commends his love toward us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.” “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38,39) “Love comes from God.. God is love…This is love: not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:7-10) “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (John 17:26) The goal of life is to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God who is love – to know this love that surpasses knowledge. To be filled with the love of Christ is better than to be the smartest genius on the planet. Pray to be filled with the love of Christ.

Sixth, prayer is not limited and is full of divine possibilities. God is able to do far more than all we ask or imagine. What do you desire? Ask for it if it is according to God’s will. “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:14) What do you desire in Christ’s name? Ask, so that God’s power may be able to work through your prayers. Faith is possibility. “Nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37) “May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed…May the Lord grant all your requests.” (Ps.20:4,5)

If all this is so, why are we seemingly so ineffective, lacking in love, and powerless? Are we controlled by our anxieties rather than our desires? Is it because we are lukewarm in our desires, we are too passive in our prayers, we do not persevere in our prayers, we have little ambition, and no staying power. Our sights are too low, our expectations too modest, our passions too reserved. We are too timid in our asking, too indifferent in our caring, too restrictive in our loving. God gambled it all on Christ and the Cross. He put himself out there for all the world to see his daring and his vulnerability, his pain and his willingness to bear the sin of the world in order to win us back into his loving embrace.

This prayer challenges us on the adequacy of our prayer life. You don’t want to have to give account for the inadequacy of your prayers, for the pathetic token petitions you offer rather than wholehearted, full-blooded assaults, battering on the door of the throne room of heaven. God your Father wants to know how great your desires are, how much you want his action, how sincere you are. In Gethsemane “being in anguish, Jesus prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” (Luke 22:44) “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” (Heb.5:7) If you want to be heard, learn from Jesus how to pray.