Yesterday in Study Hall we were looking at Ephesians 6:18, and one of the students asked why we pray if God already knows what He’s going to do. One of the specific reasons for the question was that the student had other kids asking him to “pray for them,” and he wasn’t sure exactly what that meant. How long should he pray? Is there any point in praying? Will God change or help them because we pray? We know He wants us to pray for people, but why does He want us to do that?
Another student suggested that it reminds us to be humble before God. Another mentioned that God is the one behind our prayers in the first place.
I spent my free class periods yesterday thinking about this question. I had extra time during the day since the orchestra girls were taking the PSAT. This past summer, the sermon series in college group had been on prayer, so I went back and looked through my notes on those and studied a couple passages in detail. This is a summary of what I told the kids today:
1. We do not know all the plans and purposes of God. We know He wants us to pray, but many of the reasons will be beyond us. The clay can’t always expect the Potter to explain why it was formed that way.
2. Matthew 6:7-8 shows that in our prayers, we should be addressing God as Father. Why do fathers want their kids to ask for things? When they ask, it acknowledges their dependence on their father to provide them with all the basic necessities of life (i.e. give us this day our daily bread). This goes back to our humble state before God in prayer. He sustains us every minute of every day – we too often take for granted that He supplies even the oxygen we breathe! Like the child in the high chair who cannot even reach the bottle of milk sitting a foot away, we have nothing apart from God who provides.
3. By praying for others (interceding), we participate in God’s work of salvation. Isaiah 59:16-17 talks about how God Himself is the One who intercedes for us. As He intercedes for us, we also are to intercede for each other. Just as God forgave us for our sins, we forgive others. We are representing Christ and taking His light into the world, and intercession is one way of doing that. Interestingly enough, the passage in Isaiah links directly to Ephesians. In Isaiah, God is the one putting on His mighty armor to intercede for us. In Ephesians, we are putting on God’s armor, and when we can stand firm (thanks to God’s intercession), we can go and intercede for others.
The question should not be, “Are my prayers for so-and-so effective?” but “How is God working, and how does He want me to be a part of that magnificent work?”
I’ll leave you with a couple quotes from C.H. Spurgeon :
“[Intercession is] when the suppliant forgets all about himself, and his own needs, and all his pleadings, his tears, and his arguments are on behalf of others.”
“The hidden wheels that start the whole machinery and that keep it in motion, are the prayers of God’s people. Oh, if the Lord makes you an intercessor, my dear brother, even if you cannot speak with men for God, if you know how to speak with God for men, you occupy a position that is second to none.”
