The Effectiveness of Prayer

“If God knows all that has ever been, all that is, and all that ever will be, including the little desires of my human heart, then what is the logic behind petitioning prayer? How can I change anything?”

This is certainly a human question that arises often in many of our minds. It is an issue of logic, and logic often serves us quite well. So, it can seem counterintuitive to the logical mind of the devout Christian to petition God for anything. Even so, He asks us to pray nevertheless, even saying such things as, “Give us this day our daily bread.” In other words, “Lord, please provide for me those things I need for sustenance, for without You, I will perish.”

Now, we might suggest that such a petition is to be given so that we might remind ourselves of our utter need for God, that prayer becomes a didactic tool God gives us so that we can verbally acknowledge our dependency, and this certainly might be the case, but not merely so. Prayer is more than cathartic; it is effective (I Chron. 28:9; Matt. 21:22; Luke 11:9-13; James 5:16).

Now we have reached a seemingly paradoxical reality. Before we pray, God knows all that ever will come to pass. Nonetheless, the Bible suggests that our prayer has an actual effect upon reality. A basic response might be to suggest that God has answered our prayers beyond eternity, that time as we know it is not a limiting factor upon God.

I have another response to the Christian who questions his or her need to pray based on a theological understanding of the pervasiveness of God’s knowledge and, perhaps, will. While the one making this argument might within his or her own mind be suggesting a limitation on the human end, suggesting that because we are limited by our place in space and time we cannot effect the decisions of an eternal God, what the person is really suggesting is a limitation in God’s ability.

If we suggest that God’s nature is such that it limits our ability to affect reality through prayer, and yet we note that God says that He wishes for us to pray, what we are saying in effect is this: “While God might wish for us to make meaningful petitions, He cannot respond to the prayers of finite man due to His eternal nature.” In other words, God’s nature is a limiting factor upon what He can do. Is this the case? I do not assume so…

Think about it.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16

-TM