KindiakMath

Previously, we have seen that God speaks to us through His written Word. How we access this Word can come in many media, be it through reading the written words, or hearing it spoken through others. But regardless of medium, God still speaks to us today through His Word.

And we get to speak with God too.

Definition 1. In the Old Testament, to pray means to ask of God to act. The content of what was prayed is called a prayer.

Remark 1. In some Christian traditions, to “pray” means to “ask of”, regardless of subject. Therefore, the phrase “praying to (Saint)” communicates the idea of “asking of (Saint)”, which does not immediately imply a worship of (Saint). Consistent with an older use of English, Catholic Christians, for instance, “pray to Mary” in this sense, rather than as an act of regarding Mary as God. More often in modern culture, however, the subject of the word “pray” is almost always exclusively reserved for divine beings and deities. Therefore, we will adopt this convention as per Definition 1.

Remark 2. As with other blog posts, we use the English Standard Version’s (ESV) use of the word “pray”. Other translations in contemporary English may render other words as “pray” as well.

Lemma 1. The Old Testament records for us many known and named individuals who prayed to God, who listens to their prayer by taking action.

Proof. We have the following non-exhaustive list:

• Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live…Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. [Genesis 20:7; 17]
• So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you must not go very far away. Plead for me.”…So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD. And the LORD did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained. [Exodus 8:28; 30–31]
• Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant (i.e. Solomon) and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day…And the LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever… [1 Kings 8:27; 9:3]

The literary pattern of the Bible, and the Old Testament therefore, is that humans pray to God by asking of Him to take action, and God listens to them by taking action.

Lemma 2. There are moments when God listens to one’s prayer, but His responsive action is to delay His response.

Proof. The prophet Daniel prays that God will restore the kingdom of Israel, since the prophet Jeremiah’s prophecy seems to have been fulfilled:

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, “…Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.” [Daniel 9:3–4; 17]

However, God responds to Daniel by delaying his request:

He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision. Seventy weeks (i.e. 490 years) are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place…” [Daniel 9:22–24]

Jesus Himself prayed to the Father that He might not go to the cross:

And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” [Mark 14:36]

God responded to Jesus by doing the Father’s will: bringing Him to and through the cross, by which the world has the real possibility of being saved:

…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. [Hebrews 12:2]

How then, ought we pray to God? Funnily enough, this is the exact same question that Jesus’ disciples asked Him:

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” [Luke 11:1]

And while non-exhaustive, the famous ‘Lord’s Prayer’ or ‘Our Father’ offers a good starting point on how we can and should pray to God our Father.

Theorem 1. Jesus teaches us to pray to God our Father by asking Him for good gifts, and in particular, the following:

• God’s holiness and His kingdom to come into our world,
• God’s generous provision of our all of our daily needs, including
• The forgiveness of sins and debts in us by Him, and around us by us.

Furthermore, we can, and should ask Him confidently, who delights to give good gifts to His children.

Proof. The passage in Luke 11:1–13 highlights these ideas.

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.” [Luke 11:2–4]

Furthermore, Luke 11:5–13 emphasises God’s eagerness and delight to act upon His children’s prayers for good gifts:

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” [Luke 11:13]

The Bible Project expands on this prayer and how God even answers Jesus’ prayers through it.

Remark 3. The Gospel of Matthew also records a similar prayer and discourse (Matthew 6:5–15; 7:7–11), which includes many of Jesus’ other teachings that, reasonably, He has repeated many times and that His disciples have internalised thoroughly before they recorded it down in writing.

However, prayer is not our only way of relating to God. Prayer is one kind of speaking to God, and is by no means the only kind of speech we can and should make to Him.

Lemma 3. The Old Testament records for us many known and named individuals who spoke with God in dialogue, yet are not called “prayers”.

Proof. We have the following non-exhaustive list:

• Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes…” [Genesis 18:27]
• Moses said to the LORD, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ [Exodus 33:12]
• You have said, “Seek my face.” My (i.e. King David) heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” [1 Kings 8:27; 9:3]

Admittedly, these are three very different forms of speaking to God. Abraham spoke to the LORD as a human (Genesis 18:1–2). Moses spoke to the LORD as a friend (Exodus 33:11). David spoke to the LORD as his God (2 Samuel 7:18). Yet, in all three cases, these men spoke to God, though the Bible does not use the word “pray” to describe their interaction.

Remark 4. The purpose of Lemma 3 is not to dissuade us from praying; rather it clarifies that many individuals in the Old Testament has spoken to and with God, and in the special case they ask of God, they are said to be praying to Him. If anything, it should imply that it is plausible that we engage God in conversation, including but not limited to requests.

Theorem 2. Many people in the New Testament spoke with God in dialogue.

Proof. Since Jesus is God, any person who spoke with Jesus did, in fact, speak with God. Some acknowledged it:

And those in the boat worshiped him (i.e. Jesus), saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” [Matthew 14:33]

Some doubted it:

The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord (i.e. Jesus), saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” [Luke 7:18–19]

Others resented it:

And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death. [Mark 14:63–64]

And finally, at least one doubter repented and believed it:

Thomas answered him (i.e. Jesus), “My Lord and my God!” [John 20:28]

But they did, in fact, converse with the living God, since Jesus is God.

Theorem 3. Today, we get to speak to God in dialogue, and when we ask of Him, that is called prayer. If we are in Christ, we can be confident that God will take action in response to all of our prayers.

Proof. We get to speak to God, since God is all-present and all-knowing:

O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways. [Psalm 139:1–3]

Furthermore, Christians have God the Spirit living in and among them:

For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. [1 Thessalonians 4:7–8]

Therefore, Jesus calls all Christians, through the Holy Spirit, His friends:

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. [John 15:15]

Therefore, we get to dialogue with God through His Words as recorded by His apostles:

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you (i.e the apostles) into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Because God lives in us, we can and should pray to God, and He will gladly respond to our prayer by granting our every God-willed request:

In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you….In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. [John 16:23; 26–27]

In Jesus’ name, so be it! (i.e. Amen!)

—Joel Kindiak. 6 Dec 25, 1847H