The Power of Prayer

by Clarice Bowman and George Harper

Chapter 2

Preparing to Grow in Our Prayer Life

"The blinding realization that by letting Him use us we can help save the world ... presses upon our time, every moment of it, as the air presses every moment against the wings of a plane, holding it to its high course." Laubach

Misunderstanding and problems about prayer usually stem from one of three sources:

(1) An inadequate view of the God to whom we pray

(2) An inadequate view of ourselves as the pray-ers

(3) An inadequate understanding of prayer as contact between God and ourselves.

As a first step in preparation for growth in prayer life, let these three lines come together. Start just where you are. Reach trustfully towards Him, believing that

"Who takes one step towards God through doubtings dim,
God comes a thousand miles in blazing light to him."

Is it more faith you need? Don't wait to become logically convinced as to the foundations for faith before venturing forth upon it! An old man and a younger one were working on a roof. Ladders with sharp spikes on their undersides were thrown down on the roof, and the boy was told to step out on one of them. He hesitated. "Let your weight down on it, my lad," the old man said. "See how it holds. The heavier the load it carries, the more secure it is."

You will find your faith growing, through experiencing the way it holds you up. You will find your understanding of the nature of God growing, as you commune with Him in prayer as friend to friend. You will find your understanding of yourself becoming clearer, so that you will know better how to rid yourself of hindrances and develop the talents God has given you for fellowship with Himself.

In the brief scope of this book, attention cannot be given to all the theological questions that may perplex some on their pathway of prayer. References are suggested. Discussions of difficult points with trusted Christian leaders should help.

However, because progress in prayer depends so much upon the way we think of God, a few brief suggestions will be in order here.

A God who Reveals Orderliness and Purpose through His Created World

We take a walk along a country road and meet thousands of evidences of God's ongoing creation, each evidence a drama of orderly laws at work. We bend back a blade of grass and see myriads of tiny moving things each living out his cycle according to a Plan. We look through a microscope at cells, intricate, infinitesimal, yet each fulfilling its peculiar destiny. We chart the movements of the stars 2,000 years ago and 2,000 years from now. Astronomers have learned to trust the regularity of their orbits. The mechanism of the human body adds evidence of God's care in creation. Implanted there is the urge for growth, and forces that make for health and healing. The surgeon but removes the lesion. The body heals itself.

This Power that set all worlds in motion and that gives us life is beyond the scope of our farthest imagination. Chemistry, physics, astronomy, and biology but reveal glimpses as to how He works. The "why" back of it all is not explained, except in a Power that has Purpose.

As we bend our ears to hear God speak through his creation (including ourselves) we marvel to discover that He is continuing to create! He is not static. His strength and power and laws are moving through the universe, even through our bodies. Changes are taking place every minute throughout the earth. God has not wound up His world and left it to run by itself. He is busy at work within it. "My Father worketh .." (John 5:17).

A God Whose Nature is to Love and Care for His Children

If all we had to rely upon to tell us about God was His revelation through His creation, we would probably cower in awe and fear at such Intelligence beyond our comprehension and forces of nature beyond our control.

But Jesus revealed to us a God Who is personal and loving. No word appears so often in Jesus' vocabulary as the word "Father." Because Jesus lived so true to the "nature" God had implanted in Him, we see more of God in Him than in anyone who ever lived. And what we see there is loving.

Jesus often used illustrations of normal family relationships with which men are acquainted. He called this our Father's world. He spoke of persons as God's children. He suggested that in prayer we may go as confidently to God as a child goes to its father. As wise parents cannot always grant their children's requests, neither can the Divine Wisdom answer all prayers as we would have them answered. When children disobey, fathers are hurt yet ready to forgive them. For the children's sake, fathers demand repentance and correction of wrong acts. When children leave, the father looks longingly for their return. No matter how much they quarrel, the children are still brothers and sisters. They still have the same father, enjoy the same love, live in the same world.

Does God know each of us individually? Read Matthew 10:29-31.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

The more efficient a librarian is in his job, the less he sees books in the mass, the more he knows them one by one. Each volume has its special significance. He knows what edition it is, its value, its contents, its author, its purpose. Only ignorance sees things in mass. Knowledge breaks up all masses into units, recognizes and knows each unit for what it is.

God, in His knowledge and love, knows, understands, and cares for every individual. He calls us by name. "The Shepherd knows His sheep" (John 10:14). Within each of us He has implanted a part of Himself. Centuries before Jesus' day, the psalmist cried, "Thou knowest my goings out and my comings in ... I will keep thy precepts and testimonies. For all my ways are ever before Thee." (Psa. 119:168).

Yet, despite Jesus' witness that God is loving, some fail to pray in that spirit. There are those who prefer to think of God as vengeful, in order to rationalize their own vengeful attitudes. There are those who prefer to think of God as "King," in order to rationalize their own selfish attitudes of commanding service rather than giving it.

"We are unwilling to rely on the instruments of love - justice, forgiveness and cooperative effort for the good of all. We do not believe that the supreme power in the universe is Love, though we cling to the hope that God will be merciful to us at the last." Tittle, 1942, p.18

The closer we come into fellowship with God through prayer, the more he lets us sense His yearning for the world. A wise man once said, "If I were God, the sorrows of the world would break my heart." A wiser one replied, "They did break the Heart of Hearts."

The Negro race has expressed this insight in the spiritual, "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?"

"We crucify Him every day ... when we neglect to vote for the right candidate, or when we spend on soft drinks .the money that would keep a Chinese family alive for a month. We crucify Him when we forget that concern for others must govern our choices. In these days when we become sorry for ourselves, do we forget about the sorrows of God? Multiply our concerns by his infinity, and we can imagine the anguish of God as He watches his children deal in death and starvation and hatred." 

This sense of awe at man's possible partnership with God, in the choices he makes for his own life and in his responsibility for others, should nerve us all for heroic praying and self-giving!

Bearing the Cross
"... It's so hard to stand for what you believe in my community. ... My best friends don't like for me to be too particular .... You wouldn't want me to make the gang mad at me .... Surely I can't give up everything .... One woman shut the door in my face ... I can't stand treatment like that .... You know I have so much to do; I'm so busy ...."

Yes, it's terrible how much we have to endure.

James the brother of Jesus, and James the son of Zebedee were killed by mobs in Jerusalem; Matthew was slain on a sword in Ethiopia; Philip was hanged in Phrygia; Bartholomew flayed alive in Armenia; Andrew crucified in Achaia; Thomas was run through with a lance in East India; Thaddeus was shot to death with arrows; a cross went up in Persia for Simon the zealot; and in Rome the old apostle Peter was, at his own request, crucified head downward - because he did not think himself worthy to die in the same position as his Lord. Matthias was beheaded. Only John escaped a torturous death, and he died a lonely man in exile. A fair record for eleven weaklings who once ran to hide!

Now, what was that hard cross you have to bear today?

Prayer: Our Father, forgive us for our selfish weakness that makes us afraid to stand for Thee when the going is tough. Help us to live this day that their life and His might not have been in vain. Give us the strength of living with a great purpose. Amen. 
Dorothy Harper

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