Belief in Unicorns = Belief in Christ?

Do you ever wonder what sets Christianity apart from other belief systems? Is Christianity truly more worthy of consideration than other religions we simply call myths today? What got me thinking about this was a conversation I recently heard on Dennis Prager’s radio show on May 13^th, 2008. During the third hour Mr. Prager was dialoging with callers about the lack of doubt among atheists on the question of God’s existence when an atheist called up and said (I'm paraphrasing), “Of course we don’t have any doubt. Do you ever doubt the non-existence of unicorns? No you don’t. We see the existence of God the same way you see unicorns.”

This got me thinking. Is what the atheist caller said valid? What would you say to such a person? For the one who doesn’t already follow Christ, is there any reason why Christianity should be given more consideration than other religious systems, such as ancient paganism? After thinking about it for the last several weeks I have come to a conclusion:

Whether you believe in Christianity or not, there are good, objective reasons why this system stands alone on the world stage as being worthy of consideration.

There are a number of reasons that I make such a claim, although I will not be able to touch on them adequately in this post. I guess that means that I will be starting another series to flesh out my thoughts on why Christianity should be considered before other systems, and even if rejected, cannot be put in the same class as unicorns, ancient pagan religions, or even other modern alternatives.

Regarding religious systems, you’ve probably heard people say things to the effect of, “Religions are matters of faith, and matters of faith cannot be proved or disproved.” If what such a claimant means is that it may not be possible to prove the existence of God conclusively enough to sway the hardened skeptic, then I have to agree. However, all religious systems make claims about history and the way the world is that can be checked against what we know about these subjects. If we begin checking such claims and find that, over and over again, the claims don’t comport with reality, then we probably have good reason to reject the system making the claims.

For instance, Hinduism makes the basic claim that the world is an illusion and that we are all figments in the imagination of the divine unconsciousness. Because of this basic Hindu claim, I feel safe in rejecting Hinduism as a whole because the system simply doesn’t agree with reality. If you and I are only figments of some cosmic unconsciousness then why are we aware of ourselves? When you dream, the characters in your dreams don’t have individual consciousness or awareness, they don’t think they exist nor do they know they don’t exist.

To make this as simple as possible, ask yourself this question: Does Mickey Mouse know that he’s a cartoon character? No. In fact, there isn’t even a “he” there, the cartoon character is a figment of the imagination, transferred to film, of Walt Disney. As you and I are aware ourselves we can safely say that we are not figments of anyone’s imagination; or as René Descartes would say, “Cogito ergo sum” (best known as, “I think therefore I am,” but better translated as, “I am thinking therefore I exist”).

Over the next several weeks, I will be attempting to build a case for the reasonableness of Christianity, starting with it’s most basic claims and building upon each post with more and more specific and detailed claims that Christianity makes about world around us. My current schedule (as I’m making it up in head as I write this) will look something like this:

1. Is it reasonable to believe that God exists?
2. If such a God did exist, could He communicate with us?
3. Is belief in miracles reasonable?
4. Is the Bible trustworthy?
5. Is the resurrection reasonable?
6. Does the Biblical worldview comport with reality?
7. How does Christianity fare against the other leading worldviews of today?

Anyone who has done much reading in the area of theistic Philosophy will recognize these questions and will probably be familiar with most of the answers. However, I hope that my presentation might be somewhat unique in that I am attempting to put these questions together in such a way as to build a progressive case for the validity and the truthfulness of Christianity as opposed to it’s competitors today and other myths.

I have my work cut out for me.

Am I Putting God in a Box?

Am I Putting God in a Box?

Over the last several posts I have tried to answer several of the most common questions people ask about my view of God’s will and Christian decision. In this last post on this topic (for a while anyway) I want to tackle one final question that is almost always asked about my view on this subject: “Aren’t you putting God in a box?”

This question goes well beyond the boundaries of this series, as it is commonly asked of anyone who questions a “new movement of the Spirit,” such as the Toronto Blessing; which many Christians, myself included, had grave doubts about. In this way, it is often not so much used as a question but a device to shut down inquiries and doubts regarding a given “spiritual” event.

I find this question somewhat illegitimate, although many who ask it are undoubtedly sincere, for one reason: It can be used to justify anything. A number of years ago, Greg Koukl (who, you may figured out by my frequent citations of him, is one of the most influential Christian teachers in my life) responded to this question this way:

What if I told you that you should come with me to a church that has a brand new work of the Spirit? You say, what is it? I say, when the Spirit moves us, we stand in a circle and urinate into a big tub. We pee in a pot. We call it "whizzing in the Spirit." You say, Koukl, that's bizarre. I say, there are no verses against it. Find a verse against it. In fact, I've got a proof text: "From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water." There it is! Works for me! After all, you can't put God in a box, can you? God can do whatever He wants, can't He? So who are you to judge Him?

This is, of course, a humorous example, but it gets at the heart of the problem with the question (or statement), “Aren’t you putting God in a box?”

Whenever we teach about God and what it means to follow Him, we must be exceedingly careful to only teach what is Biblical. Is it possible that God could speak to you through your inner feelings and intuitions? Yes it is. Is it possible that God, if He so chose, could speak to you from a garden gnome under your bed? Yes it is, God certainly could do that if He wanted to. Am I, or you, or anyone else, allowed to teach that God does things in this way? No. The reason is simple: The Bible itself does not teach that God works in these ways. As teachers (all of us are in some capacity or another), the only things we can teach about God and His ways with any authority, or any surety, are the things taught to us first in the Bible.

Series Conclusion (for now, anyway):

Am I saying that I don’t believe that the Holy Spirit interacts with us on a sometimes unconscious level to influence or to assist in bringing to mind some wisdom that we didn’t know we possessed? Not at all, I do believe that God interacts with Christians in such a way. However, the danger begins when we start claiming that our “inward nudges” are instructions from God. Such claims give divine authority to our passing whims and thus shut down the possibility of wise counsel from other Christians who might advocate a different course of action. After all, if God really told you to do X, who are they to say not to?

Whether you have read all my posts on this subject, or only this one, the thing that I want everyone to understand is this: Our inner impressions, the thoughts and “nudges” that we feel from time may be from God, our own mind, or even from the Devil, but we don’t to agonize over the source of their origin as so many Christians do. What I understand to be the Biblical response, is to evaluate every potential course of action in light of God’s moral will and of wisdom. If we follow this Biblical prescription, we will never be far wrong. We will weed out the suggestions of the Devil and our own bad ideas, and (for the most part) follow through on our good ideas and the things of God.

It may be that there are things, many things perhaps, that we attempt that don’t meet with perfect success. That is the nature of life. The thing that counts for the most in the end is not whether our efforts meet with brilliant success at every turn but whether we consistently sought to honor and glorify God with our life through wise and Godly decisions and actions. It is in this way that we will find ourselves in the center of God’s will for our life.

Doesn't God Care What I Do?

Probably the most common question I have received when discussing my views on decision making and the will of God is, “Are you saying that God doesn’t care what I do?” If you are new to this series you will probably want to check out the post here entitled, Decision Making and the Will of God - Answers, to get up to speed on where I’m coming from on this issue.

If you have always believed that God has a divine blueprint of your life and that He is daily involved in providing you little hints and prompts in order to help bring you “into the center of His perfect will,” then I can understand why the idea that He actually provides Christians with a great deal of freedom in choosing a vocation, a spouse, a ministry, etc. could feel isolating, or even scary. While it may feel that way now, many who have left this “blueprint model,” of a personal will of God, for the wisdom model have described a enormous sense of relief, like a weight of worry had been lifted from their shoulders. Some have even gone as far as describing their time believing in the “blueprint model” as being in bondage; such is the confusion, doubt, and second-guessing that it breeds in the Christian’s life.

The question, “Doesn’t God care what I do,” shows how powerful preconceptions can be. The assumption is: if God isn’t there planning out every detail of my life, then He isn’t interacting with me at all, nor does it matter to Him what I do.

God is interacting with believers (and non-believers) on a daily basis, what Christians need to do is come to a proper, Biblical understanding of the way God does work. Please refer back to my post The Work of the Holy Spirit for more info

Other than that, if we just take a moment to and calm down a little, it should be crystal clear that God cares deeply what we do with our lives, even if He is not personally directing the specifics of our lives on a regular basis. The moral will of God is an extensive, and Christians would say comprehensive, code of morality for the followers of God. Does God care if we steal? If we lie? If we are unfaithful to our spouse? Of course He does, and everyone instinctively knows this.

The real question is: Does God care about the non-moral decisions that we make? It is easiest to provide some examples:

Example: Employment – Does God care about what Job you take?

To a degree, yes. But also no. As a Christian, would God care if you decided that drug-dealing was the job for you? Of course. Not only is it criminal in this country, but such a job destroys lives and minds. So drug-dealing is out. What if you want to be an economist? What would God say about that? Is there anything wrong with such employment legally? No. Morally? Not that I can think of. Therefore, I feel safe in saying that being an economist is an acceptable line of work for a Christian.

Now that we have determined that it is alright for Christians, in general, to become economists, what about for you specifically? Does God care if you take up such a line of work?

That depends. Is this something you have adequate ability in? Has God gifted you in the areas of organization, mathematics, theory, research, and the like necessary to pursue such a career? If not, you should probably consider a different line of work.

Is the action of pursuing a career in economics a wise one, considering your condition right now? Maybe you need several years of schooling before such a job could be earned, and school is not a wise choice at the moment. Are there greater responsibilities that you are currently meeting that would have to be dropped to pursue such a career? Would such a career adversely impact time spent with your wife or children?

If the choice is moral, legal, wise, and you have the ability, the opportunity, and the desire, I would say that you have God’s permission to pursue that course of action. Your earthly father doesn’t want you to come to him for direction every time you face a decision, but is most honored by you when you begin making choices on your own that reflect the values and character he worked to teach you. Likewise, I believe that God wants us to mature to the point where we begin to make choices and decisions on our own that reflect His values and His heart. This is the essence of freedom in Christ, and necessary to continuing our sanctification.

Here’s some Biblical support for the positions I have been taking in this post:

Ephesians 5:15
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

Colossians 4:5
Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.

Do these verses sound like exhortations to wait for a “word from the Lord” before we make a decision? Not at all, to my mind they sound very much like commands to act according to our wisdom.

Ok, so it looks I might have a case for stating that wisdom is adequate resource for making decisions, but where do I get off stating that personal preferences and desires should carry any weight in Godly decision making?

1 Corinthians 7:40
In my opinion she is happier if she remains as she is (single; this regarding the widow concerning whether she should remarry).

2 Corinthians 9:7
Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.

Romans 14:5
One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind.

Romans 14:22-23
The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

These passages all sound very much like God, through Paul, is letting us know that it is proper to consider personal happiness when facing decisions. I must point, of course, that personal happiness is the least important factor in decision making; if you are faced with a choice between an immoral choice that would make you happy and a moral choice that you’re not tickled about, you really have no choice at all, your way is clear.

Let me finish up with this: I have heard many people refer to James 4:13-14 to refute what I have been saying about planning and wisdom. But in doing so they forget Bible Study Rule #1: Never read a Bible verse. If they read the very next verse down (vs. 15) they would realize that James actually endorses the opinion I have been advocating:

James 4:13-15
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."

James is not saying that we shouldn’t make plans and carry them out, but that we should be humble enough to acknowledge that it is God’s prerogative to override our plans and bring us into circumstances that we had not initially foreseen. By all means, plan for the future, and make Godly and wise decisions about where to take your life, but never forget that God is sovereign over all things and He sometimes forces us to change our plans.

Work of the Holy Spirit

This next post has taken me a long time to write, partly because I have been very busy, but also because I have thought long and hard about what I would like to say and how I want to say it. The issue of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer is a difficult subject, the “Third Person of Trinity” often appears as a mysterious figure in the background or is only seen implicitly in many passages. In my experience, many Christians admit to a very limited understanding of role of the Holy Spirit. In that light, let me share some of the conclusions I have come to about the Holy Spirit, and as always, if you have anything to add, or any disagreements, I want to hear both.

The Bible communicates that the Holy works within several arenas in both the believer’s and the non-believer’s life. I have roughly broken the Holy Spirit’s work into five areas:

The Holy Spirit Draws the non-believer to God/Is the Agent of Salvation

Whenever the Bible talks about the work of God in pursuing individuals to bring into His kingdom, the Holy Spirit is mentioned as the active party involved in that work.

Titus 3:4-7
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

1 Corinthians 12:1-3
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

Before a person even makes a decision to follow Christ, the Holy Spirit begins the work of drawing him God. There are many influences working on an individual in the time before he makes a decision, the witness of friends and family, the surmounting of intellectual “road blocks,” a burgeoning awareness of spiritual emptiness, etc. But throughout the process the Holy Spirit is actively preparing the heart and mind to be open to the good news of Christ.

In John 10:1-29 Jesus relates the famous parable of the Good Shepherd. Perhaps unfortunately, the most well known verse of this passage is, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (vs 27). In isolation, many Christians have mistaken this to be a promise that Jesus will guide them in their decision making processes (i.e. I hear His voice telling me to move to Kentucky). However, in the context of the entire chapter it becomes clear that the voice is the call to salvation (made through the Holy Spirit) that the true seekers of God will recognize and respond to; not a promise of individual guidance.

Romans 8:9-11 and Titus 3:4-7 make it explicitly clear that life/resurrection from the dead is granted on the basis of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is through the washing and regeneration of the Holy Spirit that believers are justified and progressively sanctified.

The Holy Spirit Acts as the “Bridge” between God and Man

The Holy Spirit is a “bridge” between believers and God. When the New Testament talks about our access to God, or about God being “with us,” it is often qualified with the words “in the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is the member of the Trinity who is “with us,” and in whom we find our place with God the Father.

Ephesians 2:17-22
AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.

1 John 4:11-13
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

The Holy Spirit Comforts/Encourages the Followers of God

One of the primary roles of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believing followers of Jesus is to uplift, encourage, and sustain them, despite their circumstances. Besides the passages below, one only needs to read the accounts of the early believers and Apostles in the book of Acts, or the grisly accounts of persecution in Foxe's Book of Martyrs, to see the utterly unnatural peace with which believers faced torture and death for their allegiance to Christ.

Romans 8:16-17
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Romans 14:15-18
For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

Romans 15:13
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit "Amplifies" the Conscience

As the follower of Jesus grows in maturity and his relationship with The Savior, the Holy Spirit convicts of sin and is tirelessly working to mold him more and more to the image of Christ. This is what the Bible refers to as "Sanctification."

John 16:7-11
“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”

Romans 8:10-14
If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

A brief comment on Romans 8:14: When read in isolation (and when a specific meaning is poured into the word “led”) it can appear to be saying that Christians will be “led by Spirit,” as in “led to the job God wants me to have,” “led to marry this person,” or “led to go into this ministry.” However, I hope that it’s clear from the context of the passage that “being led by the spirit” means helping the believer to “[put] to death the deeds of the body;” i.e., the Spirit convicts the believer of sin and “leads” him to live in a righteous manner.

The Holy Spirit Provides Insight/Inspiration

These are interesting passages which not only exemplify the work of the Spirit in inspiring the prophets and apostles, but seem to provide for some manner of similar inspiration in the lives of all believers. I’m sure many of you know of people who came to Jesus later in life and have described the Bible as being unintelligible before their acceptance of salvation, but clear after such acceptance (at least the essentials were). While I’m not entirely sure how I feel about such statements as a whole, I don’t doubt that the Spirit did play a role in helping these new believers to a place of some increased understanding.

2 Peter 1:20-21
But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Acts 1:15-17
At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said, "Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry."

John 16:12-15
“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

Conclusion

As I wrote at the beginning, my main purpose for this post was to touch briefly on a large part of God's work in the lives of believers that is often a mystery to us. In case you didn’t notice there were not any passages that identified a role of the Holy Spirit in guiding believers to the specific decisions that God wants them to make . The Holy Spirit accomplishes many works in the lives of believers, but offering specific guidance in day-to-day decisions doesn’t appear to be one of them.

P.S. As always, if you disagree, or have something to add, please post it. I want to know when I’m wrong and if I have missed wonderful point that could have been made.

Bible Study: Rule #1

Before I put up my next post addressing four of the most common questions I receive when talking about the “Wisdom Method” of understanding God’s will (next post will be on the Work of the Holy Spirit), I want to take a brief moment to talk about my thoughts on the proper reading of scripture itself. Whole books have been written on this subject, but I want to focus on one guideline that, more than any other, prevents the misuse and abuse of scripture.

This guideline has been labeled “Never Read a Bible Verse,” by Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason. Upon hearing this, one may think, “That’s easy, I do that already. Can’t remember the last time I even cracked my Bible.” Obviously, this isn’t the point the title is meant to drive home. What it means is: never read a Bible verse, read at least a passage, better yet several paragraphs, in order to get the flavor of what the author wants to communicate.

We Christians would never read any other book the way we often read the Bible, and the way many pastors and teachers teach from the Bible: single verses snatched, almost at random from various places throughout the book. If you think about it for just a moment, the problems with this approach are clear. Reading just one verse, without taking the time to read the context can lead to incorrect conclusions about the passage. For example: What if the author is being sarcastic (as Paul and even Jesus were known to be from time to time)? Reading a single, sarcastic verse divorced from the greater context would prevent virtually anyone from catching the sarcasm and cause him to take what was being said in precisely the wrong way. Even the meanings of common words can be easily misunderstood and a wrong understanding of them arrived at (thus changing the meaning of the verse) without the larger picture of the author’s subject and line of thought clear in the minds of the reader (I will address a specific example of this precise error in my next post on the Holy Spirit).

This single-verse-grabbed-here-and-there approach many often take when reading the Bible causes us to think of the Bible more as a collection of single sentence sayings rather than well thought out, coherent ideas developed over many pages, as most books in the Bible actually are (I don’t even exclude Proverbs, as I can think of several passages that I have seen regularly misused because the verse was removed from it’s context).

I write all this as an explanation of the way I tend to quote verses, particularly when I write. As you will see in my next post, which will be unusually heavy on scripture quotation (sorry), I am often primarily interested in one verse, but will post several more surrounding verses as well in order to confirm that I am not misusing the verse and to provide the context for understanding the idea I believe is communicated in the verse.

There is a method to my madness. Unfortunately, that means you have to plough through a lot more text.

Ask For Wisdom

I wanted to expand on one important aspect of prayer: asking God for wisdom.

Maybe the most famous command to do so in the Bible appears in James 1:5:

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

This instruction falls in the “Give us this day our daily bread” category of the prayer of Jesus. It is important to highlight wisdom because far too often, when faced with a difficult decision, we send up a quick “God tell me what to do,” instead of prayerfully considering the options.

Here are three examples which detail God’s desire for us to seek after and employ wisdom in our daily life:

• Shortly after Kings David’s death, God speaks to King Solomon, offering him anything he would request. At this offer Solomon expresses his concern over not knowing how to lead the people of Israel, but instead of asking that God tell him what to do (as he could have done), he asks for wisdom – which God is so happy to grant that He freely gives Solomon riches, honor, and long life as well, if only he will continue to follow God (1 Kings 3:5-15).
• Every single one of Proverbs’ 31 chapters mentions wisdom by name and encourages the reader to seek after it; I don’t believe there is any more highly regarded quality in Proverbs than true wisdom.
• In Mathew 10:16 Jesus Himself advises His disciples to prepare themselves for the work to come by being “shrewd as serpents.” Even a cursory examination of the scriptures will reveal that wisdom is a quality held in extremely high regard by God and His people.

The Bible seems to communicate that God holds human beings in very high regard, we are made in His image and He humbled Himself to point of sharing in our humanity and taking upon Himself a crushing punishment, death on Roman cross, to provide us with the chance to find Him. The Bible is clear, God doesn’t want followers He must move like so many chess pieces around the world, but like any good father, He wants us to become so familiar with His desires that we automatically apply the things He has taught us to every situation; that we begin to make Christ-like decisions on our own.

How Should We Pray?

As promised, this next post is on prayer, particularly in light of what I consider the Biblical teaching on decision making and God’s will.

There are many areas of my walk with God that have come easily to me, however prayer is not one of them despite my desire that it be otherwise. Because of this, I hope for three things in this piece:

1. That writing this will me organize my own thoughts on the subject.
2. That what I have learned can help someone else (particularly in the area of decision making).
3. That anyone with insight into this subject will share it and perhaps deepen my own prayer life.

Recently, my wife and I were discussing prayer in light of what I believe to be the Biblical teaching on decision making. When I pointed out that the Bible doesn’t appear to teach that we should pray for specific guidance from the Lord (i.e. “God, please tell me if I should do x or y”), she said she basically agreed, but asked “If we’re not praying for guidance, how should we be praying?” (If I characterized your statement incorrectly, Dear, please let me know!) From talking with other Christians about these ideas, I have heard many ask exactly the same question: “If this true, then what do I pray for? What is the purpose of prayer?”

To answer this question, let’s breakdown “the Lord’s prayer,” the teaching Jesus gave His disciples when they asked Him, “Lord, teach us now to pray!”

Matthew 6:9-15 (NASB)

This, then, is how you should pray:
'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.’

The prayer starts with an act of worship: it acknowledges God’s proper place in Heaven and the Holiness of His being in implied contrast to our own, which is the essence of true worship – attributing worth to God.

Next comes a request for God’s will to be done in this world, as it is done in the dwelling place of God. It seems that this verse is referring to God’s sovereign will, for two reasons: Moral will appears to be addressed later in the prayer, and the nature of the will described is one of authority. The will that we are told to pray for is the same type of will God exercises in Heaven – That sovereign king.

Jesus teaches us to pray for our physical needs, our daily bread. Something that just occurred to me as look at the Lord’s prayer right now is that the prayer is for daily bread, which communicates an immediate need. I’m not going to say that one should not pray for future needs to be met, but it’s interesting to note that this matches up with the nature of God’s provision of manna to the Israelites in the desert. He provided only what they would need for that day, leaving them to trust Him for provision for tomorrow (Exodus 16:4-24).

The final section of the prayer has to do with sin and forgiveness. The model Jesus teaches us to ask for forgiveness from God for our “debts” and reminders us to forgive those who owe “debts” to us, concluding with a request for help in overcoming temptation. Jesus explains what He means by “debts” in the next sentence: He restates that sentence again by noting that God will forgive you of your sins if only you are willing to forgive the sins of others against you.

It seems to me that this prayer is complete and perfectly balanced. When we pray, we should worship God, we should pray for the advancement of His Kingdom on earth, we should present our needs to Him, and we need to beg His forgiveness of us and ask for help in walking in the manner of a true servant.