Comments on: Praying realistically

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 18:12:00 +0000

“I just can't pray, for example, that God will lead Ted Kennedy (there are probably better examples) into all wisdom, because surely God's guidance is not available to those who don't seek it (although apparently Kennedy has sought guidance from Jim Wallis on how to talk about values).”
But shouldn't we pray for our enemies? 😉 hehe

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 23:27:00 +0000

Good point, Face. You seem to be using “guidance” here more in terms of God's sovereign will (in which case, I should've said “God's guidance is available to everyone, whether they like it or not”), whereas I was thinking more in terms of counsel or advice coming from the Word and the Spirit.
That being said, it looks like whoever wrote this particular request (“asking God to lead them into all wisdom”) intended more of the “sovereign will” sense, in which case the request is more reasonable than I at first thought.
As a second point, however, I would still argue that it's better to pray for specific leaders (perhaps those Senators who remain undecided on a particular issue, for example) than it is to pray for all of 'em at once …

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 22:15:00 +0000

B.A., I'd like to challenge you a bit on your statement that we shouldn't pray for wisdom for leaders who are not followers of Christ because “God's guidance is not available to those who don't seek it.” Here's my challenge: we know from the Old Testament that “the king's heart is like channels of water in the hands of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Proverbs 21:1). God often moved those in authority to accomplish His purposes whether they were seeking Him or not–God's sovereign guidance is always supreme. So it seems that we ought to pray that God would move all our leaders to make wise decisions today, as well.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 22:05:00 +0000

Thanks for your contribution, Tyler. Though I'm quick to affirm God's perfect freedom and power, I'm not so quick to affirm the effectiveness of far-reaching and overly ambitious prayers. Which particular prayers qualify as overly amibitious will, of course, vary from person to person (which means that part of the responsibility is on my shoulders, to increase my faith and thus the effectiveness of my prayers). I guess what my complaint boils down to is a request that we all try to pray a little more intelligently, specifically, and persuasively. To return to the original example, I think God is more likely to answer a prayer for individual legislators (or perhaps for a specific outcome on a specific issue) than for the generic "members of Congress." Or to take another example: I can pray that God would end religious persecution around the world, or I can pray something specific for those fighting to end religious oppression in Eritrea. I simply want to say that the latter prayer is better (more effective) than the former. Specific prayers often end up being more modest

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 16:35:00 +0000

I can understand the skepticism in this post, but it does seem like you're selling God short. When Paul appealed his case to Caesar, I think it was because he believed that the power of the gospel could change even the man who considered himself divine. The Bible is full of stories of radical conversions and not only in the sense of Paul's conversion to worshipping Christ. I think of Pharaoh's conversion in Gen 41 or Nebuchadnezzar's conversions in Daniel (especially in Dan 3-4).
We don't worship the God who operates only in the realm of conceivablility. We worship the God who sent his son through a virgin birth. We worship a God who delivered a nation after 435 years of slavery via plagues and the parting of a sea. We worship the God of creation and recreation.
Eph 3.20-21: “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”