The Christian's Advantage
by Christopher Hendrix
What do you call a person who freely gives up their Queen in chess? How about the team in the Super Bowl that benches their starting players for the third string? What about the nation that trades its superior weapons for 19th-century weaponry? You call them the same thing that you call a Christian who doesn't pray. Crazy! That's because prayer is the Christian's advantage in this world. To give that up is to give up a fruitful, joyful, and exhilarating life. To give up prayer is to give up the catalyst to align oneself with the will of God.
The Bible does not remain silent on prayer. The Old Testament testifies to the prayers of the saints. Abraham demonstrated an alignment with the will of God by fulfilling God's prophecy to Abimelech (Gen. 20:17). Isaac, knowing God's promises, prayed for his wife Rebekah to conceive. She did (Gen. 25:21). Moses prayed to the Lord during his encounters with Pharaoh (Ex. 8:30). He also prayed to the Lord on numerous occasions on behalf of the Israelites (Num. 21:7). Hannah prayed to have a child. However, she was barren (1 Sam. 1:27). This child grew to be a man of prayer and used mightily by the Lord (1 Sam. 7:5). The inspired Scriptures described King David with a heart wholly true to the Lord (1 Kings 11:4). The outworking of David's heart was his prayer life (Ps. 4:1; Ps. 5:2; Ps. 6:9; Ps. 17:1). The many prophets prayed, called for prayer, and rebuked the people for false prayers. These examples are scratching the surface of prayer in the Old Testament.
Watch Pastor Chris Hendrix’s sermon on James 1:5-8.
In the New Testament, Jesus teaches and models prayer on numerous occasions (Matt. 6:5; Matt. 9:38; Matt. 19:13; Matt. 21:13; John 17:1). In the short description of the early church within 28 chapters of the Book of Acts, prayer is mentioned 31 times. Paul's letters contain many prayers, such as thanksgiving, worship, and requests. He even asked the believers to pray with him (Rom. 15:30). Hebrews tells of Jesus' role as the Great High Priest who offered up prayers with loud cries and tears (Heb. 5:7). In our culture influenced by Stoicism, one would hardly think of doing this! The remaining epistles encourage prayer through times of suffering and tell the truth that God listens to the prayers of His children. In our passage from Sunday, James commands us to ask God when we need wisdom. We always need wisdom, so we must ask every day! The Bible's final book even depicts the saints' prayers as incense and sweet aroma to God (Rev. 8:4).
Prayer is the Christian's advantage. Prayer acts as our instrument in many ways, such as to orient our minds to truth, to worship the Lord for His nature and works, to thank Him for the good and perfect gifts we have received, to repent of sin and humble ourselves, to lay our needs and burdens down upon Him, to be bolstered in joy and comforted in sadness, to give us self-control when we are out of control, to be encouraged when the world is pressing in against us, to fight the evils of Satan and grow our faith, to love one another by interceding for each other, to approach God as His children and receive joy. These truths, plus many more, urge us to seek the Lord in prayer.
So then, pray! Cry out to our loving Father in the name of Christ by the work of the Spirit. Incorporate prayer into your morning when you wake up, throughout the day, in the dead spaces of time, in the evening, and at night before sleeping. After all, to pray less than possible is giving up your advantage. And that is crazy!