IS IT POSSIBLE TO IMPACT THE FUTURE BY PRAYING PROACTIVELY?
Today, I’d like to revisit an idea from a devotional I wrote in The Soul Repair Manual Volume 2: Finding Hope and Joy. I called the idea “Proactive Prayers.”
As Christians, we believe in the power of prayer and its ability to connect us with God, right? Prayer is more than just asking for things. It is a means of communication with God that involves talking to and listening to Him.
The topic of prayer inevitably raises lots of questions. As with so many spiritual issues, discussing prayer always reminds me that a finite mind limits me and that there will always be certain truths I will never fully grasp. And yet, I soldier on. Here are some of the questions I’ve been contemplating.
Should prayer include asking for specific outcomes?
To this, I would say “yes.” There are too many biblical examples to say otherwise. Hanna prayed for a child, David pleaded for Bathsheba’s son, and Abraham conversed with God over Sodom and Gomorrah.
Are we supposed to keep praying for the same people, the exact needs, the same things, day after day, without giving up?
This question came into focus for me when studying Matthew 7:7. (“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”) I learned that in Greek, there are two kinds of imperative: the aorist imperative, which issues one definite command, and the present imperative, which issues a command that we should always do something or should keep doing something.
The imperatives in Matthew 7:7 are present; therefore, Jesus is saying, “Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking.” He is telling us not to get discouraged but to persist in prayer. I like that this verse encourages us to actively engage God through prayer and promises responsiveness on God’s part to the petitions we bring. (Noting, however, that the verse doesn’t promise we’ll always get the answers we may be hoping for!)
Should we intentionally and persistently pray for future events and outcomes?
Do you recall the story about the father who brought his son with an impure spirit to Jesus’s disciples? The disciples could not drive out the spirit, but Jesus was able to heal him immediately. Later, the disciples asked Jesus why they hadn’t had success.
Mark 9:28-29 KJV And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
Maurice McCarthy (Pastor of Plymouth Christian Fellowship in Michigan) commented on this situation:
“Do you think that Jesus is telling his disciples that certain situations will require them to leave the situation, pray, and fast, and when they have done that, they can come and deal with it? Or was He saying that you need to have a lifestyle of prayer and fasting that will keep you always in a fit state to deal with these things?” [From Life Unedited, a sermon on www.sermoncentral.com]
Did Jesus leave this situation to pray and fast and then return? No. He immediately cast the spirit out. His continual practice of prayer and fasting kept Him ready to deal with problems as they came up.
Most of us tend to pray “responsive” prayers; that is, a situation arises, and we respond by praying. Maybe it’s time for us to consider living lives of prayer and fasting ahead of problems. I would call that “proactive prayer.” To be proactive is to act in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes. While we may not know what future problems may arise, perhaps we can be like a general who always has his troops and supplies in order so he can respond immediately to any threat.
Does prayer change God’s mind?
This question reminded me of the story of the golden calf (Exodus 32). While Moses was up on the mountain, the people made an idol, a golden calf, to which they presented offerings and then promptly “sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”
In Exodus 32:10, God warned Moses, “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”
In response (verses 11 and 12), Moses took on the role of a mediator and pleaded for God to show mercy, ending with the plea for God to “Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.”
Verse 14 says, “And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.” Could it be that Moses’ prayer changed the mind of God? It might seem so, but then we run into the complicating words Moses later wrote in Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.” I started wondering how to resolve that apparent contradiction.
Thankfully, during my study, I came across a sermon by Brian Bill aptly titled “Does Prayer Change God’s Mind?” Bill is the pastor of Edgewood Baptist Church in Rock Island, Illinois, and quoted one of the Edgewood members as saying, “Moses did not change God’s foreknown sovereign will. A human cannot change God’s will lest he be more knowledgeable and powerful than the Lord.” The point: God’s purposes are unchanging.
Pastor Bill then made a second point: God’s plans are unfolding. He refers to J.D. Greear’s insight on this subject:
The text of Exodus says God changed His course of action based on Moses’ prayer. Here’s the irony: God is the one who tells Moses to go down and see the situation in verse 7: “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” Moses didn’t know about the people’s perversion, so God had to show him.
Furthermore, the very thing Moses pleads in prayer is God’s own promise to the patriarchs in verse 13: “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”
Do you see what’s happening? God put Moses into a situation so he would see the problem God already knew about, remember God’s promises, and petition God to change His course of action. Moses’ prayer itself is a result of God’s plan. God wants Moses to ask this, so He sovereignly puts him in a situation where he will ask for it. That’s deep, isn’t it?
Pastor Bill finishes that thought by saying, “Prayer isn’t about changing God’s mind; it’s about changing my mind so my will lines up with His will. If God does not change and yet He tells us to pray, then somehow prayer matters.
Does Prayer Allow Us to Participate in the Accomplishment of God’s will?
Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Indeed, prayer is connected to the good works God prepared for us to do. As J.D. Greear said,
“God has sovereignly placed us in certain situations for the express purpose of praying His promises… Like Moses, God has ‘sent you down’ into a family, a group of friends, a neighborhood… You are placed where He wants you to be so you can obey and pray for the things He wants to do, to perceive the problem, believe the promise, and release His power into the situation.”
Take time to consider your situation. Are there prayers that could benefit your family, friends, community, country, or world? Let’s not leave those prayers unprayed.
Are There Biblical Foundations for Proactive Prayers?
Yes. The Bible does contain accounts of prayers that significantly impacted the future. Through faithful prayer, individuals such as Moses and Elijah demonstrated their trust in God’s intervention while pleading for others.
In Exodus 32:9-14, Moses interceded on behalf of the Israelites to prevent God’s wrath and secure their future. In the story of Elijah, found in 1 Kings 18:41-46, his persistent prayer for rain ended the devastating drought that afflicted Israel.
Another biblical foundation for proactive prayers is found in James 5:16b (NLT), where the Apostle James wrote,
“The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”
Are events different than they would have been had we not prayed? I think that’s a reasonable conclusion, but it’s interesting to wonder if our prayers were part of God’s plan all along. Does God place us in places and situations He knows will lead to our prayers, enabling needed changes in events? To consider that the Creator of the Universe is allowing us to participate with Him in what He is doing is beyond exciting.
Conclusion:
Christians are called to pray without ceasing. As author Gordon Saunders said to me,
[to pray without ceasing] “…means that we won’t be able to be in our prayer closet on our knees 24/7. Prayer has to become a way of life. I used to describe it to my students (in the olden days) as taking our phone to God off the hook when we wake up in the morning and never putting it back on the hook – so the conversation is ongoing, but we still do the other things we must do.
Somehow, we need to consider prayer a lifestyle rather than an activity. Fasting is an activity that is time-limited and occasional. Prayer is not, or at least it shouldn’t be. It’s as if you have a person beside you all the time, and you and they are continually processing everything that happens in conversation with one another (or even without conversation since you are experiencing it all together).”
Proactive prayers may not guarantee specific outcomes, but they allow us to participate in God’s work and seek His guidance in shaping the future. Ultimately, the power of prayer lies in its ability to transform our hearts, bring us closer to God, and align us with His purpose. I can give an Amen to that.
