The Spirit Helps Us Pray: A Biblical Theology of Prayer
Prayer is the most intimate expression of the Christian life. Why, then, is it so neglected?
We live in an age that avoids intimacy and close relationships. The disposition to avoid self-exposure and deep friendships affects spiritual as well interpersonal relationships. Without being fully aware that this spirit of the age has crept into the church, some Christians feel uncomfortable getting too close to God. Prayerlessness is the result.
Then, too, we are busy. We live to perform rather than to be. We admire the active life more than character and relationships. Success is measured by what one accomplishes; so we run, run, run—trying to accomplish all that we can in our waking hours. More concerned about performing than about being, we refuse to accept the biblical reality that human achievement is temporary and fleeting. Only the work of the Spirit is permanent and eternal. Prayerlessness keeps us from achieving the very thing we so desperately need to achieve. Prayerlessness is really godlessness.
Failure to understand the purpose of the Pentecostal experience and the primary role of prayer in maintaining the vitality of that experience also results in prayerlessness. The Spirit-filled believer walks and talks with God; he or she may be perceived by other people as a mystic, a prophet, an alien from another world. That is, in fact, the reality: Citizenship in the dominion of the Spirit is just as real as citizenship in the material world.
An understanding of the nature of prayer and its importance in our becoming effective representatives of Christ is essential as we begin this study. This chapter serves, therefore, as a launching pad, not unlike Cape Canaveral, where even the smallest detail of preparation is given close attention.
For the sake of easy reference, terms relating to prayer will be introduced alphabetically, with no intent to indicate sequence or importance by the order.
The word “adoration” is not to be found in either Testament of the KJV or NIV. Yet the concept is a vital part of prayer and is actually found in the Bible in such terms as “awe,” “fear of the Lord,” and “worship.” Adoration is the demonstration of great love, devotion, and respect; for the Christian, it is worshiping, or paying homage to, God. Adoration sets the tone for one’s prayer life. It reminds the one who prays of the Person being addressed, of His attributes and personal concern.
How does a believer who desires a richer prayer life begin adoring God? Recounting His attributes is a good start. A new Christian may need to spend a little time studying those attributes, pondering what it really means to be conversing with an all-powerful, all-knowing, always-present God. The Book of Psalms is full of statements about the nature of God. It should be read as a personal affirmation of God’s eternal glory and His compassionate, understanding reach toward the person who believes in Him. Adore God by personalizing the words the Psalmist used to adore Him.
Even though the English words “communicate” and “communication” are not used in Scripture (KJV or NIV) to describe prayer, the idea is inherent. On the one hand, prayer is the transmission of private or public information by human beings to God. Note, for example, Daniel 9:3–6:
I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong.… We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.”
On the other hand, prayer is the two-way exchange of information and ideas between God and His people. Note Acts 9:10–16:
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
The earliest recorded two-way communication between the Creator and His highest creation, humanity, is found in Genesis 3, as Adam and Even sought to avoid the God they had disobeyed.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid” (Gen. 3:8–10).
Therefore, for study, the words “communicate” and “communication” will be used to describe prayer in any one of three senses: (1) people speaking to God, (2) people and God in dialogue, and (3) God speaking to people in a circumstance that disposes them to hear His voice.
For describing prayer, one dictionary definition of “communion” is especially appropriate: “intimate fellowship or rapport.” The idea of people communing with God is very evident in Scripture, the first instance after the Fall being recorded in Exodus 25:22 as God speaks to Moses: “ ‘There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.’ ”
The word “commune,” used in the KJV of this passage, is davar, the ordinary Hebrew word for “speak.” Consequently, the Hebrew phrase, which literally means “speak with you all my commands,” is simplified in the NIV to “give you all my commands.” When two beings commune, they meet and speak. The application to prayer is obvious. The Greek word koinōnia (“fellowship” or “communion”) has a similar application to prayer when there is a close relationship between God and a person. Paul uses the word in 2 Corinthians 13:14: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” The same Greek word is translated “fellowship” in other passages, e.g., Philippians 2:1 and 1 John 1:3.
For the purposes of our study, the word “communion” indicates fellowship and social intercourse at its most intimate. It carries the idea of a close partnership or a merging of spirits into a blessed oneness, like the intertwining of cords into a single rope. As a level of prayer, communion goes beyond ordinary communication. It suggests an uncommon intimacy, for example, as seen in Abraham’s involvement with God over Sodom and Gomorrah (see Gen. 18:17, 23–33).
Confession is simply the acknowledgment of a fact about oneself or another. That acknowledgment can be with a disclosure of one’s sins as an act of penance or an affirmation of God’s greatness and goodness. Both meanings are found in Hebrew and in Greek as well as in English. Thus “to confess … ‘Jesus is Lord’ ” (Rom. 10:9) means to affirm that Christ is God’s Son sent to the world to become our Savior and Lord.
At least two Hebrew words are translated “confession” in the Old Testament. The first, todah, is derived from the second, yadah. Both words carry a suggestion of the two meanings of “confession.” The context must determine which is meant. “Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, ‘You have been unfaithful, … adding to Israel’s guilt. Now make confession [todah] to the LORD’ ” (Ezra 10:10–11).
Both todah and yadah are based on the literal meaning of “extending the hand.” Hands can be extended in worship to God, or wrung in grief over one’s sins. In the 111 occurrences of yadah in the Old Testament, both meanings of “confession” seem to be present. This need not be of concern, however, for praise is appropriate in the midst of confessing sin, just as confessing sin is appropriate when we come to God with our praise. We need ever to acknowledge all the truth God reveals to us—our own sinfulness as well as His holiness and majesty. “I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: ‘O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong’ ” (Dan. 9:4–5).
The two meanings of “confession” are represented in New Testament usage by the Greek homologia (and its related forms): “that which is acknowledged or confessed.” (Rom. 10:9 has already been noted.) The other meaning of “confession” is illustrated in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
The meaning of “confess” as used in the following chapters is primarily the acknowledgment of sin before both God and people as an essential of effective praying. This meaning was indelibly impressed on the Israelites through the annual ritual of releasing a goat into the wilderness on the Day of Atonement.
“[Aaron] is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert” (Lev. 16:21–22).
This symbolized not only God’s having covered their sins with the redemption price of shed blood; their sins were gone, never to be remembered by God any more.
An outstanding example of confession in prayer is found in Psalm 51:3–4: “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.”
Contrition is the act of grieving and being truly sorry for one’s sins or shortcomings. In the Hebrew, dakka’ means “crushed,” “bruised,” “contrite.” Old Testament examples of the adjectival use include the following:
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed [contrite, KJV] in spirit (Ps. 34:18).
For this is what the high and lofty One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isa. 57:15).
Contrition is an attitude of the heart involving humility, brokenness of spirit, admission of sin, and grief for shortcomings; at the same time it implores God for His mercy.
“Intreat,” used in the KJV, is the archaic form of “entreat.” The word means “to plead or ask urgently, especially in order to persuade.” It is the translation of five different Hebrew words translated in other passages in the KJV as “to make intercession,” “to pray,” and “to make supplication.” In the NIV they are usually translated “ask,” “exhort,” “intercede,” “pray,” “seek,” or “urge.” An Old Testament passage appropriate to our study is found in Moses’ experience with Pharaoh:
Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to [“Entreat,” KJV] the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD. Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray [“entreat,” KJV] for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile” (Exod. 8:8–9).
Four Greek words are translated “entreat” in the KJV. In other passages these same words are translated “beseech,” “exhort,” “ask,” and “pray.” Note the use of the concept in James 3:17: “The wisdom that comes from heaven is first pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive [“easy to be intreated,” KJV], full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” This description of “the wisdom that comes from heaven” characterizes the God who is all-wise.
The Hebrew word paga‘ occurs forty-six times in the Old Testament. It is translated “intercession” in the NIV one time (four times in the KJV). The verb form means literally “to encounter,” “to meet,” “to put pressure on”; then “to plead.” The causative form with le, “for,” means “to intercede for.” Examples of Old Testament usage include the following:
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors (Isa. 53:12).
In the New Testament, “intercession” comes from the Greek entugchanō, meaning “to appeal to,” “to plead for,” “to make intercession,” “to pray.” Two very familiar and precious passages include the term:
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will (Rom. 8:26–27).
I urge, then first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone (1 Tim. 2:1).
Throughout our study of prayer, we will understand “intercession” to mean “the act of one or more persons, human or divine, making entreaty to God on behalf of another person or persons.”
To meditate is to focus one’s thoughts on, reflect on, or ponder over, something. Forms of three Hebrew words are translated “meditate” or “meditation” in the Old Testament. These same words are also translated “consider,” “muse,” “be deep in thought,” “ponder,” “contemplate,” “think,” or “mutter” [to oneself].” Familiar passages from the Book of Psalms portray mediation as a communication linkage between God and a person:
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he mediates day and night (Ps. 1:1–2).
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of [“meditate on,” KJV] you through the watches of the night (Ps. 63:5–6).
Marvin R. Vincent says “meditation is talking within the mind.”1 Paul advises Timothy, “Be diligent in [“Meditate upon,” KJV] these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress” (1 Tim. 4:15). As used in this study, “meditate” means “to rehearse and ponder in the mind for the purpose of a more complete understanding, assimilation, and application of truth.”
A petition is “an earnest request,” “something asked for or requested.” Four different Hebrew words are translated “petition” in the Old Testament (three in the KJV), though two of them share a common root, tehinnah and tahnun. Both are also translated “request,” “supplication,” and “cry for mercy.” Another, she’elah, is also translated “request.” The verb baqash, translated “petition” in Ezra 8:23, is more often translated “seek” or “search for.” In speaking to Hannah, Eli said, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked [“thy petition,” KJV] of him” (1 Sam. 1:17).
The word “petition” occurs three times in the New Testament, translating three different Greek words, deēsis (Phil. 4:6), emphanizō (Acts 23:15), and hikatēria (Heb. 5:7). The KJV also uses it to translate aitēma (“requests,” NIV). Two of the usages of aitēma relate specifically to prayer: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil. 4:6).
The common understanding of the word “petition,” in contemporary usage as well as in the biblical Testaments, will be the definition used in this study.
Although the expression “praying in the Spirit” is more than a single word, a clear understanding of the meaning of the phrase is essential to our study. The expression is derived mainly from Jude 20: “You, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.” It probably also has its roots, to some extent, in Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 14:15: “I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind.”
In the first instance (Jude 20), the Holy Spirit seems quite clearly to be the means of the praying; but in Paul’s case, the means seems to be his own spirit—“my spirit prays” (1 Cor. 14:14). The apparent discrepancy is removed when it is understood that in praying with his spirit, Paul signified he was praying in tongues. “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays” (1 Cor. 14:14). Relate this to Acts 2:4—“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them”—and the sense emerges that praying in tongues is made possible by the enablement of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, “praying in the Spirit” is defined as that praying which springs from the merging of the human spirit with the Holy Spirit, issuing in a prayerful utterance in an unknown tongue. In addition to the passages already cited, note Ephesians 6:18: “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”
Submission is not so much a means of prayer as a prerequisite to effective prayer. The submissive person humbly accepts the authority and lordship of the One being prayed to. Yet believers in fulfilling this precondition of effective praying need to submit also to the leaders God has placed over them: “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Heb. 13:17).
Supplication is the act of making humble and earnest entreaty for favor, especially to God. Three Hebrew words from the root hanan are translated “supplication” or “supplications.” They frequently include the idea of intercession, petition, and strong request. In some passages they are translated “prayer,” “beg for mercy,” and “beg for favor.” Two Old Testament usages are derived from hanan:
“When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and confess your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their fathers” (1 Kings 8:33–34).
To you, O LORD, I called; to the LORD I cried for mercy [made supplication, KJV] (Ps. 30:8).
The Greek word deēsis is translated “supplication” six times in the KJV (which translates it “prayer,” “prayers,” or “request,” as is the case twelve times in the NIV). In some of the key passages on prayer, deēsis indicates a more importunate, passionate pleading with God.
Thanksgiving is a public acknowledgement, or celebration, of divine goodness, an expression of gratitude. The Hebrew verb yadah and the related noun todah are associated with thanks and thanksgiving in the Old Testament. These same words are also translated in other passages “praise” and “confession.” The role of thanksgiving in giving honor to God is illustrated in Psalm 69:30: “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.”
In the New Testament, the word “thanksgiving” is the translation of the Greek eulogia, which speaks primarily of praise, and the translation of eucharistia, “gratitude,” derived from eu (“well,” “good”) and charis (“favor,” “grace,” “graciousness,” “goodwill,” “thanks”). The association of thanksgiving with prayer is plain in Philippians 4:6: “In everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Thanksgiving as an element of prayer may be greatly undervalued. Still today, devout Jews punctuate the entire day with short sentence prayers. Over a hundred blessings can be recited, usually beginning, “Blessed are you, O Lord, King of the universe.” An observant Jew expresses a brief thanks to God upon receiving good (and bad) news, smelling a fragrant flower, eating food, seeing a rainbow, and experiencing a thunderstorm. Throughout the day, the devout Jew praises and thanks God for all things with sentence prayers. Paul’s admonition to “pray continually” (1 Thess. 5:17) makes much more sense when we understand the Jewish background that Paul was writing from. In the following chapters, “thanksgiving” is the acknowledgment of divine goodness, the prayerful expression of gratitude to God, whether spoken or unspoken, in song, music, or an unknown tongue.
“Travail” is used in the KJV to refer to painful or laborious work, or toil, either physical or mental. In the Old Testament, the idea is frequently associated with childbirth; by extension, travail in prayer is toil that brings forth a response from God. Other translations of the most frequently occurring Hebrew words for “travail” include “labor,” “business,” “misery,” “trouble,” and “sorrow.”
The words translated “travail” in the New Testament (KJV) also carry meanings associated with childbirth: “deliver,” “bring forth,” “bear,” and “pain.” Paul likened his prayerful concern for the spiritual health of the Galatian believers to the pangs of childbirth: “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you …” (Ga.. 4:19). For purposes of our study, “travail” should be understood as that intense application of prayer to the point of inward agony and pain in behalf of spiritual pursuits, including the birthing and development of souls and ministries in the kingdom of God.
Worship is reverence extended to an esteemed supernatural being; it is also the act of expressing that reverence, admiration, or devotion. Four Old Testament words are translated by some form of the word “worship.” These original words are translated by a large number of alternative English words, including “serve,” “bow down,” “pay homage,” “pay honor,” “fear,” and “revere.” Psalm 29:2 is a typical translation of the most common Hebrew word for worship, chawah [or sachah], which has the basic meaning “to bow down deeply in homage”: “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor [glorious grandeur] of his holiness.”
At least a dozen Greek words are translated as some form of “worship” in the New Testament. Most commonly use is proskuneō, “to fall down prostrate in reverence and homage.” A related word, proskunētēs, means “a worshiper.” “Speaking to the Samaritan woman, Jesus defined true worship (and prayer) as a spiritual linkage between God and a person: “True worshipers … worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshiper the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in spirit and truth” (John 4:23–24).
The preceding fifteen words and phrases are fifteen aspects of prayer. No one of them will provide a comprehensive definition of this great discipline of the Christian life. But as each of them is understood and practiced, a vital prayer life is not only possible but to be expected. Review your mastery of these terms by listing them on a separate sheet of paper and then writing in the definitions. Then check to see if you included all essential parts of each definition.
There are many questions concerning prayer that will go unanswered until we meet face to face the One we address in prayer. Biblical prayer includes travail, intercession, and importunity. But it also includes submission and trust. It is both a wrestling with God and resting peacefully in His arms. Prayer may include arguing and complaining to God; He understands that we are human. But if we never learn to submit, our prayers will accomplish nothing. As you study the biblical prayers and teachings on prayer treated in the following chapters, keep the tension of these questions in the back of your mind. Ask the Spirit to use that tension, and any other unanswered questions you may have about prayer, to lead you into a deeper devotional life and a more intimate fellowship with the One who can answer every human question.