What does prayer accomplish if God doesn’t change His mind?
Q. What does prayer accomplish if God doesn’t change His mind? If God doesn’t intend to heal someone why ask Him to heal?
A. You are not alone in dealing with this question. We know that God commands us to pray. We know that God encourages us to ask, seek, and knock concerning our needs. We know that God promises to answer our prayers. Knowing all of this, how does the sovereign will of God compliment our activity in prayer? It is important to remember that several things are accomplished when we pray.
First, we recognize our dependency on God. God is our only source of true help in this life. All other sources will only leave us frustrated and needy. Because God is in control and concerned about the affairs of our lives, He is the one we should turn to in times of joy and need.
Second, we place ourselves under God’s influence. C.S. Lewis once said that prayer doesn’t change God but rather changes us. As we pray, we humbly submit ourselves to God’s care and He begins to work on our perspective. The goal should be that our desire for the situation is God’s desire.
Third, our prayer reveals a willingness to live obediently to God’s commands. As stated above, we know that God commands prayer. If one does not pray, then he is living in rebellion. God is pleased by a Christian’s obedience.
Finally, God accomplishes His plan through means. If God plans to heal an individual He normally accomplishes this work through the prayers of His people. Not because He needs them to pray, but intends for them to recognize that He is working in the situation and desires to bless them as they participate.
These points are always important to remember when dealing with this question. We need to protect against the feeling that prayer is pointless. God doesn’t require us to do anything that is futile. Remember, though God may allow a person to experience illness and disease to the point of death, He may, just as easily, intend to use your prayerfulness as the means to heal the individual. The goal in all our prayers should be, “not my will but Thy will be done.”
Steve Rives says:
July 30th, 2009 at 10:01
Hey Doug, I think this is a common question. Who changes in prayer? The issue is more complicated when we read those promises from Jesus where he says things like, “whatever you ask in my name, he will do…”. Prayer is something of a mystery to me, but your fourth point is especially useful. It may begin to speak to those seemingly enigmatic promises from God about answering our prayer. I just wrote about this yesterday, so I was glad to see your post. It has been a long time, but John Calvin wrote about this in his Institutes, and your words remind me of his.
Thanks for the thoughts on Prayer.
Steve