God already knows what we want and need – the latter, probably far better than we ever will.

He knows Who He is, and how powerful, and how magnificent, generous, kind, just, worthy of praise ….

He is not Tinkerbelle, that He needs our applause to bring Him back from some deathly torpor – for He does not slumber nor sleep.

So what is the purpose of prayer?

My best guess is that its purpose is to help us realize how much we owe Him, how much we need Him, how much He loves us and wants to hear our voices and hearts, and see our downcast or upturned faces – however stained with tears or illuminated with joy – yearning to see Him and hear Him and know His comfort.

Prayer is a gift, you see, that transcends any answer He might give to any request we might pose or any praise we might offer or any thanksgiving we might express. It is our connection with God through His Son, through His very Spirit; our chance to touch God the Father, Creator and King – and for Him to touch us.

A few moments in His lap each day. Or an entire waking lifetime in recognition of His presence.

It’s His gift to us. It’s our gift to Him.

That’s my best guess at the purpose of prayer.

What’s yours?

For someone else: Job prays for God to forgive his friends; Abraham prays for Abimelech; his servant prays for a wife for Isaac; Isaac prays for Rebekah to have the baby she yearns for; Moses prays for relief from the plague of frogs upon Egypt; then for relief from the flies; from the hail and thunder; for relief from the fire raining down on Israel; from the snakes plaguing Israel; for God’s mercy on many occasions; for God’s mercy on the people generally; Manoah prays for guidance to rear Samson; Samuel prays for rain, for forgiveness on behalf of Israel; David prays against his enemies; and again; and again; and again; and again; and again; and again; and again; and again; and yet again; and for the peace of Jerusalem; Asaph prays for the restoration of the people; David prays thanksgiving on behalf of the people, and a blessing on Solomon to build God’s temple; Solomon prays a blessing on the temple and on Israel; a man of God prays against, then for, King Jereboam; Elijah prays for a sign that will turn Israel’s heart back to God; Elisha prays at the bedside of a dead child; Elisha prays for his servant’s eyes to see what he sees; then for blindness upon their adversaries; Hezekiah prays for deliverance for Israel; Isaiah prays for reassurance for Hezekiah; Hezekiah prays on behalf of the unconsecrated; priests and Levites pray a blessing on the people; Hezekiah and Isaiah pray for Israel’s deliverance from Sennacherib; and for the remnant which survives; for God’s forgiveness of them; Jeremiah prays against the enemies of Israel; and for the remnant; Daniel prays for God’s forgiveness on the remnant, confessing his sins and theirs; Micah prays for God to shepherd His people; Jesus teaches prayer for one’s enemies; prayer in secret; to pray for blessings physical and spiritual; He prays for little children; He prays for Simon Peter; and for His followers as His end draws near; the disciples pray for God to show them His choice; the apostles pray for seven chosen servants; Simon the magician asks the disciples to pray for God’s forgiveness of him; Peter prays for Tabitha to be restored to life; the church prays for Peter’s release from prison; Paul prays for all present to become followers of Christ; Peter prays for Publius’ father to be healed; Paul prays to be able to go to Rome; that the Israelites might be saved; asks those in Rome to pray for him; those in Corinth, too; predicts that others would pray for Corinth because of their generosity; he prays for the Corinthians to persevere; Paul prays for Ephesus; and again; and asks them to pray for him; he thanks God for the believers in Philippi; and thanks them for their prayers on his behalf; Paul prays for believers in Colossae; and begs their prayers for himself and others; for believers in Thessalonica; and again; and again; and again; and requests their prayers; and at the end of his second letter as well; Paul encourages Timothy to teach praying for others; and again; and prays for Timothy constantly; as well as Philemon; as Philemon has been praying for him; the writer to the Hebrews begs their prayers for him; James teaches prayer for others; and so does John, even for forgiveness for them.

For one’s self: Jacob prays for deliverance from Esau; Samson prays for strength to avenge himself; Hannah prays for a child for herself (but dedicates him to the Lord); Hannah prays a song of thanksgiving; Samuel prays, presumably about Israel rejecting him as a leader; David prays a blessing on himself and his house; that Ahithophel’s counsel to Absalom would be turned into foolishness; Elijah prays for himself … to die!; Hezekiah prays for his life; three tribes prayed for victory; Isaiah prays for God to correct him in justice; Ezra and the returnees pray for safe passage for themselves and the temple’s riches; Ezra confesses the intermarriage sins of the remnant; Nehemiah prays for the king’s favor to his request; and that the king will grant his request; and that the Lord would srengthen his hands; Daniel prays for God’s help; David prays God’s favor on himself; and again; and again; and again; for forgiveness for himself (possibly referring to the incident in Psalm 51); and again; and again; for long life and a long reign; for mercy; Solomon prays for a blessed reign; Heman prays for mercy; Jonah prays for deliverance from the belly of the fish – as if it has already happened; and then he prays to die, seeing Ninevah’s deliverance; Zechariah prays for a child for his wife, Elizabeth; in a story Jesus tells, a Pharisee and a tax collector pray for themselves; He advises praying for strength when persecuted; for Himself as His death draws near; Jesus prays for deliverance from death for Himself – but also for God’s will to be done; and again; and advises His friends to pray not to fall into temptation; and again; Stephen prays to Jesus to receive his spirit as he is martyred; and James teaches to pray when in trouble.

That’s what I found, anyway. It is, as always, not a complete nor exhaustive list. There are lot of prayers mentioned but not described in scripture, which might have been for self or others or some combination (as many of the above are, and are listed twice as a result). Much of Lamentations is a prayer of mourning and penitence, and among many prayers that are on behalf of the writer and all of God’s people. And there are a lot of prayers – especially in the Psalms – that are simply paeans of praise and expressions of people desiring for God to work His will. Jesus’ few recorded prayers often contain that expression, “Thy will be done.”

Many of the Psalms, especially David’s, and some other Old Testament prayers and prophecies call for God’s wrath to fall on the enemies of Israel, and that somewhat weights the number of prayers “for someone else” – although they are actually “against others.” Ultimately, I grouped them there because they are tacitly “for Israel” in their intent.

We could quibble about a few – especially men praying for children for their wives as prayers “for someone else,” and I wouldn’t argue that those prayers are also “for one’s self” as well.

Conclusions?

I estimate that, in scripture, prayers for others outnumber prayers for one’s self about two to one at most … maybe five to three at least. (That’s why the left column is bigger than the right.)

I would have to say that I do not find God uniformly disregarding prayer for one’s self and preferring/answering prayer for others. Numbers of examples and exhortations-about-how-to-pray do not, by themselves, tell the whole story. It would be interesting – and very time consuming! – to fully research prayer in scripture and note which prayers are described as having been answered by God – and how. It might be even more revealing to connect those specific instances to penitence expressed in those prayers.

I wish I knew what Jesus prayed about those many times when He went out to lonely places to pray. Scripture does not tell us.

I know whom I picture Him praying about, given His nature; His character; His focus in life.

Even if numbers are no indicator, I still feel that prayer in community has extraordinary power – whether it is one person praying for the common good of the community, or the community praying for each other. It is an expression of concern for others above self to God.

And, to me, there is something sad about someone who has no one to pray for him or for her; or someone who does not pray for others as a general rule – or someone whose prayers are characterized by concerns for self, rather than for others and for what God wants.

So I also suspect that there is an innate power in praying for God’s will to be done … being willing to conform our will to His, even if His immediate will is not presently clear to us; being willing to accept that will and live it and praise Him for it.

The power I see in those prayers-for-others and prayers-for-God’s-will-carried-out is the power in them to change our hearts, drawing us out of self and ever closer to God through His Christ and His children.

As followers of Christ, do our prayers for others outnumber our prayers for ourselves?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. – Jesus, Matthew 5:43-45

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ” – Jesus, Luke 6:27-28

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” – Paul, the apostle; Romans 12:14

In a scathing rebuke of those who claim to follow Christ but do not pray for their enemies, Mark Twain wrote a short piece – unpublished during his lifetime – called “The War Prayer.” In it, a man claiming to be a messenger of God re-prays the prayer of support for a war that a congregation has just heard, the unuttered but implied prayer:

O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them – in spirit – we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

A little over six years ago, late in the day September 11, 2001, I heard a very different prayer pour forth from the heart of a brother asked to lead a prayer for our enemies as our church family gathered to mourn the dead and pray for safety. He is an elected official, as American as you can be; as Republican as you can get. He humbled himself and the rest of us before God and prayed for our enemies. He confessed that he would rather pray like David did about his enemies and God’s enemies, but that the love of Christ constrained him otherwise and that he was determined to feel that love only. He prayed that our enemies’ hearts would be turned. But he prayed that our hearts would be turned, too; opened to others who see themselves as our enemies.

I wonder if – among all the accusing and correcting and reproving and rebuking that we Christians do, within and among our various fellowships – I wonder if there are even a few of us who pray for the brothers and sisters whom they regard as enemies of their conviction and enemies of God.

How many people can you think of in scripture who specifically prayed to God to be forgiven of their sin(s) and received what they asked for?

The closest I can come is a suggestion from Peter and John to Simon, the would-be spiritual sorcerer – and the “perhaps” seems to be no guarantee that God will automatically forgive:

When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” – Acts 8:18-24

Simon seems to have perceived that he needs the prayers of someone else, just as James recommends:

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:14-16

Nor is he alone. In the Old Testament, Pharaoh seems to recognize the same need:

Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me.” Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD. Exodus 10:16-18

In fact, there are lots of examples in scripture where someone prays for another for the forgiveness of their sins: Abraham (Genesis 20:17); Moses (Numbers 14:19-20); Samuel (1 Samuel 12:19-24); Asaph (Psalm 79:5-8); Solomon (I Kings 8:46-51); Daniel (Daniel 9:17-19); Jesus (Luke 23:34); Stephen (Acts 7:59-60). You’ll note in many of the Old Testament citations, the prayer is for all the people, not just a particular individual. You might even recall that Samuel (I Samuel 15:24-26) would not accept Saul’s penitence and plea for forgiveness because God had rejected him as king – possibly because he had just lied about his disobedience, compounding sin upon sin.

And Job (Job 7:20-21) begs God for forgiveness, but God’s reply is only a question: “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?” (40:8). Yet, at the close of the encounter, God indicates that He will forgive Job’s friends for their impertinence if only Job will pray for them (42:7-9) and He does so – after he has prayed for his friends (42:10). On the other hand, though God restores Job’s losses by doubling them, no mention is made of forgiveness.

While Jabez prays for a blessing that God grants (1 Chronicles 4:9-10), nothing is said about forgiveness there, either.

David prays for God’s mercy and relief from bloodguilt in Psalm 51 … but there is no response. Did he receive what he asked for?

Jesus instructs that prayer should be plural when asking forgiveness in Matthew 6:9-15. In Mark 11:25, He instructs that a forgiving spirit in prayer must be a prerequisite to God’s forgiveness. He tells a story in Luke 18:9-14 about a publican who admits to God he is a sinner and begs for mercy, and goes home justified before God. Is that the same as forgiveness? If it is, was the publican a real person, or a character – a loner with no friends to pray for him – in a story meant primarily to illustrate the futility of confidence in one’s own righteousness and the power of confession in a public way, in a public place?

Some time back I blogged that “I have come to pray less for myself and more for others,” (Answers to Prayer) without really explaining the scriptural basis of why I believe “this is where much of the power of community in God’s kingdom lies.”

So am I missing something?

Can you come up with someone in scripture who prayed for forgiveness for himself or herself, and received what was requested?

Or is it possible that there is something more vital to our need for community, confession, transparency, humility and public penitence than we have generally recognized?

With all due respect to Jabez, I have come to pray less for myself and more for others – believing that, somehow, this is where much of the power of community in God’s kingdom lies.

Still, I am perplexed by His answers to prayers as I perceive them.

Sometimes the answer from God seems to be only, “I have heard your prayer.”

And I try to remember that Paul said His grace was sufficient.

Sometimes the answer from God seems to be, “I have heard your prayer. The one for whom you pray has made up his own mind in the matter. He must be the one to choose.”

And I try to remember that, though God is willing to give some people over to what they want and even willing to harden their hearts, the Story of His Son either has the power to soften them or not – as they choose.

Sometimes the answer from God seems to be, a little tersely, “Didn’t I already tell you that I have heard your prayer for this one?”

And I try to understand that answer as a reminder that it is time for me to forgive and let go and let Him do the judging.

Sometimes the answer from God seems to be, “I have heard your prayer … my child.”

And for a while we weep quietly together for those I’ve prayed for, until I am comforted by the picture of Him wiping away my tears and theirs in a house in His mansion where His children can rest in His arms.

Then I can finally curl up and sleep in this world and this house and this bed, perhaps not in His arms … but within His touch.

We could have a countdown to Pentecost. We know it’s coming.

Although the followers of Christ in century one could have had one, too – I guess it’s always fifty days after Passover – they probably couldn’t have known exactly what was coming nor when. So they took care of business. They selected a replacement for Judas in the apostolic ministry.

And they prayed without ceasing.

But even though we know the date is coming, I don’t know of many Christian groups who pray for what came then to come again.

Are we afraid of tongues of fire?

Do we fear the repercussions of everyone hearing the Story of Christ in his own language?

Are we apprehensive about the thousands who might respond, and what it might do to our lives and what we might have to sacrifice if we met daily at God’s house and shared everything we had and devoted ourselves to teachings about Christ and to prayer?

Are we terrified that we might give in to the Spirit’s leading if He actually poured Himself into our lives?

I know I am.

Yet I am dedicated to praying for it.

I am going to try to put my fears aside. I’m going to try not to set a deadline for God; to care what day or days it takes place. I’m going to try to not care what form His Spirit may take: whether tongues of fire or descending doves or mighty rushing winds or lives changed forever – even mine.

I am going to pray for Pentecost to occur again, in my life and the lives of Christians I know and don’t know.

I am going to pray for revival in that seemingly endless interim between the Lord’s ascension and what I anticipate as His return.

I am going to pray, starting today.

Will you pray with me?

I’m praying dangerously today.

I’m praying “Thy will be done.”

Not “Help help help!”

Not even “Thank You thank You thank You!”

I’m praying The Big One.

Thy will be done.