Since that rebuke, I’ve not grumbled about the time it takes to pray. However, I’d never connected prayer to John 14:12, a verse that has always puzzled me, until this morning while reading it in its context.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (John 14:12–14)Oswald Chambers says that “prayer does not fit us for greater work; prayer is the greater work.” I once thought that prayer would prepare me for the day, give me strength and wisdom to do the Lord’s work, and keep me focused on Him. However, after God rebuked me, I’ve learned to agree with Chambers. Prayer is the greater ministry. It is the most important work, perhaps the only work that He asks of me that is truly effective.
As Chambers says, prayer is God working the miracle of Redemption in me that produces the miracle of Redemption in others by His power. This isn’t about me agonizing and wrestling in prayer though. It is based on “the agony of Redemption” and on what Jesus has done. It has taken me a long time to realize that wise words and “proper” praying are not what God answers. He wants prayer from the redeemed which means my fleshy ideas of prayer are not important. Instead, He hears and responds to childlike helplessness and the realization that this is not about me.
Prayer is also the battle of Christian living. I fight sin and indifference. I wrestle with false teaching and the devil’s lies, but none of these are nearly as challenging as taking the needs of the world to the throne of grace in the name of Jesus. Prayer, as Jesus defines it, is hard work.
I can easily pray in my own name and with my list of I-wants. I can easily tell God what I think He should be doing (such impertinence), but praying in the name of Christ because He asks me to do it requires the Spirit of God and the power of God. I cannot do this on my own and I don’t even want to.
Of course, the flesh likes the answers even if it recoils at the work. I love it when God answers prayer in ways that I can see. This thrill tends to become a motivation, but what about praying without ever seeing the answers? This adds to the difficulty of the work. A small comparison is the tedium of a factory assembly line where the workers do their small part and never see the finished product. The only way to avoid this is remembering that I am talking to the Creator of the Universe and that He promised to listen and respond. I cannot see into His realm unless He opens that to me. Instead, He asks that I walk by faith, not sight, and that I work hard in prayer.
Answered prayer can also be a glory for me. I love to stand and tell others that God answered my prayers, as if the “my” side had something to do with the answer. But Jesus said that the glory is not for me, but for the Father to be glorified in the Son. This makes prayer a totally unselfish task, one that is difficult to sustain without wanting something in it for me.
Clearly, prayer is my work. Is there a reward involved? When a servant does his duty, can he expect anything, even a “well done” when finished? Do I fall into thinking that answers are my reward rather than simply the privilege of being in the throne room with the King of kings?
Chambers surprises me with the last lines of his reading for today. He says, “You labor at prayer and results happen all the time from God’s standpoint. What an astonishment it will be to find, when the veil is lifted, the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you had been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.”
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Jesus, I am ashamed that I often feel neglected when the answers to my prayers do not come as quickly as I’d hoped or in the same manner as I expected. I know that talking to You is an incredible privilege. It is also my God-given task. You are the Lord, so I do not choose my work hours or the places where I am to be working. Nor can I dictate the rewards or the results of my labor. Not only that, You are in charge and You have given Your commands. I am to ask in Your name, seek Your glory, and trust that praying is a great work because You say it is — whether or not I can see what comes of it. Forgive me for the slack times, the times that I either am late or do not show up at all. I know that in spite of my failures, You will never kick me off the job. Instead, You keep calling me to work, to pray without ceasing.
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