Prayer:
Any attempt to address God.
Our prayers include thanksgiving,
confession, intercession, and petitions.
This spring, I get to continue in the joy of spending some time with young people connected to Emmaus City Church engaging the Scriptures alongside one of my favorite reflections on God called Deep Down Faith by Cornelius Plantinga Jr. I've read this book three times now and Plantinga, like C.S. Lewis in many ways, has a gift for discussing profound thoughts in whimsical, rich, and accessible ways for young and old alike. Some previous Deep Down Faith posts include:
Today's post will focus on three aspects of prayer, including a way to simply pray using the fingers on your hand.
| 1 | Thanksgiving
A kind of prayer that flows out of gratitude.
We are thankful for many things,
but especially for the mighty work
of Jesus Christ, our Savior.
If we have started to come alive to Jesus Christ, we go further in our thanks. For we know in thunder and in stillness, in sickness and in rosy health, in good complexion and bad, that we are loved by Him.
We know that when
we are weary or strong,
guilty or innocent,
popular or temporarily out to lunch
— we know we have been
loved to the point of death.
The supreme thanksgiving
of Christians is for
the mighty suffering of Jesus,
our Savior, for us.
we are weary or strong,
guilty or innocent,
popular or temporarily out to lunch
— we know we have been
loved to the point of death.
The supreme thanksgiving
of Christians is for
the mighty suffering of Jesus,
our Savior, for us.
Prayer is a way of saying our thanks for all of the above. Besides doing good out of gratitude, we also say what's good, especially when God has done it.
Just as fans cheer a spectacular shot, just as grieving relatives cling to each other, just as people rest after work, so all of us give thanks to God for His gifts. And there is a side benefit. When we pray our thanksgiving, we ourselves feel somehow rich and complete. We notice how many wonderful things we have from God, and how good they really are, and how good God is.
A grateful person is happy.
And ungrateful person is miserable.
It's as simple as that.
Thanksgiving Prayer Starter
Take a little time out of your busy
schedule today to give sincere thanks
for the gifts — big and small —
that God has given to you.
| 2 | Confession
A kind of prayer in which we own up to
who we are, what we have done, and
what we have failed to do.
In confession we also admit our
dependence and our weaknesses.
We all deceive ourselves about who we are and what we do and what we have failed to do. Probably no one is truly honest with him- or herself. It's too painful. For the same reason, few of us are completely honest with God. For in order to be totally honest with God we have to be honest with ourselves. And that is just what we would like to avoid.
And yet we must face up to our need for such honesty. We cannot be spiritually healthy without it. We are like alcoholics in this way. At meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous members of the group stand up to speak one at a time. Each begins the same way. She mentions her first name and then admits her condition: "My name is Mary. I am an alcoholic." When an alcoholic tells his story at a meeting, he is never allowed to get away with excuses or denials. That's because alcoholics know that nobody can hope for help or healing without frankly admitting his or her weakness.
Confession is the first important step
toward wholeness and health.
It's the same for all of us. Besides thanksgiving, our prayers with Jesus' Church and by ourselves must include confession. To confess in prayer before God is to own up to who we are: "My name is Ned. I am a liar." To confess is to admit what we have done and what we have failed to do: "God, I have purposely deceived people who have a right to the truth"; "God, I had a chance to stop a damaging lie about another person, and I failed to do it."
Confession is painful.
It digs beneath our surface,
pulls off our masks and disguises,
and lifts up the truth.
The truth includes not only our sin
but also our dependence on God
for health, and breath, and life itself.
Confession includes mentioning
our weaknesses.
Confession is like
cleansing a wound.
It hurst to do it thoroughly.
But if you go ahead and clean it,
the wound may heal without
getting infected.
It is part of the dying away
of the old self and
the coming to life
of the new.
Confession Prayer Starter
"To confess is to own up to who we are,
to admit what we have done and
what we have failed to do."
Think about that, and then
offer a sincere prayer of
personal confession
to the God who loves you.
| 3 | Intercession
A kind of prayer in which we play the
role of a priest by pleading the case
of someone else. Our intercessions
are helpful not only to others but
also to us who pray them.
Someone has thought of a way to remind us to pray for others.
You look at your hand.
Your thumb is closest to you.
It therefore reminds you to pray
for people who are close to you.
We pray for family members.
We bring before God a parent
who is unemployed or a
brother who feels left out.
Your index finger is used to point.
It reminds you of people in authority.
We get to pray for teachers, pastors,
employers, and others in authority.
Your middle finger is highest.
It reminds you to pray for presidents,
prime ministers, governors, mayors
— for all who are in high authority.
The ring finger is weakest,
as all pianists know.
It reminds you to play for
weak people — for people
crushed by poverty or ignorance
or sickness or cruel governments.
Weak people can be found in
our own schools and neighborhoods.
They can be found in our own families.
These may be people Jesus calls
"the least of my brothers and sisters."
He says that they especially need
our help and care.
He even says that helping them
counts as helping Him.
The little finger comes last
and reminds you to pray for yourself.
Four out of five of these prayers are for other people. We call them intercessions. To intercede is to act as a "go-between," standing between a neighbor and God. In such prayers we play the part of priests, speaking on behalf of, or for the sake of, another person. In prayer we also petition God. We may ask God to do something for a neighbor — to heal an injury, for example, or to protect our neighbor in his travels. Then our petition really amounts to an intercession. At other times we pray for the whole world. When we pray as our Lord taught us, we say, for instance, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." These are petitions for God to move His great world plan forward.
Intercession Prayer Starter
Use your hand as a guide to
your own prayer of intercession.
Q. Why do Christians need to pray?
A. Because prayer is the most important
A. Because prayer is the most important
part of the thankfulness God
requires of us.
Pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus for you.
+ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
+ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
+ Deep Down Faith,
pgs. 174-180
Next post:
May God's Kingdom come, His will be done.
Que le Royaume de Dieu vienne,
que sa volonté soit faite.
愿神的国降临，愿神的旨意成就。
Nguyện xin Nước Chúa đến, ý Ngài được nên.
Jesús nuestra Rey, venga Tu reino!
🙏💗🍞🍷👑🌅🌇
With anticipation and joy,
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