Priorities in Prayer
Encouraging, and challenging, post from Anthony Carter, lead pastor of East Point Church and author/editor of On Being Black and Reformed: A New Perspective on the African-American Christian Experience
, Experiencing the Truth: Bringing the Reformation to the African-American Church
, and
Glory Road: The Journeys of 10 African-Americans into Reformed Christianity
Rightly praying, if it involves anything it involves saying in our prayers what God says in his word. In other words, we pray most rightly when we pray the scriptures. While our prayers can be filled with many things, we must at least make sure they are biblically based, with the priorities of God’s word. (D.A.) Carson (in A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers) has stated the case well by looking at the prayers of Paul in the epistles and highlighting the apostle’s priorities and challenging us to have the same ones. According to Carson:
…by and large, our thanksgiving seems to be tied rather tightly to our material well-being and comfort. The unvarnished truth is that what we most frequently give thanks for betrays what we most highly value. If a large percentage of our thanksgiving is for material prosperity, it is because we value material prosperity proportionately.
Guilty as charged!
Compare this with what Paul says to the Thessalonians:
We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring (2Thess. 1:3-4)