Purifying Prayer

“Jesus also taught: ‘Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they like to parade around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces. And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be more severely punished.’” (Mark 12:38-40 NLT)

Prayer is more than saying words with a pious posture or language. Words without relationship are worthless. The purpose of prayer isn’t to get answers, it’s to create intimacy with the Father, to enable us to grow in our love for and usefulness to our Savior, and to bear His image more clearly.

The Pharisees had a great command of the language and knew how to pray impressive prayers, but to what end? Purifying prayer focuses on God, relies on God, and hungers for God’s fullness, believing that only God can create in us a pure heart.

In its purest form prayer isn’t about us, it’s a means to an end, but knowing what that end is can be elusive. Obviously, God’s will and plan is to enable us to be conformed to the image of Jesus, to the point that we live and breathe His will, not our own; however, things get fuzzy when we mix our will and desires with His.

And yes, of course, we want to lift our needs to the Lord and ask for specific things that are attacking us, but even then, there is a battle of wills. How so? Let’s say that my child is deathly ill. Age is irrelevant, as no matter how old our child is, we don’t want to lose them. That sets the stage for the proverbial tug of war of our will with God’s.

All we can see is our child alive and well, so that occupies the major content of our prayers on their behalf. But what if God knows something that we don’t? (Imagine that 😊) James MacDonald wrote: “Prayer is purifying – as you pray, you learn to want not just right things, but right things for right reasons.” 

What if the “right thing” in this context is for my child to die. How could that ever be? Honestly, I can’t imagine it, that’s why I’m using it as an illustration. I’ve sat with parents who have lost their child and, in my mind, there’s no greater loss imaginable. But the sad, hard reality is, children die. But why? Why would God allow that?

To God EVERY person is a child, and His desire is for everyone to become His child through new birth in and through Jesus, His Son. What if God in His foreknowledge and omniscience knew that our child was heading into such a catastrophic period it would test them so severely it would rob them of their will to love and serve Him? That it would result in them missing heaven?

My adult children aren’t walking with the Lord, so I pray every day for their safety and protection, giving them time to find their way to Jesus. But, if I’m honest, I would rather have lost them as small children knowing I’d see them in heaven, than have them grow up and die without a relationship with Jesus.

Purifying prayer is seeking God’s cleansing of our heart, mind, soul, and body, enabling us to see Jesus more clearly, hear His voice more strongly, and desire His will as if it were our own. We can’t and won’t have full understanding of the ways of God until we meet Him on the other side. That’s why the Bible calls it faith – “for we walk by faith, not by sight.” We can learn to pray in unselfish, childlike ways, that please God and give us purity of purpose as we pray for others.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊