What do we pray for?
Christians pray. If you never pray, it is safe to say that you are not a Christian. (Mind you, prayer itself does not make anyone a Christian – there are millions of people who would not call themselves Christians at all and yet they pray). But what do Christians pray for? David Powlison suggests helpfully that there are three broad emphases for prayer in the Bible: what he calls ‘circumstantial’ prayers, ‘wisdom’ prayers and ‘kingdom’ prayers. Not surprisingly, we find all three in the Lord’s Prayer.
• In a circumstantial prayer we ask God to change our circumstances: “give us today our daily bread”, heal the sick, help me find a job, and so on. However, if these are our only prayers, God becomes our errand boy and our prayers sound like a shopping list
• In a wisdom prayer we ask God to change us: “forgive us our sins”, give me wisdom, make me more like Jesus, and the like. However, even these prayers on their own can become absorbed with ourselves and our own moral self-improvement.
• In a kingdom prayer we ask God to change everything: “your kingdom come, your will be done”, may your glory fill the earth, come Lord Jesus, and so on. However, on its own, such praying can be somewhat pious and detached from real life.
The reality is, we need God to bring about all these changes. So, why don’t we ask him for all three, and at the same time?