Prayer: Jesse’s Thoughts on John 16

“I’m not much, but I’m all I think about.” I heard someone say this at a meeting once, and it’s stuck with me ever since. Like Seinfeld, it’s funny because it’s true. I was reminded of this little joke when I read John 16 earlier today.

John 16 contains the great promise of prayer: “If you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you” (v. 23), and “Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be made full” (v. 24).

I have a problem with prayer, namely, that my prayer tends to be mostly about me. If not all about me. That’s not to say I’m praying to win the lotto or for quick and painless fixes to all of life’s little problems. Even I’m not that immature. But reading these verses made me think about what kinds of things I ought to be praying about, and convicted me to be praying for others more. The opportunities are certainly endless. Yet how many times have I told someone I’d pray for them and then, well maybe I did for a minute, but it’s not a sustained effort. The irony is that, regardless of whom we pray for, prayer ends up being for our own benefit anyway. Check out verse 24; the purpose of asking in His name as “that [our] joy may be made full.”

There was a time in my life when my prayers were more focused. When I was heavily involved in one of the 12-step fellowships, I was using strictly the prayers found in AA’s “Big Book.” The Big Book’s approach to prayer is a little more restricted than what I see in John 16. Just check out step 11: “…asking only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry it out.” For a time that was literally all I prayed. I also mixed in the third step prayer and occasionally the fourth step prayer (bonus points for AA’s who can identify the latter), word for word out of the book. This became a daily routine that eventually took on legalistic tones. I missed really pouring my heart out to God, and eventually had to abandon that approach. I do appreciate, however, old Bill W.’s persistent encouragement to be constantly praying for God’s will in every decision or difficult situation. The attitude of submission that implies is essential, I think, and there’s more to it than just tacking a “thy will be done” on the end of some long and very specific list of things I want God to do, pronto. I heard people at meetings go so far as to say that they prayed strictly for God’s will and nothing else even when interceding for others, the idea being that if I pray for my sick friend to get better, I’m assuming that it’s God’s will that he get better, and that’s pretty presumptuous of me. I don’t know that I can get on board with that 100 percent; I think it’s quite possible to “make our requests known to God” and still maintain an attitude of submission to His will.

Lately I’ve been praying for help with loving God and others, and I feel those prayers are beginning to be answered, the fact that the Spirit seems to be bugging me to pray more for others being one indication of an answer. What are you praying for? I’m curious to know. Feel free to post anonymous prayer requests as well. I’ve got lots of time on my hands, and I’d be happy to pray for anyone, more than once!

I want to thank my husband for filling in with such a wonderful post! Please leave a comment on John 16:23-27 or a prayer request. We will both be praying for them!