Prayer is Not a Means of Grace

     As a Christian and especially as a pastor I have often heard, “I maybe don’t go to church; but I pray.”  I would comment, “That is great that you pray because you are speaking to God.  But do you ever listen to Him speak to you?  I must remind you that to have a relationship with someone you need to have communication.  Communication is a two-way street.  Someone speaks and someone listens.  Your relationship with God should be a two-way street.  When you come to church to listen and hear God speak through his Word and then pray to Him, your prayers become a communication action back to God who is a great listener and hears all prayers in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, your Lord, and Savior.  If you are not coming to church to hear God’s Word and receive the Sacraments then it is a one-sided relationship with you doing all the talking and not caring what the other person, in this case God, has to say.”  

     The statement, “I don’t go to church, but I pray” can be taken to mean that prayer is a work that is worthy of salvation.  In other words, it is a works righteous statement, for it is saying, “Because I pray, I have salvation.”  On the other hand, the statement could mean, “I have faith and so I pray.”  That brings up the question, “How is it that you have faith and are kept in faith and are strengthened in faith, even to pray?”  

     Some denominations over emphasize prayer by making it a Means of Grace; that is, a way that God gives and strengthens faith.  They use prayer like we lean on God’s work on us in the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  What we have as God’s work on us, they consider their own work.  You see, people who do not have the Means of Grace of Word and Sacrament for their faith, all they have is prayer.  Thus, they may make prayer their way of salvation.

    Understand what prayer is and why we pray.  We don’t pray because prayer works.  We pray because God tells us to.  God does the work.  Prayer doesn’t accomplish what prayer asks.  God does.  Prayer has no power in itself.  God is almighty.  We are weak.  We don’t pray from a position of strength.  We pray from a position of weakness.  This is why we pray in Jesus’ name.

     It is the power of the Gospel – the word of forgiveness freely given to you by God for the sake of the obedience and suffering of Jesus – that brings your prayers from your lips into God’s ears.  There is no power in prayer as prayer.  But there is almighty power in the blood of Jesus Christ, shed for you, for the remission of sins.

     This is why God’s Word and your prayer go together.  They are bound to each other.  God’s Word is the source of your faith.  Your prayer is the exercise of your faith.  

     To sever prayer from the word of God is to turn prayer into a self-centered activity that has nothing to do with God.  Hence, all the foolish arguments about whether or not prayer works.  What’s to work?  To get more and more stuff to satisfy whatever cravings come along?  To gain power over those we are called to serve.  To avoid the necessary consequences of our irresponsible folly?  To receive without paying?  To win without working?  To acquire more and more things that will perish with the world.  What’s prayer supposed to get us, anyway?

     Prayer is grounded in faith.  There is no true faith, no saving faith, except the faith that God works in your hearts through His Gospel and Sacraments.  Faith is born when we are sinful and weak and humbled before God.  It is born from God’s Word as God speaks His pardon.  God tells you what the suffering of Jesus means for you.  He forgives you your sins for Jesus’ sake.  From God’s forgiveness comes faith.  Then faith speaks.  Prayer is faith talking.  Faith comes from God’s word and flows into prayer.  Prayer is repeating back to God the words He first spoke to you.  

     You can pray for yourselves.  You can and may talk to God directly.  You don’t need to go through a pastor or a parent or anyone else but Jesus Christ.  Through Jesus you have direct access to God.  

     Not only does Jesus give you the right to pray; He even gives you the prayer to pray.  The Lord’s Prayer is a wonderful gift from the Lord to His Church.  We know that our Father in heaven will answer us when we pray the Lord’s Prayer.  How can He not when His Son has told us to pray it?  The Lord’s Prayer includes everything for which a Christian needs to pray.  And yet, God loves to hear what we want, need, and or where we are hurting.  He knows before you ask, but He loves to hear His children ask Him in faith as the One who can grant you your prayer.

     Prayer is the exercise of your faith.  Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, teaches you to pray.  You listen to Him.  You consult Him who came to you from the Father and returned to the Father by taking away all of your sins on the cross.  You pray in obedience to His command, trusting in His promise, and in His name.  For His sake all your prayers are answered.  

     My prayer for you (and for myself) is that we may increase our communication skills in our relationship with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and pray.  

Your Servant in Christ,

Rev. Arie D. Bertsch 

North Dakota LCMS District President