Fr Matthew Reese

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
—Mark 11:24-25

Dear Friends,

What is the nature of prayer?

Who is it for?

What does it do?

One of the things that I find strange about the vast spectrum of American Christianity is that so many people are convinced of the precise nature and efficacy of prayer—and that their conclusions are so diametrically opposed.

On the more progressive, agnostic side, I’ve often heard the critique go something like “of course prayer doesn’t actually do anything—the change effected is in our mindset, our hopes, our aspirations.”

On the charismatic evangelical side, especially in the clutches of the “Prosperity Gospel,” prayer can tip perilously into “manifesting.” If I just pray hard enough, righteously enough, God will bring me the Mercedes E-Class I’ve so desperately needed. After all, that mega church pastor has a private jet…

But these are both impoverished visions of prayer, impoverished views of the power of God.

I am convinced that God does answer prayers. I am convinced that prayer does do something—that God will, in turns and by degrees, guide us, console us, even heal us, if we come to him earnestly in prayer.

Some of us will have—may have already had—those extraordinary moments of rapid transformation where the hand of God is so unmistakable. Others among us may find, only in the long arc of time, that God has been answering our prayers all along, only in ways we could not have seen at the time.

But Jesus’ words this morning remind us that God is not an ATM. God is not a dispensary of blessings. God is the creator and redeemer of the world—infinitely great, timeless, boundless, and yet, through his Holy Spirit, coursing through our very veins.

When we come to God in prayer we must not ask for things (tangible or otherwise), we must ask to be changed. And that transformation, that desire to be forgiven, requires that we, too, must forgive.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Matthew