God’s Great Willingness to Answer Our Prayers

Over the summer, as our congregation is studying the Psalms as a book of prayer, I will have a series of articles on great quotes about prayer. I am setting these up before my sabbatical, so they will not be related to a particular teaching, but rather simply are another encouragement in prayer.

“Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness.” – Martin Luther

Sometimes we are tempted to think that in prayer we are wrestling things out of God. We imagine that if we pray and fast enough, if we get enough people together, then God will grudgingly give into our prayers. But as Martin Luther reminds us, nothing could be further from the truth! God is not a grudging miser, a heavenly Ebeneezer Scrooge! On the contrary, He delights to hear and answer the prayers of His people. In prayer, we do not twist God’s arm to give us something, but rather open ourselves to His heart of love and willingness to act on our behalf.

I think we make this mistake sometimes because of the Scripture’s repeated call to consistent prayer. But this is not because God is not willing, but because He delights in our fellowship with Him in prayer. We are called to pray, not because God is miserly in answering, but because it reminds us of our deep need and His great power and love.

In Christ,

Bret