Home  July 2008 If God Is God, Why Pray?
(Overcoming the Devil’s “Logic”)
By Dennis Conner
Having been a Christian—and one who believes in and practices
prayer—since January 1969, I have experienced the full spectrum of
emotions related to: 1) Answered prayer, 2) Persevering prayer, and 3)
Un-answered prayer. It almost never fails, that the enemy (Satan) is
ever-ready to confront my belief in “God-answering-prayer” in the
latter two scenarios, with his doubt-deceiving question:
“If God is
really Who He says He is, then why bother to pray?” How about you? Has
the devil ever fired this kind of “doubt-creating” question through
your mind, just as you were beginning to pray? Even the proverbial
“man-on-the-street” asks the same question! How do we combat this?
In this issue and the next issue, I want to share with you the three
most highly acclaimed attributes of God--identified in the first 16
verses of Psalm 139--and how to defeat the devil’s “logic” attack upon
each one!
Psalm 139’s author, King David, clearly identified them as: 1)
OMNISCIENT (All-Knowing), 2) OMNIPRESENT (Ever Present), and 3)
OMNIPOTENT (All-Powerful). Of course, not only does the Bible confirm
these same attributes of God, but so does the Holy Spirit reveal these
attributes to the believer’s heart as we encounter God during the daily
living of the Christian life!
With every believer today--just as with Adam and Eve in the Garden
(Genesis 3: 1-5) and with Jesus in His 40-days of temptations in the
Wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11)--the enemy’s strategy is to create
distraction, doubt and discouragement. He hopes this will ultimately
result in our disobedience. And have you noticed that his “logic”
(humanly speaking) attacks come especially hard as we begin a time of
prayer with the Lord? The primary difference between Satan’s success
with Eve and Adam and his lack of success with Jesus was the response
given to his deceptive “logic” expressed to each. Likewise, the same
holds true for Jesus’ disciples today.
Let’s look at the first of God’s divine attributes--omniscience
(all-knowing)—identified in Psalm 139:1-6. Have you ever had this
logical thought run through your mind as you began to pray: “If your
God is all-knowing, then He already knows what you want or need. Even
His Word tells you that (Matthew 6:8). So, why should you bother Him
with asking for anything in prayer?” When that distracting and
deceptive thought is thrown at me by the enemy of my prayer-life, I
know my best defense to ensure victory is NOT try to “out-logic” him,
but simply rely on the power of God’s Word to defeat Satan.
Even though I do believe God already knows—before I speak the first
words of prayer—what I have need of, I believe my sincere praying
matters because Jeremiah 33:3 tells me that God is simply waiting for
me to come to Him and ask, and He is more than willing to tell me many
things that I currently don’t know, but need to know!
Isaiah 55:8-9 tells me that God’s thoughts and ways are much different and higher than my own thoughts and ways!
Thus, it matters that I seek God “in prayer,” because what He knows
that I don’t and what He wants to do in my life that I haven’t yet
discovered may totally change my prayer request to Him. Since His
wants, desires, and plans are purposely focused on prospering me and
giving me a future and hope (Jeremiah 29:11) that exceeds my own
thoughts, I would be foolish to do this “life-thing” on my own!
Besides that assurance from God’s own Word, I know from personal
experience that my seeking God in prayer, on a regular basis, protects
my relationship with Him because it:
Keeps the communication line open and fosters a closer relationship
with Him; thus, enabling me to get to know God much better. Isn’t that
what Jesus’ prayer focus in the garden (John 17:3) was: that “eternal
life” is all about knowing the Father and Jesus Christ (i.e
relationship)!
Increasingly reminds me of my absolute dependence upon God; that He is
God and I am not; and that I must decrease my (flesh-driven)
self-reliance, while increasing His sufficiency for me in all matters
(John 3:30).
So, this fiery dart launched by Satan against God’s divine “omniscient”
attribute is successfully extinguished; and my personal commitment to
daily praying is even stronger now than before. While I am thanking God
for another victory He has given me through Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians
15:57), the only one who ends up discouraged is the devil himself!
Dennis Conner and his wife Betty Jo are the directors of member
relations for the Church Prayer Leaders Network. They are also the
co-founders of Called to Serve, a ministry that seeks to coach pastors
and churches in becoming houses of prayer.
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