Prayer Changes Things. Or Does It?
What's really happening when we pray
I believe in the absolute sovereignty of God. The entirety of creation is manifested by Him and He is in control of the unfolding of all events in the microcosm and the macrocosm. Due the boundless nature of God’s existence, nothing can exist outside of His being. He is able to control all things because all things are contained within His being. This perspective, which I elaborate upon extensively in my books, leaves no room for free will.
How are we to understand prayer — that essential aspect of religious life — if what I have written in the preceding paragraph is true?
Without free will, we are analogous to puppets in a puppet show. This is to be distinguished from robots, as rather than being mechanical creatures, the reality is that we are animated in the present moment by the living God. So when we offer up prayers to God, it is He who is in control of our prayers.
Considering prayer in this context leads us to see prayer in a slightly different way than if we were truly free creatures. This is because both our prayers, and the answers to those prayers, are under God’s control. We have to see occasions of prayer as being willed and directed by God as part of the grand game of existence that He is manifesting.
Does this perspective belittle the importance of prayer? Well, if all things exist for the glory of God, and prayer is part of the way He animates human beings, then this does nothing to belittle its importance. Prayer is the way that He has chosen for some human beings to communicate with Him. It’s true that God gives us certain ‘modes of mind’ where we feel as though we are free creatures, making decisions and acting in certain ways, and the fact that God is truly in control of these things doesn’t make them any less a part of who we are.
The illusion of human freedom allows for God to have a personal relationship with His human creatures, so that we can have a conversation with God, for instance. During such a conversation, both our prayers to Him and His response to us are fully under His control, but this doesn’t make the experience any less real for us.
In one of my books, I discussed whether one aspect of God’s existence - His omnipresence - could be a kind of agony for God. I pondered whether because free will is impossible with an omnipresent God, this could create a kind of agony for Him, because there is never the possibility for Him to have a relationship with free creatures, as there can be no free creatures.
However, if God is complete within Himself, and He is love in His essence, then this would seem to suggest He is not suffering at all. If He is not suffering, then the reason for His creation is less likely to be to fulfill some lack, but rather because it brings Him glory to unfold grand and complex creative storylines in existence (I acknowledge that attempts to describe God will always be inadequate).
In some human beings, there is a kind of veil that prevents them from being aware of the existence of God. I know, because I used to be that way. It was only when I read the Bible (by His grace) that I became convinced of the reality of God and began to have a personal relationship with Him.
I do not know whether God reveals Himself to all human beings at some time in their lives, or if this awareness is exclusive to people of faith. I am only able to share that it seems to be the case that God talks with other Christians I know, and it may well be that a relationship with Jesus is the means by which God allows human beings to interact with Him in a personal way. Do Hindus, Sikhs or Muslims communicate with God in the way that I do as a Christian? It’s certainly possible, but I do not know. Jesus said the words “The only way to the Father is through the Son” (John 14:6) so it’s possible that this personal relationship with God is preserved exclusively for Christians.
Having a personal, prayerful relationship with God is a wonderful thing for a human being to experience, regardless of the lack of true creaturely freedom in this experience. Prayer is part of the Christian’s identity — it allows us to participate in the unfolding of God’s plans and of His will. This is a truly precious gift and times of prayer are some of the most wonderful times that I experience.
Prayer does change things, but only in the sense that God is working in us through our prayers. From Him and through Him and to Him are all things, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 11:36. The gift of prayer brings us into an intimate personal relationship with our Creator, and makes us participants in the unfolding of His will, despite the fact that we will only ever pray what it is His will for us to pray.