A Theology of Contending Prayer
Why we pray, what we pray, and how crying out to God might be a catalyst for spiritual awakening in our time and culture.
Things happen when we pray
Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” Mt. 6v10. In other words, God’s perfect reign of peace is coming to earth. One day, everything will be as it should be, but, we live in the in-between. The Kingdom is both now, and not yet. When we pray, we are agreeing that God’s will is what our world needs, and we are asking God to transform it.
Jesus also promised us, “Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name” Jn. 16v23. While this promise has been twisted in the past, we understand that Jesus isn’t your “genie in a bottle.” The way we’re meant to receive this is —when we seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness— we long for the things God wants to give us and we pray for the stuff God wants to say “Yes!” to. Think about that: God has all authority and loves you with a never-giving-up love. He wants to answer your fervent, honest and real prayers.
Our vision for prayer is simple: we take Jesus at his word.
This cultural moment is marked by a pandemic that’s causing all kinds of brokenness in our world: disease, death, isolation, fear, anxiety. And that’s not to mention the economic fallout. What if the people of Jesus looked at the COVID-19 moment as a time for redemption. Not a hopeless tidal wave of brokenness, but as an opportunity to see God redeem evil for good (Gen. 50, Rom. 8v28)?
This movement of 24/7 prayer in Bend is being birthed out of a passion to see the renewed power and presence of Jesus in our time. We don’t need to be extraordinary. God has that covered. All we need to do is cultivate a hunger in our hearts for the Kingdom and show up. You can be a part of this! Pray for 1 hour this week. Pray for 20. It’s up to you. But don’t miss out on your moment to partner with God in renewing the world. The time for inspirational talk is over. It’s time to act.
More resources:
Interested in taking your prayer learning and practice further? Here are a couple great resources to help get you started.