C.S. Lewis, Christian thinker and author, wrote much about the Christian life. Prayer, being an integral part of the Christian life, received much of Lewis’s attention. Lewis wrote, in an effort to summarize these purposes, that “Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession… [is] its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine.” Prayer is not a simple, straight-forward practical exercise, nor was it meant to be. Prayer is the marrow of the bone that is the Christian’s relationship with God. It is the outpouring of a heart deeply affected by the grace of God. It is a sacrifice, a discipline, a duty, a pleasure, and a privilege. Prayer is supernatural and spiritual, but it is also the most natural thing in the Christian’s life.
The child of God prays with many purposes: worship, confession, petition, communion with God, and submission of the will. However, among the variety of purposes prayer has, two are chief and all-inclusive: prayer is for the glory of God, and the good of those who are His children. RC Sproul, Bible teacher and founder of Ligonier Ministries, states this indefinitely: “Prayer, like everything else in the Christian life, is for God’s glory and for our benefit, in that order… We pray to glorify God, but we also pray in order to receive the benefits of prayer from His hand.”
God has given His children all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:3). As prayer is only possible because of the Christian’s adoption by the Father, in Jesus, many of those spiritual blessings are granted to the Christian through prayer; perhaps all, though not exclusively. Of course, one could say that the Christian’s received benefits from prayer can be summed up in the term sanctification. However, David M’Intyre, Scottish theologian and pastor, outlines the two primary blessings he finds are received through prayer: holiness and intimacy with Christ. “Communion with God,” a phrase which M’Intyre used synonymously with prayer, “is the condition of spiritual growth. It is the soil in which all the graces of the divine life root themselves.” Prayer results in holiness in the same way that a healthy tree produces strong branches. It is inherent to a life of prayer that holiness be wrought; the plant that is in good soil and is continually watered will grow – the infirmity of the original seed will be forgotten in time. What’s more is that prayer also results in intimacy with Christ, according to M’Intyre. “When one looks into the quiet eyes of Him that sitteth upon the throne,” M’Intyre attests, “the tremors of the spirit are stilled.” Prayer, and the resulting intimacy with Christ, will allow the Christian to stand in the face of certain death with the face of an angel like Stephen (Acts 6:15). Prayer allowed Seguier, a French protestant at his execution to proclaim, “My soul is as a garden, full of shelter and fountains.” Likewise, prayer will allow Christians to possess similar serenity until Christ returns.