God Talks to Himself?! The Foundation for Prayer

 

Prayer is communication with God. We pray to God because we believe that He hears our prayers and cares about them. Communication with God is based on faith and trust. Our faith gives us access to what we believe is available to us in God. We trust in His love and willingness to act on our prayers. When we talk about prayer, more often than not, we speak of people praying to God; talking to Him with faith that He listens, cares and will respond in some way. But prayer also includes listening. We believe that prayer is a dialogue and that we can also hear God’s voice speaking to us.

Prayer, as it is most frequently talked about, is a human activity. But there are scriptures that show that prayer is part of God’s activity as well. God prays?!  Why? To whom?

In Romans chapter 8, Paul speaks of how the Holy Spirit helps us when we do not know how to pray. Paul says in verse 26 that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. The Holy Spirit prays for you and I?! In the second part of this same verse there is a reference to Jesus praying for the saints according to the will of the Father. This same truth is repeated a few verses later in 8:34, which says that Jesus is now at the right hand of God and interceding for us.

Have you ever thought this through?

There is perfect unity between the aspects of God: Father, Jesus (the Son) and the Holy Spirit. People say that God is “three in one”, the “Holy Trinity”. We see in the gospels that Jesus made reference to the fact that He always knew what the Father was saying and doing. Jesus followed the leading of God in His ministry on earth; doing only what He saw the Father doing and saying only what He heard the Father saying. (John 5:19, 12:49-50) So Jesus both listened to the Father and prayed to Him! Did He do this to model prayer for His disciples? Was He dependent on prayer because of His humanity?

 

Now Jesus is resurrected and has perfect unity with the Father

and Holy Spirit! And yet they communicate?!

 

Jesus knows the will of the Father and He prays for me and for you!

The Holy Spirit also prays/intercedes for us! I see the need for the Holy Spirit to help us pray when we don’t know how….we often need help! But why do Jesus and the Holy Spirit have to pray? Are they praying to God the Father?  Does He answer? Do they use words? If pray is a critical part of their connection with one another, how much more so is prayer critical to our connection with God!

One thing that captures my attention as I consider Jesus and the Holy Spirit praying, is the simple reality that communication is part of who God IS. Communication is not just an ability of God; something that He can do, it is part of His nature. We read in the creation narrative that God created humans in His image and the reference is plural. God, the trinity created humans in the image of them. Communication was part of that! The ability to communicate is part of human nature just as it is part of divine nature. Jesus taught His disciples that they, and we, are created to hear God’s voice. When Jesus tells the parable of the good shepherd in John 10, He explains that His followers know His voice and can distinguish His voice from other voices.

This is the foundation of prayer. Communication between us and God is not merely an option, an activity we can choose to participate in. It is an intentional part of how we were created by God as humans. In this way, we reflect an aspect of God’s nature. The ability and choice to communicate is part of the trinity; part of God Himself. He so values communication, that it is happening at all times within the three aspects of God’s character. When we pray for one another, we are mirroring the activity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, as they are interceding. When we listen to God, we reflect the choice of Jesus as He was also dependent on the voice of God when He was on Earth. Furthermore, whenever we pray, we are not alone. Jesus and the Holy Spirit pray for us as we pray!