The Preconditions of Prayer (7)

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10.31

For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
As the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2.14

This above all
Why does God want us to seek His Kingdom and Spirit as the overarching, all-defining end of our prayers?

Because this is how He will be glorified. This is how He will be known through all the earth. Only by His Spirit, and within His Kingdom, will people come to hear His truth, share in His grace, and enter into newness of life in Him, so that they can glorify and enjoy Him in every area of their lives.

One of my favorite ministries is Biglife Ministries, a church-planting effort headed by John Heerema, which is helping many to realize Kingdom progress in the US and beyond. Biglife has a lot going on, and people scattered around the globe who work with them in a loose but effective affiliation to start house churches and win people to Christ. Biglife’s overarching goal, however, is not starting house churches, or even winning people to Christ. The staff and associates of Biglife remind themselves of their larger purpose by their logo – the name Biglife followed by a forward slash set at 115.1 degrees – which refers them to Psalm 115.1: “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory.”

What Biglife has settled on as its guiding purpose should also guide and inform all our prayers. The final and most important precondition for prayer is that we enter prayer, not to glorify ourselves, but to bring glory to God alone. We could all do with some reminders like this.

Hindrances to glory
As simple and focused as that is, certain things can keep us from achieving this end in and through our prayers.

First, if we don’t know what we mean by the glory of God, we’re going to have a difficult time seeking, realizing, or expressing it. The glory of God is not, in the first instance, something we say – as in, “Lord, we glorify Your Name!” The glory of God is simply the presence of God, realized by us in some unmistakable way. The Spirit of God brings us into the presence of God’s glory, revealing Him to us in His majesty, greatness, immensity, power, holiness, mercy, and love. As God shows us His glory, the Spirit works to impress that glory on our souls, in order to transform us into that same image of glory (2 Cor. 3.12-18). In prayer we seek the glory of God. We plead with God and wait on Him, to show us His glory, make Himself and His presence known to us, and bring us near to Him in powerful and transforming ways.

We learn to experience the glory of God, and to express it, by daily, diligent, careful reading and study of the Scriptures. Here God makes His glory known, especially through the glorious Face of His risen and reigning Son, as He is revealed everywhere throughout God’s Word (2 Cor. 4.6; Jn. 5.39). Your prayers will fall short of God’s glory if you are not continuously seeking that glory in God’s Word before you seek it in prayer.

A second hindrance to having God’s glory as the end of all our prayers is trying to make ourselves the focus of prayer. We might do this when we’re praying in a group, by seeking to impress others with our Biblical language or references, by our glibness or passion in prayer, or by the length of time we take up in prayer.

But we can lose focus and end up seeking our own glory in our private prayers as well, especially if we try to short-cut our way into God’s favor by omitting any of the preconditions of prayer. By coming to prayer out of a sense duty, rather than in faith; failing to confess our sins, or to rehearse and focus on the work of Christ; or making anything other than His Spirit and Kingdom the framework and goal we seek through prayer, we’re pretty much ensuring that God’s glory will be absent from our times of prayer.

God listens as we pray as He intends, submitting to all His preconditions. He draws near to us as we pray like this, to show us His glory and assure us that He hears and is already moving to answer our prayers. But He withholds His glory when we come with some self-serving agenda or try to short-cut our way into His favor.

Obviously, the most common reason people don’t experience the glory of God in prayer is that they don’t pray – at least, not as Jesus taught us to pray, always, and in everything. If we don’t invest time, attention, and strength in prayer, seeking the Lord in His glory, we certainly have no reason to expect that He will show us His glory. And if we do not meet with God in His glory, we will not be able to live for His glory in all the daily details of our lives.

It’s all about the glory
Prayer certainly falls into the category of “whatever you do” in life. So when we seek the glory of God in prayer – the glory we have learned from Him in His Word – we will be more likely both to meet God in His glory as we pray, and to go forth from prayer to live for His glory in the life-transforming power of His Spirit.

Seek the glory of God in prayer. Prayer is not about us and our glory; it’s all about God and His prayers. And your prayers can be a true and transforming experience of God’s glory if you will focus on this end and outcome each time you go before the Lord in prayer.

For reflection
1.  How would you counsel new believers to seek the glory of God? What should they do? What should they expect? What should happen in them? To what should this lead?

2.  Is it really possible to do “whatever you do” for the glory of God? Explain. Is it possible to do this without meeting God in His glory in prayer?

3.  What are some verses of Scripture that you might bring with you into prayer, to remind you to seek the glory of God above all else in and through your prayers?

Next steps – Transformation: How might you change your reading and study of Scripture, and your prayers, to focus more clearly and consistently on meeting God in His glory?

T. M. Moore

Each of our “next steps” exercises is tied into goals and disciplines involved in working your Personal Mission Field. If you have not yet identified your Personal Mission Field, watch the brief video showing you how to get started right away (click here). Learn how to work your Personal Mission Field by finding a friend and signing-up for our Mission Partners Outreach.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.