Sword & Trowel 2016: Issue 1


still set a limit on the amount of time we allow to these thoughts, fi rmly placing a barrier on them for the time of prayer. Some of the remedies al- ready mentioned for coldness or poor attention-span will help to hold the mind on to the prayer-agenda, along- side the making of a solemn pledge to give no room to the unwanted thoughts.


THE PROBLEM OF FOREORDINATION


Fatalism will inevitably empty


prayer of fervour. It is hard to pray for the sick if we add to every plea ‘if it be thy will’ in a resigned tone. To use these words is right, but to understand them in a fatalistic way is wrong. We must remind ourselves that God employs prayer as part of his process of blessing, making it in- strumental. He commands us to pray with fervency for a purpose, and not because he intends to ignore us altogether. If the writer may be permitted a personal recollec- tion – this was a hindrance for me in spiritual youth, when fi rst grasping the doc- trines of sovereign grace. The usual way of describing how God is the author of all effective prayer is to say that he ordains not only the ends (the answer) but also the means (the prayer itself), and in a sense this is true. I was taught that every inclination to pray is from God (which is correct), but it was explained in a very mechanistic way,


undermining personal responsibility. If I did not pray, it could well have been God’s fault, not mine, for not having impelled me to pray in a suf- fi ciently irresistible way. However, the teaching just de-


scribed runs the risk of forgetting the mysterious interface between God’s foreordination and the believer’s obe- dience. God’s foreordination of my prayers as a converted person is not quite the same as his foreordination of my salvation. In the latter case he brings it about by irresistible grace. It may have seemed to me that I chose him gladly, willingly and freely, but the reality is that he changed my heart, making me willing to listen, bending my stubborn will, bringing light into my darkened mind, and placing my conscience under convic- tion of sin. The moment I became a believer, however, a new margin of responsibility came into my





The Rebellious Years by Dr Masters and The Fictional World of Richard Dawkins by Robin Compston have been published in Romanian by Editura Faclia. (Available in UK from Tabernacle Bookshop.)


Remedies for Problems in Prayer page 13


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44