Prayer: Not the Right Words but the Right God

By Jennifer Anne Cox

Prayer: Not the Right Words but the Right God intentionally connects Christian prayer to the gospel in order to dispel misunderstanding and confusion about prayer that is present in the church. It is Christ and his work that make prayer possible. Humans were made for communion with God, but sin disrupted the relationship. We have no way to fix this problem, but God in Christ has restored the relationship. God enables prayer and therefore anyone who has faith in Jesus Christ can have confidence to come to God in prayer. Consequently, there is no need for the right words or particular rituals in prayer. There is no secret to prayer except Jesus Christ himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jennifer Anne Cox
• Release date: Nov 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005525392

Jennifer Anne Cox

Jennifer Anne Cox has a PhD in theology and is the author of several theological books. Dr Cox seeks to provide theological resources that will help the church to understand the Bible and to put Christ at the centre of all things.

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Prayer:

Not the Right Words but the Right God

Jennifer Anne Cox

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2021 by Jennifer Anne Cox

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All Scripture quotations are from ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016)

English Standard Version, ESV, and the ESV logo are registered trademarks of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ©2016 Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Contents

Why Write Another Book about Prayer?

What Prayer Is Not

Created To Be in Relationship with God

Sin Interrupts Communication

Idols in Place of the True God

Restoration of Communion with God

What Prayer Is

Confidence in Prayer

God Enables Prayer

Conclusion

About the Author

Why Write Another Book about Prayer?

Recently I was asked to preach a sermon as an introduction to a series on the Lord’s Prayer. This particular sermon surprised me in that I was not happy with it, thinking that it was in no way good enough, and yet several people found it helpful and some wanted me to speak further on prayer. This caused me to consider writing about prayer.

There are already numerous books about prayer, many of which are devotional classics. What do I have to contribute to these volumes of Christian literature? I confess at the start that I am no great intercessor; this is not my gifting. This, however, does not mean that I am unqualified to discuss the theology of prayer. God’s word is not dependent on my intercessory gifts or the lack of them. Therefore, I can write about prayer in accordance with what the Bible says and be confident that this will be of value to others.

I have observed in the church at large some disturbing trends concerning Christian understanding, or rather misunderstanding, about prayer. It is my contention that the issues I see with people’s distorted views on prayer are the result of a general Christian ignorance of the gospel. A shallow understanding of the gospel may often be sufficient for a person to experience salvation. However, that same shallow understanding of the gospel will inevitably lead to an erroneous understanding of the Christian life. In other words, a faulty understanding of who Jesus is and what he has done results in confused Christians, who then try to make the Christian life work in their own ability. The prayer life of the Christian is no exception.

If a shallow grasp of the gospel is the problem with the prayer lives of many Christians, then a fuller and deeper understanding will bring greater life and health to those same prayer lives. The lack of faithful teaching of the gospel in the wider church means that it is no longer sensible to assume that Christians know the fundamental doctrines of the faith. For this reason, my intention in this book is to tie prayer very explicitly to the gospel. Once prayer becomes untethered from the gospel, all manner of wrong ideas float freely around the church. Securing prayer again to the gospel is the solution.

This book on prayer, then, is intended as a foundation to prayer rather than a how-to book. It provides, I hope, the underpinnings of confidence in prayer. The foundation of prayer, as with the foundation of any other aspect of salvation or the Christian life, can be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Cor 3:11). The church is not the church at all if it is built upon a different foundation. Any theology