The Power of Prayer
Religion & Liberty Online

The Power of Prayer

Albrecht Dürer - Praying Hands, 1508 - Google Art ProjectThis is just a brief note, a cohortative: Let us pray!

For those tempted to disdain prayer in favor of work in alleviating the ills of the world, I recommend C.S. Lewis’ essay, “Work and Prayer.” There he writes, among other things, “Prayers are not always—in the crude, factual sense of the world—’granted’. This is not because prayer is a weaker kind of causality, but because it is a stronger kind.”

From of old prayer has been recognized, in John Calvin’s words, as “the chief exercise of faith,” and the means “by which we daily receive God’s benefits.”

Denunciation of prayer is a call to atheism; lack of prayer is a form of practical atheism.

For more on work and prayer, check out this commentary on the parable of the lost coin, lost sheep, and lost son.

Jordan J. Ballor

Jordan J. Ballor (Dr. theol., University of Zurich; Ph.D., Calvin Theological Seminary) is director of research at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy, an initiative of the First Liberty Institute. He has previously held research positions at the Acton Institute and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and has authored multiple books, including a forthcoming introduction to the public theology of Abraham Kuyper. Working with Lexham Press, he served as a general editor for the 12 volume Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology series, and his research can be found in publications including Journal of Markets & Morality, Journal of Religion, Scottish Journal of Theology, Reformation & Renaissance Review, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Faith & Economics, and Calvin Theological Journal. He is also associate director of the Junius Institute for Digital Reformation Research at Calvin Theological Seminary and the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity & Politics at Calvin University.