prayer works?

Here is a post critiquing the recent CBC article "proving" that prayer does not work. I'm conflicted on this topic at several points. My start point is summarized well by Charles Spurgeon;

It is our full belief that God has foreknown and predestinated everything that happeneth in heaven above or in the earth beneath, and that the foreknown station of a reed by the river is as fixed as the station of a king, and "the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses." Predestination embraceth the great and the little, and reacheth unto all things; the question is, wherefore pray? Might it not as logically be asked wherefore breathe, eat, move, or do anything? We have an answer which satisfies us, namely, that our prayers are in the predestination, and that God has as much ordained His people's prayers as anything else, and when we pray we are producing links in the chain of ordained facts. Destiny decrees that I should pray—I pray; destiny decrees that I shall be answered, and the answer comes to me.

John Piper builds on this by saying;

God ... governs all things in the world—from the dominion of kings in Saudi Arabia to the roll of the dice in Las Vegas. Proverbs 16:33 says, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD." And Daniel 2:21 says, "He removes kings and establishes kings." So from the dominion of kings to the roll of the dice, God governs the universe by his wisdom and power—including the prayers of his people. Our kneeling to pray is no less God's gracious work than the regenerating of our souls: he writes his will on our hearts (Hebrews 8:10) and works in us what is pleasing in his sight (Hebrews 13:21), and we do it—we pray—freely from our own wills.

These statements reflect my theology - I wish my practice was consistent with this. I think that when we pray, it is either (1) the expressing of the innermost cry of our hearts or (2) it is our articulating what we see or hear God doing. With this as my background, my critique of the post referenced earlier is I agree with Tom Gee's statement that;

God is not coin-operated, even for prayer currency. We do not plug in our prayer quarter, turn God's crank, and wait for heavenly gumballs to come tumbling out of the slot.

I would have like to have seen Gee place more emphasis on the concept that effectual prayer is ultimately initiated in our hearts by God. My opinion is that had God intended to reveal His power through prayer through this study, I'm confident those people would have been healed. Right now, all I can say as fact is that God's will is being done.

I could speculate whether or not the study parameters were properly set, e.g., did those that were praying have unforgiveness in their lives, do they have any real level of faith, did God tell them to join the study, did God tell the people coordinating this to do the study, did the people praying have their eyes open or closed (joking now)....

I also take issue with Gee's comment that;

If you are an unbeliever, then there is only one prayer that God is waiting to hear from you, and that is a pleading for forgiveness and salvation in the name of his Son.

The Kingdom of God rains on the just and the unjust. There are times when He heals those we think do not deserve it. There are times when it appears He is answering the prayers of the unrighteous. Our problem of course is that our ability to see is limited.

There are many factors but in the end, God is sovereign and He can and will heal any and every one He chooses. His will is done.

On a personal note, I run into the largest amount of "feedback" because I believe we can speak to a fever and it leave, that we can tell a lame man to stand up and he will walk, etc.. I believe this because I believe that the only "effective" prayer is a God initiated prayer and that the only "effective" method is the God initiated method. Searching Scripture for patterns of prayer for healing, I detect few (I'm being generous) examples of intercession and many examples of command. Maybe God has changed the method He prefers but I haven't seen any Scriptural reason to support that.

Technorati Tags: prayer, Charles Spurgeon, John Piper, healing, sovereignty