Calvin's Insights on the Power of Prayer
Summary
In our time together, we explored the profound insights of John Calvin on the subject of prayer, emphasizing its role as a genuine communion with God. Calvin viewed prayer not as an academic exercise but as a precious gift, a means of entering into the very throne room of God. He believed that prayer is a conversation with God, where we pour out our desires, joys, and sorrows, knowing that God listens as a loving Father. This intimate dialogue is not just about presenting our needs but about experiencing the reality of God's promises and His presence in our lives.
Calvin taught that prayer is essential for authentic piety, serving as the lifeblood of a believer's spiritual life. It is through prayer that we appeal to God's providence, omnipotence, and omniscience, finding peace in His care and assurance in His will. Despite objections that prayer might seem unnecessary given God's omniscience, Calvin argued that prayer is a means ordained by God to fulfill His purposes, a divine response to a divine initiative.
The purposes of prayer, according to Calvin, are manifold: to seek God's help in our needs, to align our desires with His will, to prepare our hearts to receive His blessings with gratitude, to meditate on His kindness, and to confirm His providence in our lives. These purposes are centered on God, fostering a deeper communion with Him.
Calvin also outlined the method of prayer, emphasizing the importance of faith, the use of God's Word, and the appeal to His promises. Prayer should be heartfelt, marked by reverence, need, humility, and confident hope. Despite our weaknesses and struggles in prayer, the Holy Spirit assists us, groaning within us and guiding our prayers to align with God's will.
Ultimately, prayer is a trinitarian act, involving the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is through Christ's intercession and the Spirit's assistance that our prayers are made effectual. Calvin's teachings encourage us to maintain the priority of prayer, cultivate a habit of prayer, and lean on our double intercessors—Christ and the Holy Spirit—as we seek to grow in our relationship with God.
Key Takeaways:
1. Prayer as Communion with God: Prayer is not merely a ritual but a genuine communion with God, where we enter His throne room and converse with Him as a loving Father. This intimate dialogue allows us to experience God's promises and presence in our lives, fostering a deeper relationship with Him. [01:16]
2. The Role of Prayer in Piety: Prayer is the lifeblood of a believer's spiritual life, essential for authentic piety. It enables us to appeal to God's providence and find peace in His care, assuring us of His will and purposes. [05:55]
3. Purposes of Prayer: Calvin outlined six purposes of prayer, all centered on God: seeking His help, aligning our desires with His will, preparing our hearts for His blessings, meditating on His kindness, delighting in His answers, and confirming His providence. [11:32]
4. Method of Prayer: Effective prayer requires faith, the use of God's Word, and an appeal to His promises. It should be heartfelt, marked by reverence, need, humility, and confident hope, despite our weaknesses and struggles. [12:14]
5. Trinitarian Focus of Prayer: Prayer involves the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Through Christ's intercession and the Spirit's assistance, our prayers are made effectual, drawing us closer to God and aligning our hearts with His will. [18:16]
Youtube Chapters:
- [00:00] - Welcome
- [00:15] - Introduction to Prayer
- [00:31] - A Believer's Place to Go
- [00:58] - Calvin's View on Prayer
- [01:33] - Romans 8:26-27
- [02:01] - Prayer as Communion
- [03:36] - Definition of Prayer
- [04:24] - Prayer as Family Conversation
- [05:28] - Paternal Imagery in Prayer
- [06:14] - Purpose of Prayer
- [07:17] - Objections to Prayer
- [08:48] - God's Delight in Prayer
- [10:30] - Six Purposes of Prayer
- [12:14] - Method of Prayer
- [14:03] - Rules of Prayer
- [17:13] - Heartfelt Prayer
- [18:16] - Trinitarian Focus
- [22:06] - Corporate Prayer
- [22:46] - Concluding Lessons
- [26:17] - Calvin's Last Prayer
Study Guide
Bible Study Discussion Guide: John Calvin on Prayer
Bible Reading:
- Romans 8:26-27
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Observation Questions:
1. According to Romans 8:26-27, how does the Holy Spirit assist us in our prayers? How does this align with Calvin's view of prayer as a trinitarian act? [01:33]
2. What does Calvin mean when he describes prayer as entering "the very throne room of God"? How does this imagery affect our understanding of prayer? [01:16]
3. How does Calvin address the objection that prayer is unnecessary due to God's omniscience? What role does he believe prayer plays in God's providence? [07:59]
4. What are the six purposes of prayer outlined by Calvin, and how do they center on God rather than on us? [11:32]
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Interpretation Questions:
1. How does Calvin's view of prayer as a "family conversation" with God challenge or affirm your current understanding of prayer? [04:24]
2. In what ways does Calvin suggest that prayer is both a divine initiative and a human response? How does this perspective influence the way we approach prayer? [09:22]
3. Calvin emphasizes the importance of using God's Word in prayer. How might this practice change the content and focus of our prayers? [12:30]
4. What does Calvin mean by saying that prayer is the "lifeblood" of a believer's spiritual life? How does this metaphor help us understand the significance of prayer? [05:55]
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Application Questions:
1. Reflect on your current prayer life. How often do you approach prayer as entering the "throne room of God"? What changes can you make to cultivate this mindset? [01:16]
2. Calvin speaks of prayer as a means to align our desires with God's will. Can you identify a specific area in your life where your desires may not align with God's will? How can prayer help you in this area? [11:32]
3. Consider the role of the Holy Spirit in your prayers. How can you become more aware of the Spirit's assistance and guidance during your prayer time? [01:33]
4. Calvin encourages believers to pray with a "heartfelt sense of need and repentance." Is there a particular need or area of repentance you feel led to bring before God in prayer this week? [14:34]
5. How can you incorporate more of God's Word into your prayers? Identify a specific scripture or promise you can meditate on and pray back to God this week. [12:30]
6. Calvin emphasizes the importance of maintaining the priority of prayer in our lives. What practical steps can you take to ensure that prayer is not just an appendix but the foundation of your daily routine? [22:46]
7. Reflect on the idea of prayer as a "trinitarian act." How does understanding the roles of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in prayer deepen your relationship with God? [18:16]
Devotional
Day 1: Entering God's Throne Room Through Prayer
Prayer is a profound act of communion with God, where believers are invited to enter His throne room and engage in a heartfelt conversation with Him. This dialogue is not merely about presenting requests but is an opportunity to experience the reality of God's promises and His presence in our lives. John Calvin emphasized that prayer is a precious gift, allowing us to pour out our desires, joys, and sorrows to a loving Father who listens attentively. This intimate exchange fosters a deeper relationship with God, as we come to understand His will and experience His love and grace. [01:16]
Hebrews 4:16 (ESV): "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
Reflection: How can you intentionally create a space in your daily routine to enter into a genuine conversation with God, sharing your heart and listening for His voice?
Day 2: Prayer as the Lifeblood of Spiritual Life
Prayer is essential for authentic piety, serving as the lifeblood of a believer's spiritual journey. It is through prayer that we appeal to God's providence, omnipotence, and omniscience, finding peace in His care and assurance in His will. Despite the notion that prayer might seem unnecessary given God's omniscience, Calvin argued that it is a means ordained by God to fulfill His purposes. Prayer is a divine response to a divine initiative, enabling us to align our hearts with God's will and find comfort in His sovereign plan. [05:55]
Colossians 4:2 (ESV): "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving."
Reflection: In what ways can you cultivate a habit of prayer that sustains your spiritual life and deepens your reliance on God's providence?
Day 3: Aligning Desires with God's Will
The purposes of prayer, according to Calvin, are manifold and centered on God. Prayer is a means to seek God's help in our needs, align our desires with His will, prepare our hearts to receive His blessings with gratitude, meditate on His kindness, and confirm His providence in our lives. This alignment of our desires with God's will is crucial for fostering a deeper communion with Him, as it shifts our focus from self-centered requests to a God-centered perspective. [11:32]
1 John 5:14-15 (ESV): "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him."
Reflection: What desires or requests in your life need to be aligned with God's will, and how can you seek His guidance in this process?
Day 4: The Heartfelt Method of Prayer
Effective prayer requires faith, the use of God's Word, and an appeal to His promises. Calvin emphasized that prayer should be heartfelt, marked by reverence, need, humility, and confident hope. Despite our weaknesses and struggles in prayer, the Holy Spirit assists us, groaning within us and guiding our prayers to align with God's will. This method of prayer encourages believers to approach God with sincerity and trust, knowing that He is attentive to our needs and desires. [12:14]
James 5:16 (ESV): "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."
Reflection: How can you incorporate God's Word and His promises into your prayer life to make your prayers more heartfelt and aligned with His will?
Day 5: The Trinitarian Focus of Prayer
Prayer is a trinitarian act, involving the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Through Christ's intercession and the Spirit's assistance, our prayers are made effectual, drawing us closer to God and aligning our hearts with His will. This trinitarian focus emphasizes the collaborative work of the Godhead in the believer's prayer life, providing assurance that our prayers are heard and answered according to God's perfect plan. Calvin's teachings encourage believers to maintain the priority of prayer, cultivate a habit of prayer, and lean on our double intercessors—Christ and the Holy Spirit—as we seek to grow in our relationship with God. [18:16]
Romans 8:26-27 (ESV): "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."
Reflection: How can you become more aware of the roles of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in your prayer life, and how does this awareness impact the way you approach God in prayer?
Quotes
He believed that prayer was genuine communion with God through the triune God Himself coming from the decretal Father through the merits of Jesus by the Holy Spirit worked in the soul with groanings unutterable and then ascending back through Jesus and His intercessions to the Father and so for Calvin, prayer was actually going into the very throne room of God to have familiar conversation with Him. [00:49:12]
Prayer is a communication between God and us whereby we expound to Him our desires, our joys, our size in a word, all the thoughts of our hearts. For Calvin, prayer then is this familiar, may I say family conversation, covenantal language conversation with the Father confiding in God as His child, adopted by Him for Christ's sake. [00:40:00]
Prayer is the outpouring of the soul, the deepest root of piety, the bedrock of assurance. Calvin says prayer is the life blood for every true believer. Now for Calvin, prayer was not designed for God as much as it was designed for man. Prayer is a means so that we might reach those riches he says that are laid up for us with our heavenly Father. [00:58:32]
Prayer allows us as believers to appeal to the providence, predestination, omnipotence, and omniscience of God our Father. Prayer calls down from heaven God's tender mercy upon us and cares for us as His children and so having prayed, we have a sense of peace with God knowing He has both the will to take the best care of us and the power to do so. [01:06:40]
Calvin responds our prayers never get in the way of God's providence because God not only ordains what will happen but He also ordains our prayers as the means which form the continuum along which these things will happen. And whenever we think of God as a decretal God without thinking of the means of prayer and the means of grace and implement His decree, we're thinking wrongly says Calvin. [01:21:04]
Calvin says God feels drawn to us and He wants to help us and not to disappoint us in His grace so God's response to prayer ultimately is as Calvin puts it a divine response to a divine initiative. The God who decrees our prayer puts it into our hearts and we return it to Him and He's grateful to receive it. [01:29:04]
The first is we pray so as to fly to God with every need and gain from Him what we lack in ourselves for living the Christian life. Second, we pray to desire to wholeheartedly do that which is right and live to His glory as we place our petitions before Him. Third, we pray to prepare us to receive His benefits and responses with humble gratitude. [01:44:32]
The method of prayer he includes three very important things the first is faith, faith and prayer are inseparable you need faith in order to pray, faith nourishes and compels prayer and prayer nourishes and confirms faith says Calvin. The second is God's word, we pray best said Calvin when we use God's own word, the content of our prayers ought to be shaped and controlled and restrained by scripture. [01:55:04]
Calvin stresses prayer must come from the heart, now he acknowledges that none of us have this gift by nature, he acknowledges that we come short all the time he says, most of our prayers get carried on in a babbling manner, our checkered prayer life is often shackled by doubts, attacked by struggles we need our spirits lifted up by the very word of God to cling to the throne of God. [02:03:28]
Calvin has a wonderful trinitarian focus to prayer, prayer is given by the Father, it's the very sweetness of the Father to give answers to prayer, he keeps using the word sweetness and sweet when he speaks about the Father in relationship to prayer, God delights to give it, God delights to hear it, God delights to answer it but also it's the work of Christ that enables prayer to be effectual. [02:14:37]
Christ is the nexus between the believer and God, the junction where the believer's sinful prayers are purified by sprinkled blood and presented acceptable to the Father therefore says Calvin, learn to wash your every prayer in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and to that end Christ is also our intercessor in heaven, He's the one way the only way of excess Calvin says we come through Christ and with Christ to the Father. [02:21:04]
The Holy Spirit who groans within us groanings that are unutterable, Calvin takes it up in a two-fold way, Romans 8:26 he says is both negative and positive, negatively Calvin emphasizes our weaknesses in prayer we try the best we can to live life the best we can to God's glory but we're even blind to know what we need to ask for we're so weak we need the Spirit so badly. [02:30:32]
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