FALL 2015 OC CHRISTIAN MAGAZINE Fall 2015 OC Christian Free magazine | Page 11

PRAYERS

The Availability of Prayer
“Prayer is an open door which none can shut,” wrote Charles Spurgeon in “Morning and Evening.” “Devils may surround you on all sides,”
he continued, “but the way upward is always open, and as long as that road is unobstructed, you will not fall into the enemy’s hand.”

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s there anywhere we can go where God is not present? Not
according to the Bible. Psalm 139:7 asks, “Where can I go
from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”[1] In
Jeremiah 23:23-24 we read, “’Am I only a God nearby,’ declares
the LORD, “and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret
places so that I cannot see him?’ declares the LORD. ‘Do not I fill
heaven and earth?’ declares the LORD (NIV).”
Prayer and God’s Omnipresence
The fact that God is everywhere is known as omnipresence,
meaning that He is present everywhere throughout His creation.
This does not mean that God is creation, a worldview known
as pantheism, but that God is ever-present in His creation. C.S.
Lewis likened this relationship between God and His creation to
that of a painter to a painting: “A painter is not a picture, and he
does not die if his picture is destroyed. You may say, ‘He’s put a lot
of himself into it,’ but you only mean that all its beauty and interest
has come out of his head. His skill is not in the picture in the same
way that it is in his head, or even in his hands.”[2]
As a result of the reality of God’s omnipresence, we are assured
that no matter where we are, God will hear our prayers—even
from the belly of a fish: “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the
LORD his God” (Jonah 2:1 NIV). While not the most comfortable
place to pray, we know that God heard the prayers of the prophet,
even while Jonah was in the ocean depths.
But do we really believe that prayer is always available? If so,
we must act on this truth. Nothing, then, can keep a believer from
coming before God in prayer, except our own choices: “For I am
convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height
nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate
us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans
8:38-39 NIV). Prayer will always connect us to God.
Prayer Has No Barriers
In short, prayer has no barriers. Governments cannot stop it,
our location cannot stop it and enemies in the spiritual realm
cannot stop it.
As noted earlier, “Prayer is an open door which none can
shut.” But there is one way to shut it and that is when we choose
disbelief over belief. Our own anxieties can stop the power of
prayer, if we allow them to stifle the truth that prayer is always
available to us. God is always ready to listen, no matter what our
circumstances, but we must speak to Him in prayer.
In reference to the power of evangelism, the Apostle Paul wrote,
“’Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How,

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then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how
can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how
can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can
they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are
the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Romans 10:13-15 NIV).
Similarly, when we pray to God we will be heard. But how can God
hear unless we pray? How can our prayers be received unless they
are sent? How beautiful are the prayers of those who seek the Lord,
despite their circumstances.
Prayer is always available to us, but far too often we turn to
God in prayer as a last resort, not a first response.
God Wants to Hear Our Prayers
Is God too busy to hear our prayers? Is He occupied with
weightier matters than our lives and troubles? Unlike the
worldview of deism, which claims that God created and wound
up the universe like a watchmaker winds a watch, leaving it
to run on its own, God really cares not only about the larger
scheme of the universe, but also for each person. He is not a
deaf god like the god of deism, but a caring and active God. He
transcends His creation, but is immanent—or active—in it. No
prayer is too small for God to hear. Neither is any prayer too
large for God to handle.
As Christ said, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow
or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds
them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew
6:26 NIV) The answer to the question asked by Jesus is that we
are indeed “more valuable than they,” for we are created in God’s
image (Genesis 1:26), “we are God’s workmanship” (Ephesians
2:10), and He loves us.
An important step in receiving the blessings of prayer is to
humbly and sincerely offer our prayers to God. Fortunately, we
can do this anywhere and anytime, because prayer is always
available to us. But we must take the initiative. If we do so, God is
eager to hear us, comfort us, strengthen us, help us, and uphold us
with His “righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).
Robert Velarde is author of Conversations with C.S. Lewis
(InterVarsity Press), The Heart of Narnia (NavPress), and primary author
of The Power of Family Prayer (National Day of Prayer Task Force). He
studied philosophy of religion and apologetics at Denver Seminary and is
pursuing graduate studies in philosophy at Southern Evangelical Seminary.
[1] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the New
International Version of the Bible.
[2] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan, 1952), 44.
Copyright 2008 Robert Velarde. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

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