Prayer/Spiritual Growth and Aging
by an Old Disciple
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”~ Eph. 3:20
Our main text (above) would lead one to believe it has kin in the Old Testament, does it not? Jer. 33:3, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Strangely, the writer of this scripture was also in prison.
The background of our story is Paul the Apostle, shut up in a dark dungeon, and now an old man. He refers to himself to Philemon as, “Paul the aged.” From his writings we find as he grew older in age he also grew spiritually. There are changes in both of these categories over the years for every saint, both physically and spiritually.
Not only does the blessed Holy Spirit strengthen us within our bodies, but we are enlightened spiritually by Him, in certain areas of our lives. The wise man tells us, “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”
But in spite of some of these changes in the old man’s spiritual life, there is one area in which he remained stedfast and unmovable: God answers “BIG” prayers, throughout ALL the saints’ life on earth. Spiritual growth and age have nothing to do with it. To believe that prayer changes over time means one has become an old fool and outgrown his spiritual breeches. Aged Abraham, Caleb, Anna, and Joshua, to name a few, were not among the above mentioned!
C.S. Lewis has a little booklet entitled, “The Efficacy of Prayer.” In it he quotes another, with whom he agrees. “I have seen many striking answers to prayer and more than one I thought miraculous. But they usually come soon after conversion. As the Christian life proceeds, they tend to be rarer.” Lewis goes on to say as we grow in the Lord we are more prone in our praying, to leave everything up to God. One will be hard pressed to scripturally justify such a asinine position.
It may sound like good reasoning, but is far from Biblical truth. Job tells us,“Great men are not always wise.” Neither intellect or scholarship qualifies one as a spiritual man. No more than ignorance and simplicity does.
There is another side to this coin, that is, the above reasoning. Is it that as we age and advance in the knowledge of the Word we lose our childlike faith? That we've become too smart for our own good? Knowledge puffeth up, says the apostle.
The Psalmist recording Israel’s history tells us God’s people no longer saw great things done because they forgot past miraculous answers to prayer. It was not their growth in grace but decline, that was the problem!
I usually find CS Lewis very edifying, but I don't always agree with him. I have found that as I grow older I tend to get more specific (and plain!) as I cry out to the LORD. After all, he says in Philippians to be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.