Prayer Versus Animism

2008-09-08

The God of the Bible is the Wild God. He cannot be controlled. He is the antithesis of world religion. His plan will be carried out and mere mortals cannot alter it.

Animism, as I have written numerous times before, is the attempt to manipulate God or spiritual beings by rituals. Even we as believers try to do it in our prayers, attempting to obligate God to do what we want. But this is futile.

So how is prayer different from animism? Ever since I studied animism and religions in depth, I found myself struggling with this question. The Bible tells us that we can neither manipulate God, nor please Him by carrying out rituals. Yet the Bible also tells us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Why on earth would we do that?

We see the reasoning in a few different parts of the Bible. In Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus tells us to “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” But this context depicts God as a Father who gives good gifts. A child may want chocolate cake for dinner, but the father knows that this is bad for the child. Our desires need to be God’s desires.

Again James writes, “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:2-3).

So what are God’s desires? He does not want people to be rich, happy, or comfortable. God wants the world to know Him. First Timothy 2:3-4 states: “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

Again, He writes: “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

When people know God as He really is, when they come to a realization that they live in Satan’s kingdom and need to be rescued, and when they know that Jesus died and rose from the dead to save all people, salvation occurs. God wants all people to know the only way to be rescued from the pending fate of this world.

God is answering many prayers, but there are still many gaps in willing preachers of the gospel all around the globe. The number of people groups that are without Gospel contact is still in the thousands. Pray for laborers to come forth and tell people about Jesus Christ, because this is where God’s heart is.