As the horrors of the recent Minneapolis school shooting came into the nation’s consciousness, the city’s Mayor, Jacob Frey, used the moment to address the validity of prayer. After offering support for the victims, Frey declared “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying.” The implication of the mayor’s comments proves straightforward: Prayers do not work. As later noted on CNN, “The meaning there is, prayers are good, but they are not enough.” Is he correct?

A Brief History of Failed Prayers

Though the backdrop of this current discussion over the effectiveness of prayer is grievous, the discussion itself is not new. During the end of the twentieth century, the Russian communist party ran prayer experiments in their elementary schools. Children were told to pray to God for candy. After nothing happened, they were told to pray to the Soviet communist party and its leaders for candy. As the readers can anticipate, the candy (with the help of some grown-up Soviets on the roof) floated down from the vents. Again, the conclusion to be reached: “Prayers do not work.”

Moreover, this is not the first time that Christians have been murdered while worshiping Jesus. Stephen was stoned to death in Acts 7:60 as he prayed. During the reigns of emperors Nero and Diocletian, countless Christians were eaten by lions, burned as candles, and executed as they sang and prayed. John Bunyan of Pilgrim Progress fame was arrested by the British authorities (which also caused his wife to miscarry) while in the middle of a sermon. And in 2022, 35 parishioners worshiping at St. Francis Catholic Church in Nigeria were murdered by terrorists armed with automatic weapons and bombs. All of these events as well as those in Minneapolis once again raise the question, “do prayers work?”

A Short Answer

The short answer is, “yes!” Prayers work but they work in accordance with God’s intent. In other words, prayers that align with God’s revealed will (Scripture), his justice, and his ultimate purpose will always reach the throne room of heaven.

When believers ask God for the grace needed to forgive those who sinned against them or to put their greed to death, the Lord promises to grant such requests. Operating in this paradigm, the apostle John writes “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. (1 Jn 5:14-15).” God promises to bless those who ask him for the grace needed to obey the gospel ethic the ability to obey the Scriptures. To quote, Paul “For this is the will of God, your sanctification (1 Thess 4:3).”

God also works through prayers to bless his saints with good gifts that will further their pursuit of God’s ethic and that will enable them to rejoice in God’s goodness. Countless men and women have graduated from college, gotten married, had children, survived attacks, and experienced healing from cancer because God granted their requests and those of their friends and family. James the brother of Jesus who credits God as being the source of “Every good gift and every perfect gift” also reports that “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (Ja 1:7; 5:16).” In other words, God works through the prayers of his children to accomplish good in this broken world. Christians should regularly ask God to grant them wisdom, health, and safety. “Give us this day our daily bread (Lk 11:3).” The world would benefit from more prayer and not less. Prayer works.

Why Doesn’t God Protect His People?

But then why did the Mayor of Minneapolis have an opportunity to criticize prayer? What of in those old Soviet era classrooms and Nigeria? If God is all powerful, all good, and all loving, why does he still allow his people to suffer and die?

To make sense of this question, Christians must realize that prayer is guided by the rails of God’s justice and God’s eternal purpose for his people. In other words, God answers prayers in accordance with his character.

God’s Justice

God promises to cast “the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable… murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars” into the lake of fire and to create a new heavens and a new earth where “death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore(Rev 21:8,3).” But he will do so at the end of time when he returns to judge the living and the dead. Justice will be delayed. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones aptly notes, “So the Christian is left with the profound pessimism with regard to the present, but with a glorious optimism with regard to the ultimate and eternal future.”

As humanity waits for that day, it will go from bad to worse. Paul says people will increasingly be among other things “abusive…heartless…brutal…[and] treacherous (1 Tim 3:2-4).” Or to quote Jesus “lawlessness will be increased (Matt 24:7-14).”

And with increased wickedness comes increased focus on harming God’s children. Jesus declares in Mark 13:12-13: “And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Or as Paul bluntly notes, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (1 Tim 3:12).  God never promises to save his people from suffering and persecution. Rather, he promises that he will go with them as they suffer and await justice.

To make sense of God’s delayed justice and why he does not grant every prayer for safety and health, we must reflect upon God’s ultimate purpose for his people.

God’s Ultimate Purpose

God’s ultimate purpose for his people is for them to dwell with him. In other words, God’s ultimate purpose is for his people to reach heaven and to live with him forever in the new heavens and the new earth.

Many times, God ordains suffering so that Christians may more fully experience the truth that God is all they need. As Paul notes in 2 Corinthians 12:10. “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Or as James notes, suffering results in Christians becoming “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (Ja 1:4).” God’s goal is not for us to all be millionaires or to live to 150. It is not our best life now. God’s goal for us to reach is heaven for “There is no joy like the joy of heaven.” Often the best preparation for heaven – the putting to death of sin and communing with God – comes through suffering and not from candy raining down from the rafters. “Oft-times spiritual comforts are at their highest when physical well-being is at its lowest.”

What proves true of Christian suffering also proves true of a Christian’s death. Though Christians diligently strive to put off sin throughout their lives, final victory over sin can only be achieved at death when the believer trades his mortal body for his eternal body. “For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality (1 Cor 15:53).” As R.C. Sproul notes, “Ultimate healing comes through death and after death (51).” Even those whom Jesus healed during his earthly ministry still died because their bodies where still infected by sin. To reach Jesus and perfection, Christians must surrender their mortal bodies.

When Jesus allows the wicked to murder one of his saints such as Charlie Kirk, he has not failed that precious soul. Rather, God has granted him the greatest blessing of all, life with God. To quote Paul, “to die is gain (Phil 1:21).

Moreover, death proves not to be the end of the Christian’s prayers but their ultimate fulfillment. At death, Jesus heals not for a moment but forever. At death, Jesus gives safety not for an hour but without end. At death, Jesus gives peace not for a moment but for an eternity.  To quote Thomas Watson, “Death may take a few worldly comforts, but it gives that which is better; it takes away a flower and gives a jewel; it takes away a short lease and gives a land of inheritance.” Or to quote the Psalmist, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints (Ps 116:15).”

God answers prayer.

It’s Not Enough

Though prayers work, I also believe there is still some indirect merit to Mayor Frey’s claim and to the claims of pundits such as Jen Psaki who wrote, ‘Prayer is not freaking enough.”

In one sense, prayer is not enough. It is not some secret formula that can force an otherwise good, loving, and just God to go against his nature. Prayers must arise out of and align with obedience to God’s reveal will (Bible) to be effective. Jesus is not impressed with the flowery request of those who defraud their neighbor nor with the liturgies of those that teach against God’s sexual ethic. When Israelites tossed some prayers towards Yahweh for salvation while simultaneously offering child sacrifices to pagan deities, the Lord says, “no (Ez 20:27-30).” The prophet said on God’s behalf “And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them (Ez 8:18).” The one thing lacking in our cities, communities, and religiosity is not prayers to the God of the universe but rather obedience to that God’s revealed will. Sadly, few politicians and pundits have waded into the waters of repentance and revival.

Conclusion

Prayer will not always produce earthly safety or candy from the rafters. Justice will come when Christ returns, and ultimate joy, peace, and safety will be found in heaven. But prayers tied to faith infused obedience and set upon the rails of God’s justice and ultimate purpose will prove effective. They will usher us into the throne room of heaven. Prayer works.