Why Theology Matters: Christology and our Prayer Life

by Marilynn Chadwick

A solid Christology is fundamental to our relationship with the triune God. A healthy Christology influences our prayer life in several ways. First, we pray as Jesus prayed, opening the door to an intimate friendship with our heavenly father. “Jesus as God” is affirmed by his unique relationship with the Father.

Next, we pray to our Father. Only through Jesus can we call God “Father” (Matthew 6:9). When Jesus referred to God as “Father,” he was speaking as “God the Son.” Using an even more startling term, Jesus calls God “Abba,” an Aramaic expression akin to “Daddy” (Mark 14:36). Because of Jesus, we are dearly loved children and may pray to God as our Father. “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God” (John 1:12 NRSV).

As we grow in our understanding of the work of Christ on the Cross, our prayers will grow in power. “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16 NIV). Christ’s righteousness becomes our righteousness—the only solid ground for confidence in prayer. As we walk in a close and intimate friendship with Jesus, he challenges us to broaden the scope and specificity of our prayers. “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).

When Jesus prayed, things happened. Blind eyes were opened, the dead were raised, sinners were given new life. The disciples must have seen the connection because they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1). Jesus taught them to pray this way, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mat 6:10). Solid Christology should give birth to world-changing prayers.

Praying like Jesus means we will pray with others. Jesus encouraged communal prayer. He taught and modeled prayer as part of the worshiping community. With a robust Christology, we’ll certainly pray to God in private. But we’re also compelled to pray with others in God’s family—to our Father (Mat 6:7). Jesus reminds us “where two or three are gathered,” he is with us (Matthew 18:19). The gathering of believers saw the power of Pentecost break through while they prayed in the Upper Room together in one accord (Acts 1:8,14).

John and Charles Wesley explored the spiritual connection between God's people on earth and those in heaven, the “surrounding cloud of witnesses” in Hebrews 12:1. They imagined our communal prayer might extend to heavenly realms in prayers of agreement with the Church triumphant. Thus, Charles Wesley penned these words to “Come Let Us Join our Friends Above” (1759):

Come let us join our friends above

That have obtained the prize,

And on the eagle-wings of love

To joy celestial rise;

Let all the saints terrestrial sing

With those to glory gone,

For all the servants of our King

In earth and heaven are one.