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How Christ's Ascension Brings a New Day for Prayer

Christian prayer is radically distinct from all other prayer. When a Christian prays, he has an exalted King forever in mind. Christian prayer rejoices in Christ’s ascension and participates in Christ’s authority over heaven and earth.

Sometimes we forget to whom we pray. Attend prayer meetings or listen to Sunday morning prayers, and we might imagine Jesus as a heavenly housekeeper cleaning up humankind’s problems, whose job it is to keep the world tidy and running smoothly. This kind of prayer flows from the mind of humans and not from the throne of Christ.

Men and women of prayer do not derive their prayer requests from watching the news – the world cares little for the purposes of God. Kingdom advance, the essence of history, is edited out. Rather, believers get their prayer agenda from studying Scripture and gazing at a risen Savior.

I find when I immerse myself in the teaching of Christ’s ascension, I experience wonderful results. The more time I spend studying the ascension and its relation to prayer, the more I realize how pervasive and powerful this teaching is. The New Testament is incandescent with this reality.

When I lose sight of Christ, I can forget that He has already defeated every enemy on the cross. I become anxious and timid in prayer. I imagine a contest between good and evil, a kind of spiritual tug of war, and ask God to do His best to give me victory over sin, death, and the devil in my life and world. I walk away unchanged and unanswered. If you think about it, this is the way prayer works for any Christian: focus on a problem, or the present darkness, or on self, and your power and confidence in prayer deflates like air pressure from a badly leaking tire.