After many years as the speaker for Faith for Today, Pastor Mike Tucker is now retired, but remains active as a speaker and author—and as a leader in his local church near Dallas, Texas. He spoke recently about Why Pray?—his new book on the subject of prayer.
Why write another book on prayer?
I’ve always struggled with prayer and I believe that part of the reason prayer has been so difficult for me is that most of the books I’ve read on the topic take a wrong focus. Most of these books offer formulas for “answered prayer” and are filled with success stories. My personal experience with the formulas has not supported these claims. While I believe certain prayer patterns have value, I don’t believe any pattern or formula increases the chances of getting the specific answer you desire. So there had to be a different understanding of prayer! Scripture encourages us to “pray without ceasing.” I wanted to know why. What value does prayer add to our lives? How does prayer play a positive role in our spiritual growth?
When it comes to prayer stories, how do you balance stories of miracles with stories of disappointment?
If the objective of prayer is to get the answers we desire, it is impossible to reconcile the miraculous answers with the disappointments. But if the objective of prayer is something bigger than answers to our immediate problems, reconciling miracles and disappointments is much easier. My book helps explore prayer’s most important objectives. It is impossible to evaluate the success or failure of our prayer life if we don’t understand prayer’s purpose.
How do you explain prayer to someone who does not believe in God?
This is an interesting question for you to ask. I am currently involved in a Facebook discussion with an atheist, who was once a student at the Seminary at Andrews University. When I posted an advertisement for Why Pray? on my Facebook page, this atheist friend asked, “If God is going to do whatever He was going to do before you prayed, why pray? He is always going to fulfill His will so prayer is irrelevant.”
I replied that I believe the answer to this dilemma lies in a misunderstand of the “Will of God.” God’s will focuses on the salvation of human beings, the eternal happiness of His people, the eradication of sin, growing his followers into the image of Christ, and the reestablishment of His eternal kingdom on earth. These are the things that comprise God’s will. God never changes His mind about or His focus on these issues.
However, Scripture describes a God who changes His mind. We find examples of this in the stories of Moses, Hezekiah and more. But none of these stories suggest that God changed His mind over the big picture of His will. He never changes his mind about His ultimate will but does change His mind about many of the details of our lives.
I also shared with my friend that prayer is less about getting God to change His mind and more about getting to know Him intimately. Prayer changes us. It makes us more like Jesus. Prayer makes me more loving, more compassionate, and more committed to following the teachings of Jesus. That is the primary reason I pray.
We are planning to continue our discussions in the future. I hope to share with him the value I find, not only for spiritual growth, but for simply enjoying a conversation with my friend, Jesus.
What do you hope that readers apply to their lives from Why Pray?
I hope readers will begin to think differently about prayer. The value of our prayer life should not be measured by the number of fantastic answers we receive to our prayers, but that we learn to love God more and love people more. Strangely enough, that often happens more effectively when our prayers seem to go unanswered. I hope readers will focus less on answers and more on their growth in Christ.
Why Pray? and other books by Mike Tucker are available from Adventist bookshops in Australia and New Zealand, or online at https://adventistbookcentre.com.au/catalogsearch/result/?cat=0&q=Mike+Tucker.
Nathan Brown is a book editor at Signs Publishing
