Learning About Prayer From Francis Schaeffer

Professor Barrs mentioned a couple things he had learned about prayer over the years from all his time spent with Francis Schaeffer.

1. Jerram mentioned that Schaeffer taught him in a very practical way that we pray more passionately when we are overwhelmed by the task before us. He said he remembers him saying, “What we are trying to do isn’t difficult, it’s impossible”. For Jerram, this was very encouraging in a way. You can’t save anybody or force someone to be interested in the Gospel. You can’t sanctify anyone either. You need to constantly ask the Lord to put you in situations that are beyond your comfort zone. This will cause you to pray.

2. Schaeffer was reluctant to answer questions about his personal spiritual disciplines. If pushed he would tell a bit about them, but would always preface his response with a comment about not seeking to copy what he did. He would always say that there is nothing special about what he did. He warned people that there is an ever present danger of feeling proud if you accomplished what he did or condemned if you failed at it. There is no law in the Bible about our “quiet times”. There is no script to follow. God knows how easily that we turn prayer into a kind of work that we do for which we congratulate ourselves before God like the Pharisee in Luke 18.