Friday: Further Thought – Prayer Warriors
Daily Lesson for Friday 8th of May 2026
Further Thought:
Ultimately, we should pray because we love God so much, and we just can’t help sharing everything in our lives with Him: our joys and life’s “wins,” our burdens and worries, our requests and daily needs.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“We may keep so near to God that in every unexpected trial our thoughts will turn to Him as naturally as the flower turns to the sun. Keep your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, and your fears before God. You cannot burden Him; you cannot weary Him. He who numbers the hairs of your head is not indifferent to the wants of His children. . . . His heart of love is touched by our sorrows and even by our utterances of them. Take to Him everything that perplexes the mind. Nothing is too great for Him to bear, for He holds up worlds, He rules over all the affairs of the universe. Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for Him to notice. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for Him to read; there is no perplexity too difficult for Him to unravel. No calamity can befall the least of His children, no anxiety harass the soul, no joy cheer, no sincere prayer escape the lips, of which our heavenly Father is unobservant, or in which He takes no immediate interest. . . . The relations between God and each soul are as distinct and full as though there were not another soul upon the earth to share His watchcare, not another soul for whom He gave His beloved Son.”—Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, Pages 99, 100.
Discussion Questions
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Summary: As we read about the prayer giants of the Bible, it can be easy to think that we can’t have a relationship that close to God or be quite as committed. But we can. Like Daniel, we can be steadfast and faithful in kneeling every day, despite opposition. Like Enoch, we can choose to walk and talk with God, turning to Him before we do the work He’s called us to do. Like Moses, we can lead those within our sphere of influence, interceding for our families and those in our communities when we choose to abide under the shadow of the Almighty, our Leader and Friend.
In our modern world we can easily confuse Technology with God. AI has leapt out of the laboratory and the cover of technobabble to become a ubiquitous artefact of our society. Not only is in pervasive and invasive, it often comes with personality, and it is easy to convince one’s self that you are having a conversation with an intelligent being.
Already there is conjecture that the dividing line between technology and the divine is becoming either thin or blurred Here are a couple of comparisons:
You may remember in my discussion on Artificial Intelligence earlier this year I quoted Arthur C Clarke:
He made that quote not to denigrate teachers but to point out the value. of teachers was something beyond technology and algorithms. Here then is the Ashton take on Clarke:
I make that quote because sometimes I don’t think we value God like we should. We have a little god that is easily outperformed by an AI entity.
Let us finish this week’s study be asking ourselves how our prayers with God differ from a conversation with Grok, Gemini, or ChatGPT?
I will be honest with you: Having thought about the comparison above, I am determined to raise the level of intelligent conversation in my prayers.
Maurice – I am surprised, and then I am not, to read your statement: “In our modern world we can easily confuse Technology with God”. Are you referring to how a Christian thinks about life – everyone’s concept of life – those who live by ever increasing ‘knowledge’ to navigate life – or the use of Technology/intelligence in general as causing the confusion?
May I address your statement by pointing to my previous comments suggesting to see praying as the believer’s state of being/living in Jesus Christ – ‘Love’ engaged in every aspect of life. It is the state in which the mind is always cognizant of God’s Truth as the established norm, and the heart’s inclination to submit to it – “Love God with all your heart through showing kindness to our neighbor”. Nothing else needs to be added to it, or, for that matter, can be taken away.
AI is incabable of establishing this premise for itself, though it is now a 2nd generation ‘creation’. Not in the context of its increasing ‘intelligence capabilities’, but in that created beings – man – establishe its ‘life’. It will never be able to ‘operate or be influenced by faith’.
The value of faith – its evidence – cannot be established through empirical studies. Spiritual ‘Truth’ – which governs life – man receives and accepted entirely by faith. AI’s model of ‘existence’ is incabable of doing this. Faith sets ‘things’ in motion, though that which comes about is not the work of faith itself. It is the evidence that God is ‘I AM WHO I AM’, expressing Himself through/by/in/with Goodness and intelligence as personified in Christ Jesus.
God creates and maintains; He can do no other. AI’s identity will/can never take the place of God because AI depends on ‘input’ to exist, it does not generate life from itself, and eventually needs to be replaced.
I want to encourage you to instead of: “being determined to raise the level of intelligent conversation in my prayer”, to raise the level of faith and trust in the powr of the Spirit of God contained in ‘Who God IS’, and the purpose for His involvement in the life of mankind – our Salvation. Psalm 23:6; Heb.11:6; Rom.9:20-21; Job 40:1-2; .
I was not defending AI, Brigitte, Merely pointing out that it is rapidly becoming an oracle for many people and that some Christians are starting to treat it as such.
My argument about prayer is that we often fall into reciting set phrases and platitudes in our prayers and that is not the way to have a conversation with an intelligent being.
Maurice – point taken! Question: Is it right to use the same ‘language/words’ describing the ‘conversation’ with God and AI as if “talking with an ‘intelligent ‘being'”? Addressing AI as an oracle sharing ‘knowledge’ is not at all equal to communicating with God in prayer. I do not question AI’s ‘intelligence’, I question it being considered a ‘being’.
Yes, both respond intelligently regardless of the ‘circumstances/settings’ of the questioner. Though, the believer’s reception of God’s Truth filteres through the Spirit guided, born-again heart and mind, whereas AI’s messages speak to the unregenerate mind to only add more knowledge. Man’s salvation is in danger to become suspect to breaking down when AI’s messaging is purported to come from a ‘being’ speaking Truth to the heart as if it were God – Prov.26:12; Phil.1:9-10; 1 Tim.1:5.
Well, Brigitte, I “question AI’s intelligence.” It is as “intelligent” as an artificial orange is “tasty,” IMO.
Human-language AI results from complicated programmed scripts put together by a lot of human intelligence. Those scripts are programmed to scour its database in order to find patterns that match the questions being asked. Then the findings are put together in a manner that matches its scripted instructions about human language.The result is *artificial* intelligence.
As good a place as any to interject my thoughts on AI for Biblical information. Yes I agree I can’t get a relationship with God in AI.
I am not using raw AI such as Leo on the Brave browser. I use the copied Word of God onto a trusted copy of the Bible.
About my caution of AI we can’t avoid it. That is like saying don’t be in the wourld and don’t be of the wourld then we are of no earthly use, or value if you prefer. How to get along with AI. I have the Andrews Study Bible. The best Bible my wife gave me. A copy of the New King James Version. At least I trust it as.
Here is how I look at AI. It could be like attending another Church out of request with friends from another denomination. We must be grounded in our own faith in God’s Word, which I have heard testimonies saying that we went to several different churches before we chose the Seventh-day Adventist church because it is the closest to the Word of God. If you stay with the Sabbath School lesson quarter after quarter, year after year you are more likely grounded in the truth of God’s word. Because you should have garnered a relationship with Christ, that is so reliant on God that you would rather die than go a day without communicating with your Heavenly Friend. I have arived at that growth. Sounds like most on this net have.
A study of the prayer giants of the Bible shows that having a relationship with God is intentional, as proximity with God has never been accidental, but rather a choice made daily. Like Daniel, we can be steadfast and faithful in kneeling every day, amidst opposition. Not only did Daniel show courage, but he also demonstrated commitment by practicing prayer daily. The Bible makes it clear that the church must come together to pray, but the notion is also clear that we, as individuals, must be men and women of prayer, as modelled by Christ Jesus Himself (Matt. 14:23).
Like Enoch, we can choose to walk and talk with God, turning to Him constantly. While engaged in our work, we must lift our souls to heaven in prayer. The silent petitions rise like incense before the throne of grace, and the enemy is defeated, for the Christian whose heart is thus stayed upon God cannot be overcome. It was thus that Enoch walked with God, and God was with him, a present help in every time of need (Messages to Young People, 249). Like Moses, we can lead those within our sphere of influence, interceding for our church, families, and those in our neighborhood as we choose to abide under the shadow of our Redeemer.
When the enemy is all around seeking to destroy us we can cry out to God, standing or kneeling, as did King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles chap. 20. When we sing praises to His name He will deliver from all the power of the enemy.
If prayer is a habbit it becomes unconscious and effortless. At this point , it is neither beautiful nor burdensome but rather an indispensable part of life.
A habit does not need to be unconscious and effortless. I habitually eat breakfast every day and look forward to choosing and preparing my food, and the time I spend eating it. And yes, it is indispensable (at least for me).
Part of my prayer conversation takes place around the same time. It happens to be when my brain is most awake.
It is unconscious and effortless because it takes little to no extreme energy and alertness to do something that is a habbit as compared to something that is not a habbit.
I have a challenge with prayer. Prayer on most occasions it feels like a monologue. I am talking to God who understands my present situation better than I do. Even the limitations of the language in which I speak does an injustice to the fervour of my emotions.
If speaking to God, is as speaking to a friend, why at times does it seem like a monologue ? I know that He speaks through His Word, through people, through circumstances and even through that “still, small Voice. I suppose that may be one of the reasons that when I pray I say absolutely nothing as my mind wanders in these varied avenues in the quest of hearing His Voice.
Oh how I wish that the Spirit could transport me back in time and allow me to look at my Lord as He tarried all night in prayer. What lessons I would learn.
It is good to pray with a friend (I mean a human one). There are times when praying alone is important, but if God seems distant, sharing your prayers with someone else is helpful. I know that this is sometimes difficult. I know about social anxiety, and I am not going to Church today as I am visiting a family member who struggles with social interaction. Sometimes God asks us to be his voice, not with words, but with actions.
I have literally just finished conducting the Sabbath School Lesson for this week with a group of friends. I know that He was with me as I led out. I did not fail to emphasize that Prayer is a “two way street” – We speak to God and He speaks to us. Let us continue to know His Voice.
Thanks for your suggestion of praying at times with a friend.
For the first time since becoming an adult, I am reminded of when and why the prayer warrior is brought to the kneeling posture for prayer:
In Acts 7:60, during Steven’s life-or-death crisis moment he, “Kneeled down and cried with a loud voice. “Lord …”
In Daniel 6: 10-11 Daniel knelt 3 times a day with his open window.
In Acts 9:40 Peter kneeled down to pray … and said, “Tabitha, arise.” She did.
Above all, I recognize that, in Luke 22:41, the Saviour knelt as He pleaded with the Father in the garden of Gethsemane. Here, prayer on bended knee appears to signal a call for relief from crisis, as well as whole-hearted fervency and purposeful communication with heaven.
True, an attitude of prayer goes beyond the childhood custom of kneeling. Yet, I leave this week’s lesson resolved to more frequently, “Fall prostrate [on bended knee],”before God’s throne, as our times of crisis demand it.
I was watching Matlock the other day. The main character was using AI to have conversations with her deceased daughter. She thought she was actually conversing with her. Her husband saw the harm in that and convinced her to stop. And in the end, she did.
Very scary things can be done with AI. AI might be a part of the end times, where many will find themselves depending on it rather than God.
Did I open a can of worms?
One of the things about AI is that typically it is not a moral agent. It is essentially a statistical machine that delivers responses based on a huge body of knowledge. What we do with it is ultimately our responsiblity.
A telephone can be used to organise a murder, or plan to commit adultery. That does not make a telephone a bad thing, it has been put to bad use. The same machine can beused to deliver messages of hope and encouragement. We do not condemn telephones because they are used for immoral purposes.
Likewise AI should be treated as a tool. And to think otherwise puts you on dangerous ground. It is not a person, dead, or alive.
Of course, you are right in this. And I agree. My example speaks of the harm it could do. I know to depend on God alone for help even when using AI or our search engines.
God is amazing! He is truly the best friend one could ever have! He knows every little thing we are going through, but is eager for us to share with Him. Right now, I’m more related to Moses. God took him away from his people so he could humbly learn from Him. Moses accepted his condition and patiently waited for God to accomplish His purposes in Moses’ own life first; in God’s time, He used Moses to impact His people.
JC how about you. You can share your walk with God. My walk with God is still growing. I do admit it is more mature than before. And He is the best friend I know.