There is quite a difference when believers and non-believers pray. Pastor John Piper from Desiring God says non-believers pray by the millions, and make a good show about it. On the outside, non-believers might even fool people into thinking about their devotion to God.
However, Piper says God knows the true hearts of people, and He can always distinguish the prayer of a believer from a non-believer. But what sets believers apart?
Piper writes on his website that generally, non-believers do not ask God to do bad things. "They ask Him to do good things without asking Him to do the best thing. They pray as though God were the giver but not the gift," he says.
In contrast, "true Christians do not pray for less than what nominal Christians pray for. They pray for more — infinitely more."
Piper explains that people generally want good things for the world. But Christians seeks to honour Christ before all else. "The new Christian heart longs for God to be seen as glorious in every event and every act and every affection," the pastor points out.
For example, non-believers might pray for protection whenever there are wars or calamities. But Christians pray for the best protection, not the least. "Temporal dangers are shadows of eternal dangers. And the eternal ones are far more destructive," he says.
The best protection is protection from Satan, unbelief, sin, and eternal perishing. Piper says that non-believers pray for temporal protection without caring for "far greater protection," but those who live in God's light care a great deal.
At the same time, Piper says non-believers often feel uncomfortable around the genuine prayers given by Christians, since they have "no real heartfelt affections" for the beauty of such prayers.
"Therefore, nominal Christians will deflect the exposure of their spiritual emptiness by twisting such prayers inside out and saying things like, 'All you care about is pie in the sky.' Or, 'Empty bellies don't care about religion.' Or, 'What people need is love, not religion.' Or, 'You can't even pray people's needs without a few pious platitudes.' And so on," explains Piper.
Despite these things, Piper says true Christians will never stop praying the way they do because they care about eternity. "Christians hold fast to the conviction that 85 years of protection, shelter, food, clothing, health, peace, prosperity, social justice, comfort, and happiness, followed by an eternity of misery, is not a good life. And we know that real love will not settle for such a tragic life. It prays for more," he says.
