In a response to Joel Osteen, Justin Peters once said[i]:

Hindus do not love God. Because they do not know God. How can you love someone who you don't even know?

— Justin Peters

I want to emphasize the second line and rephrase it slightly:

How can you pray to someone whom you do not even know?

This is not merely a question about whether someone prays. It is a question about what we understand prayer to be and whom we believe we are praying to.

When Prayer Becomes the Focus, but Theology Is Missing

The church often places a strong emphasis on prayer. We have chain prayers, prayer meetings, prayer at the hills, fasting prayers, whole-night prayers, prayers in tongues, silent prayers, loud prayers, and many other forms and expressions of prayer. Revivals are often associated with intense prayer, and believers are frequently encouraged to pray more.

There is certainly nothing wrong with praying earnestly. Scripture repeatedly calls Christians to pray.

But there is a serious question we must ask:

Are we teaching people merely to pray, or are we teaching them how to pray biblically?

I have observed situations where someone prays extensively but has very little understanding of God—or even of himself. Some children growing up in church hardly know how to pray. Some Christians believe that praying in tongues automatically makes a prayer more powerful. Others believe that particular styles, sounds, physical actions, or levels of intensity somehow increase the effectiveness of prayer.

What seems to be missing in many cases is theology.

Many people do not really understand what prayer is, why we pray, what we should pray for, or how our understanding of God should shape our prayers.

For some, prayer becomes little more than a list of personal demands: “God, give me this. Do this for me. Solve this problem. Give me that.” God is treated almost like a genie whose primary purpose is to fulfil our requests.

Others continue carrying ideas from their previous religious or cultural traditions into their Christian prayers. They may have left the old religious system, but some of its assumptions about spiritual power, rituals, words, objects, or techniques remain embedded in their understanding of prayer.

And sometimes Christians simply develop their own theology of prayer:

Prayer A is powerful.

Prayer B is more powerful.

Prayer C is the most powerful.

But where did we get these ideas?

From Scripture—or from experience, tradition, personal stories, and other people's claims?

The Problem: Prayer Without Theology

The problem is not necessarily that people are praying too much.

The problem can be that their praying is disconnected from their knowledge of God.

Some may respond, “But God knows our hearts. He knows that we are sincere.”

Yes, He does.

God knows our hearts and understands our weaknesses. But God's knowledge of our hearts should never become an excuse for refusing to grow in our knowledge of Him.

We are called to grow as Christians.

We are supposed to become growing Christians, not compromising Christians.

Sincerity is important, but sincerity does not automatically make an idea true. A person can be sincerely wrong about God. A person can sincerely worship while misunderstanding the One being worshiped.

James White makes a similar point in The Forgotten Trinity. He argues that inadequate knowledge of God can eventually affect even our worship, because poor theology can lead us toward worship that is directed toward a false conception of God. Knowledge does not save us by itself, but true worship cannot exist independently of true knowledge of God. (p. 178, pdf)

The same principle applies to prayer.

Knowledge does not replace prayer. But prayer cannot be properly understood without knowledge.

Some Practical Problems

This becomes particularly visible when we examine some common ideas about prayer.

1. “Our words have power.”

Proverbs 18:21 is sometimes used to claim that our spoken words possess some kind of supernatural creative power—that speaking something positively can make it happen, while speaking negatively can somehow bring it into existence.

But the verse is not teaching that human beings possess divine creative power through their words.[ii]

This is an example of how a verse can be detached from its context and transformed into an entirely different theology.

Prayer is not a technique for manipulating reality through correctly spoken words.

2. “We should pray in tongues to make our prayers more powerful.”

This is another area where personal experience can easily be placed above Scripture.

Whatever one's position on the gift of tongues, we should be extremely careful about turning one particular spiritual experience into a universal rule for the effectiveness of prayer.

The question should not be:

“What has worked powerfully in my experience?”

The question should be:

“What has God actually revealed about prayer in Scripture?”

Experience may be meaningful, but experience is not our final authority.

3. Unusual Styles of Prayer

There are also prayer practices that are treated as spiritually powerful simply because they are intense, unusual, or emotionally dramatic.

Roaring, screaming, unusual bodily expressions, or other dramatic forms are sometimes presented as if they possess special spiritual effectiveness.

But intensity does not automatically equal biblicalness.

A prayer does not become more powerful merely because it is louder.

A quiet prayer is not weaker because it is quiet.

A loud prayer is not stronger because it is loud.

The effectiveness of prayer does not come from the volume, performance, or emotional intensity of the person praying.

4. “Blowing Prayer”

Another example is the practice of blowing during prayer and attempting to establish it from passages such as Ezekiel 37:9, John 20:22, and Genesis 2:7.

These passages certainly contain references to breath or the giving of breath. But the question is whether those passages actually teach Christians to blow on people as a prayer practice.[iii]

We must distinguish between what a biblical text records and what the biblical text commands or teaches us to practice.

Otherwise, almost any practice can be given biblical legitimacy simply by finding a passage containing similar words or imagery.

That is not sound interpretation.

Prayer Is More Than Expressing Feelings

Prayer certainly includes our emotions.

We can bring our grief, fear, confusion, gratitude, joy, anger, weakness, and desires before God. The Psalms demonstrate this repeatedly.

But prayer is not merely a place where we unload our feelings onto God.

Prayer involves surrender.

It involves recognizing who God is, who we are, what God has revealed, and what His will is.

Jesus Himself taught His disciples to pray:

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

That changes the entire direction of prayer.

Prayer is not primarily about convincing God to accomplish my will.

It is about bringing myself under God's will.

And genuine prayer should also prepare us to participate in God's work.

● If we pray for the poor, are we willing to help them?

● If we pray for justice, are we willing to act justly?

● If we pray for the environment, are we willing to care for God's creation?

● If we pray for the lost, are we willing to participate in reaching them?

Prayer is not an escape from responsibility.

Sometimes prayer is precisely what prepares us to take responsibility.

Theology and Prayer Are Connected

Our understanding of prayer will always be connected to our understanding of God.

We pray differently because we believe different things about God.

What we know about God	How it shapes our prayer
God is omnipotent	We pray for His intervention because nothing is beyond His power.
God is just	We pray for justice and trust Him to judge rightly.
God is sovereign	We submit our desires to His will rather than treating prayer as a way to control Him.
God is our provider	We ask Him to provide for our needs while trusting His wisdom and timing.
God commands us to care for His creation	We pray for creation and participate in caring for it.
God is merciful	We confess our sins and seek His forgiveness.
God is holy	We approach Him with reverence rather than treating Him casually or manipulatively.
God calls people to Himself	We pray for the salvation of others and participate in sharing the gospel.

Notice what happens here.

Theology produces the framework for prayer.

If I believe God is merely a cosmic wish-granter, my prayer will become a list of demands.

If I believe God can be manipulated by certain words or techniques, my prayer will become a formula.

If I believe God is sovereign, holy, wise, merciful, just, and loving, my prayer will increasingly reflect those truths.

This is why theology matters.

We Need to Teach People How to Pray

This issue also connects with several situations I have discussed previously.

There was the father who spent considerable time in prayer but had a weak understanding of Scripture and frequently developed his own theology about prayer. His dedication to prayer was visible, but his understanding of God and prayer was not always grounded in the biblical text.

Then there are the teenagers and children in church who simply do not know how to pray. Some refuse to pray because they are afraid they will say something wrong. Others have never been properly taught what prayer is actually about.

And then there is the larger problem:

A church can teach people to pray without adequately teaching them theology.

● We can organize more prayer meetings.

● We can encourage longer prayers.

● We can arrange overnight prayers.

● We can promote fasting prayers.

● We can emphasize revival.

But if we do not teach people who God is, what God has revealed, what Scripture says about prayer, and what our relationship with God actually means, we may simply be producing people who pray more while understanding less.

That should concern us.

The answer is not to pray less.

The answer is to know God more and therefore pray more faithfully.

So, What Requires Praying?

Prayer requires more than a willing mouth.

● It requires a heart that is being shaped by the truth of God.

● It requires Scripture.

● It requires understanding.

● It requires humility.

● It requires surrender.

● It requires knowing the God to whom we are praying.

We should therefore be cautious whenever someone tells us that a particular prayer technique, sound, posture, phrase, experience, or spiritual manifestation makes prayer inherently more powerful.

Before asking, “How powerful is this prayer?” we should ask: “Is this prayer biblical?”

Before asking, “What can my prayer accomplish?” we should ask: “What does God want me to understand about prayer?”

And before asking, “How can I pray more powerfully?” perhaps we should first ask: “Do I actually know the God to whom I am praying?”

Justin Peters' question was originally about love: How can you love someone you do not know?

The same warning applies to prayer:

How can you rightly pray to someone you do not know?

And James White's warning about worship should make us equally cautious about prayer: poor knowledge of God does not merely produce weak theology; it can distort the very way we worship and approach Him.

❧

So let us not become Christians who merely pray more.

Let us become Christians who know God more, understand His Word more, and therefore pray more faithfully.

Because the goal is not simply to become people of prayer.

The goal is to become people who pray to the true God, according to His truth, for His will, and for His glory.

For any comments, feedbacks and questions: Whatsapp & Instagram @kevinchrist57

[i] https://youtu.be/ptN2KQ7-euQ?si=dSI8QeaYuppAl_Dk, accessed on 8/30/2026

[ii] https://nepalchurch.com/5259/मण्डलीमा-अहिले-प्रचलित-अ/, accessed on 8/30/2026

[iii] https://nepalchurch.com/5253/हाल-प्रचलित-केही-अन्य-नवी/, accessed on 8/30/2026