PRAYER AS COMBAT

Trinity points to prayer, as the cross points to trinity. Jesus was the will and power of the father and yet, to demonstrate patience, he submitted to the father's will: ‘Not my will, but thine be done’ (or. 4.5). Conflict lies at the heart of prayer which is, for Tertullian, the Christian soldier's sword and shield. His short work on prayer concludes with the strife of opposites. Christian prayer is a defensive armour and an offensive weapon against the oppressive, encircling hostility of the devil. In prayer, Christians stand to arms under the standard of Christ, their General, waiting for the trumpet to sound for resurrection. Angels also pray, because they are caught up in the battle.

Prayer is natural. It belongs to this world, where nature adds her testimony to the truth and neither God nor nature lies. Cattle and wild animals bend their knees and, when they first rise from their rest, they look to heaven with a bellow or roar. Birds too, when they leave their nest, move towards heaven with wings in the form of a cross and make a sound that seems like prayer. Our lord, who is the peak of all creation, prayed (or. 29.4).

Yet prayer outstrips this world. The power of prayer is a spiritual power and a spiritual sacrifice. God rejected the multitude of sacrifices – the fat of rams and the blood of bulls and goats (Isa. 1.11; or. 28.1). The gospel teaches the true demands of a God who is spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and truth.