#57: “Filter-Free” Praying When Things Get Tough

Do you ever feel you can’t really be honest with God when you are upset, angry, or grieving? My guest in this episode believes you don’t need to filter your prayers, and has the biblical evidence to back him up. I’m joined by Dr. Keith Campbell, author of Of Heroes and Villains, which explores prayers of lament in the New Testament. Keith received his Ph.D. in New Testament from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Global Scholars.

In this podcast we discuss:

• • Why it’s okay to wrestle with God when things go wrong, not filtering our prayers

• • The biblical basis for questioning God, wrestling with God, and crying out to God (lament prayer)

• • Why we don’t hear much about this type of prayer, and what we lose as a result

• • How filter-free praying helped him in his walk with Christ while at college

• • Isn’t this childish, just throwing a temper tantrum because we are immature and unable to accept God’s will?

• • Where trust comes in during a filtered or lament prayer

• • The role of others when we are in dark days

• • New Testament examples, including Jesus’s example of praying an unfiltered prayer

• • Does this type of prayer really change anything?

• • Doesn’t this type of prayer contradict commands to “consider it all joy” and assurances that God will ultimately make all right?

• • How college students can help revive the practice of filter-free praying

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

• • D. Keith Campbell, Of Heroes and Villains: The Influence of the Psalmic Lament on Synoptic Characterization

• • C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

• • C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

• • Dallas Willard, Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God

• • “Why Pray?”, Thinking Christianly podcast #10

• • May Young, Walking With God Through The Valley: Recovering the Purpose of Biblical Lament