Avatar and Prayer

In one of the pivotal scenes of the movie Jake recognizes that unless something supernatural happens, he, and his warriors have no chance of winning a battle against a seasoned and well armed Earthly military force. So with this thought in mind Jake goes to the Tree of Souls and submits to Eywa and asks for her help. Jake is not sure what it is that he is doing, or if it will be successful, but he asks from the perspective of one who has nothing to lose and everything to win.

Neytiri was watching Jake in prayer and approved of the fact that he was praying at all but counseled Jake that Eywa only gets involved with supernatural support to maintain the balance of life. But she was happy that Jake was at least asking in the Na’vi manner.
Jake’s prayer was simple, heartfelt, and to the point. He needed help and he was willing to get help any way that he could even if it meant to pray.

In the process of the movie, Jake, and his warriors attack and get soundly defeated. As the casualties mount Jake is discouraged and is wondering if he did the right thing to rally the warriors to fight knowing that they were no match for the advanced weaponry of the company. When everyone’s hope was lowest and Neytiri was contemplating sacrificing her life with one last attempt to kill an enemy, the sound of much movement is heard and what is seen is all of the larger animals of Pandora have been sent by Eywa to fight against the company. With the land animals fighting the ground troops and the Ikran fighting the helicopters all of a sudden the odds of winning the war increase for the Pandorans and Neytiri cries out that Eywa had heard Jake’s request and had answered his prayer. Eywa gives Jake, and the Pandoran warriors, the victory.

James Cameron used the issue of prayer in a very successful manner in his movie – Avatar. He gave a wonderfully touching rendition of prayer through Jake and Neytiri. The Bible also tells us that prayer is an essential part of the relationship between man and God. God wants us to come to Him in faith trusting that He will answer prayers, and He will even prompt us to pray for things. In Romans 8:26 it says that the Holy Spirit, one of the three member of the Godhead, prays for us for we know not what we should pray for.

Prayer, in the Bible, is a communicating link between God and man. God is all knowing, and foreknowing as well. God knows what we will pray about, what will happen, and He even prompts us to ask for specific things so that He can help us, and still keep us focused on the small tasks of life.

In the Bible, God has prayers of all kind taking place. He encourages communication with Him at all levels and in all ways. The following are references for a variety of different prayers and communications:

Genesis 3:8-19 Jesus comes looking for Adam and Eve to find out what happened to them.
Genesis 4:6-15 God’s communications with Cain about Abel.
Genesis 5:24 God’s interactions with Enoch were of such a nature that the Bible records it as walking with God, and God took Him.
Genesis 15:1-21 Interactions between God and Abraham.
Genesis 17:1-22 More interactions between God and Abraham.
Genesis 18:1-33 God informing Abraham about his son to be, and discussions about Sodom and judgment.
Genesis 21:1-20 God’s discussions with Abraham about Hagar and Ishmael and then God’s discussions with Hagar.
Genesis 24:1-27 Prayers about getting a wife for Isaac.
Genesis 28:10-22 God’s communications with Jacob and Jacob with God.
Genesis 32:24-31 Jacob wrestles and prays with God.
Exodus 3:1-22 God’s communications with Moses just prior to leading Israel out of Egypt.
Exodus 15:1-21 Israel’s prayer to God in song.
Exodus 20:1-26 God speaks to Israel and they become afraid and want an intercessor to speak for them rather than directly to God.
Exodus 33:9-34:28 God and Moses communicate with each other.
Joshua 2:1-21 Prayer between Rahab the Canaanite and God’s messengers.
Joshua 5:13-15 Prayer between Jesus and Joshua.
I Samuel 1:9-18 Hannah’s prayer for a son and God answer her through Eli.
II Samuel 7:1-29 David’s prayer of thanks to God for allowing him to have success and to have a son who will build the temple for God.
Psalms 51 David’s prayer of repentance for taking his friend’s wife and then for killing the friend.
I Kings 3:5-28 God and Solomon discuss spiritual gifts and then Solomon applies the spiritual gift in judging Israel.
II Chronicles 5:11-7:3 Solomon’s prayer to God to bless the temple and all of the worship activities that would be there and the various ways God responded to the prayer.
II Chronicles 20:1-30 Jehoshaphat’s prayer and God’s answer.
Daniel 9:1-27 Daniel’s prayer of repentance for Israel and God’s answer to the prayer.
Luke 1:26-56 Mary and Elizabeth’s prayers of thanksgiving for the births of God’s forerunner and the Messiah.
Luke 1:67-80 Zacharias’s prayer of praise for the Messiah.
Matthew 5:1-7:28 Jesus, the Son of God, communicates His holy will to His people.
John 17:1-1-26 Jesus’ prayer to His Father in Heaven for His disciples.

The above list is a small sampling of a variety of prayers that shows how God speaks to His people and how they speak to Him. All through the Scriptures God shows how He handles difficult situations and how He chooses to take care of His people. II Chronicles 20:1-30 is one of those crisis situations similar to the experience that James Cameron attempts to reveal in the movie Avatar.

It is this writer’s hope that as you meditate upon the events of the movie Avatar that you to would seek to have a prayer experience with the real God of the universe. As the people above prayed in faith to Him which can not be seen but whom we can experience, God answered those sincere prayers and revealed enough of Himself that they wanted to have a deeper experience. This opportunity He offers to you today. Read the prayers, and then read the stories and by reading them your faith will be strengthened and you to will seek God to have your own personal experience with Him. This is the promise of the Bible. That which was intimated in the movie of Avatar, can be experienced in reality through direct communications with God.