What prayer will and will not do
Prayer
is our communication to the God we serve.
Prayer should not be a chore but a joy, just
as you love to talk with someone that
interests you- that you love, and you want
to grow in a relationship with. Prayer is
not necessarily worship but it is an
essential element to our Christian life. Our
relationship toward God is sustained and
strengthened by our prayer, as His
relationship toward us is sustained by His
word through His spirit.
If
we are going to spend serious time in prayer
we need to first put some things in order.
We need to have our own heart searched out,
any unforgiveness or resentment is to be
dealt with. Any sin we may be practicing
needs to be repented of. We need to be
cleansed before we enter the holy place. We
come to him on the basis of the blood of
Christ. Any prideful attitude needs to be
humbled by exercising our will and come to
God in total dependence on his mercy and His
grace. When we pray we should not just be
speaking but be still enough to listen, as
the Lord through His spirit may lead us to a
scripture. It may be for us, it may be for
another in showing us how to pray.
We
find the Holy Spirit in Rom. 8:14-15 leads
us to cry out Abba. Gal 4.6:
“Because you are sons, God has sent forth
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, (the
Spirit) cry’s out, ‘Abba, Father. He is
another advocate to our relationship to God
by prayer. There is no evidence in scripture
that anyone prayed or worshipped the Holy
Spirit unless he is included in worship with
the triune God. It is the
Spirits ministry that brings one to Christ.
The Holy Spirit has a different position
functioning in a submissive role to Christ.
Just as Christ was in a submissive position
to the Father on Earth. Likewise the Spirit
does the same, taking a subordinate role to
both Christ and the Father when He is sent
to earth (Jn.16:13). His purpose is not to
bring attention to himself but to the Son.
We
may have list of needs to pray on but there
should be room for the Holy Spirit to show
us how to pray. We are to be led by the
spirit in our prayers to know the will of
God, in other words we need to be flexible.
In this way we may not always have the
knowledge in praying for a specific request
but trust in the Holy Spirits leading.
If
we are speaking to God and being influenced
by His spirit then our prayer will never be
self centered or on things not pertaining to
his kingdom. On one hand we submit our
hopes, our needs. On the other hand we need
to examine our motives and God's will in a
given situation. The longing desire of our
heart has to be what Christ would want done
or the prayer does not rise to him to even
be considered. If we pray as Jesus would
then we should expect our prayers to be
answered. A study on Jesus and the apostles
prayers is helpful in understanding and
training oneself in prayer.
Prayer
is the means in which God gets His will done
on earth, not the means in which man gets
his will done in heaven.
James
5:17-18 tells us, “Elijah was a man with a
nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly
that it would not rain; and it did not rain
on the land for three years and six months.
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave
rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
It wasn’t Elijah’s asking that
accomplished this but it was God answering
his request because it was his will, He had
a purpose in it. God can take away
things by our praying and affect people and
nations and He can add things and bless
them. He can do beyond even what we ask for
as we are under a covenant of grace. He can
and does miracles for his namesake. We
cannot limit God in our prayer nor can we
command him or control him what to do what
we would like by our request.
Ps.145:18 “the Lord is near to all those
who call upon him, to all who call upon him
in truth.”
I
Jn.3:22-24 “And whatever we ask we receive
from Him, because we keep His commandments
and do those things that are pleasing in His
sight. And this is His commandment: that we
should believe on the name of His Son Jesus
Christ and love one another, as He gave us
commandment. Now he who keeps His
commandments abides in Him, and He in
him.” Notice if we keep his
commandments do what is right we will have
get our prayers answered. In Isa.65:24
“God says before they call I will answer,
while they are still speaking I will
hear.” He loves to respond to what we ask.
We
all have practical needs that we should
submit to our Lord. We all need funds for
the rent or maybe for our house or car
repairs, our children's education. We
all need food and gas in the car. If
we are asking to spend the funds on a
holiday or something bigger or newer than we
already have without it being a necessity
God will see our prayer as selfish and He
will not answer that prayer. God is
able to read our hearts to see what our
secret motives are, these may not even be
known to us. So we should examine what is in
our own hearts and ask as David said search
me O’ God and see if there be any wicked
way in me. We should not have token prayers
as a quick throw up of words to heaven
without considering the content.
Many
of us do not have the confidence in coming
to God and asking our needs in our prayers I
Jn. 5:14-15 “Now this is the confidence
that we have in Him, that if we ask anything
according to His will, He hears us.
And if we know that He hears us, whatever we
ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we have asked of Him.” We should
understand the general will of God for
people and have spiritual insight to know
what he is specifically doing in someone’s
life to pray on target.
Some
of us are overconfident and become bold to
ask just about anything WE want. James says
two things James 4:2-4 “You do not have
because you do not ask. You ask and do not
receive, because you ask amiss, that you may
spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and
adulteresses! Do you not know that
friendship with the world is enmity with
God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend
of the world makes himself an enemy of
God.”
When
we put the things of the world our physical
comforts ahead of God in our life we forfeit
him as being Lord. We are at enmity with
God. When we pray for something we must make
sure that we are not asking for something
that goes against God's revealed will.
If we are asking for prosperity to live in
luxury to satisfy our insecurities we best
hope God does not answer this prayer. Many
have had it answered only to learn a hard
lesson.
Just
as we are to handle our doctrine correctly
we are to handle our prayers. Our petitions
will reveal what we believe is most
important in our lives. Our prayers are to
come through the cross. This means dying to
our self desires so that we can be focused
on God’s purposes, it is these prayers he
delights in answering. But there is also a
condition of faithfulness in our lives. If
we ask for more ministry he may have that
intention but if we have not been faithful
in the small things we need to wait and
become faithful for any expansion. God is
not going to grow a church if the people are
not being fed and they are being neglected.
We
should not write out prayers and send them
in with a very generous donation at the
request of a famous TV evangelist. Don’t
expect them to be more appropriately
answered because you exercised faith by
sending a gift that was more than you had in
your bank. When you see the prayer requests
piled up in front of the “man of faith”,
this is done on purpose for their TV program
to prove the reaching effects of his
ministry. He then utters a general
public prayer over the thousands of requests
to be answered and its over. This is not how
prayer is to be done. The motives of an
intercessor is just as important as what we
ask for. Our prayers are to specific and to
be for an individual if possible.
Twice
Jesus said, “Is it not written, My
house shall be called a house of prayer for
all nations? But ye have made it a den of
thieves.” Don’t let their spiritual
props fool you.
Our
prayers are to God and no other. We do not
address unseen spirit beings and threaten
them or fight against them to have God gain
control over a certain area or person. If
your speaking to the Devil in the atmosphere
you are no longer praying to God.
We
don’t want to become narcissistic, praying
what I want to be, what I want to happen in
my way. It should be God’s will and plans
we are concerned about. Praying in Jesus
name is not a warranty to receive anything
we ask or say, and we can certainly thank
him for that. He doesn't want spoiled little
children, but mature heavenly minded people
who look at His word and are willing to be
conformed to His likeness even if it’s
uncomfortable. Those who can trust Him
in His decisions, He can entrust to answer.
If
we petition God for riches, power, honor,
knowledge, or reputation, for ourself it is
seeking our own kingdom. If we petition God
for riches, power, honor, knowledge, or
reputation, for his kingdom we need to have
him search our hearts to know if our motives
are pure. So how do we know how to pray and
be on target? Charles H. Spurgeon stated it
like this, “Sometimes a fog will settle
over a vessel’s deck and yet leave the
topmast clear. Then a sailor goes up aloft
and gets a lookout which the helmsman on
deck cannot get. So prayer sends the soul
aloft, lifts it above the clouds in which
our selfishness and egotism befog us and
give us a chance to see which way to
steer.”
James
1:5-8 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him
ask of God, who gives to all liberally and
without reproach, and it will be given to
him. But let him ask in faith, without
doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave
of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
For let not that man suppose that he will
receive anything from the Lord; he is a
double-minded man, unstable in all his
ways.” So we ask in faith, meaning we
believe he heard us and to trust his
decision when and how to answer our prayer.
I
Jn 5:14-15 “Now this is the confidence
that we have in Him, that if we ask
anything according to His will, He hears us.
And if we know that He hears us, whatever we
ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we have asked of Him.
The
power is not in our prayer no matter how
earnest or eloquent it may be. The power
rests in the one who answers the prayer and
it always according to what he wants to see
accomplished. It may be through us or
another but it rests in God’s hands. W. R.
Reynolds- “The sovereignty of God does not
override the want, the will, the tears, the
cry of his children; but does, in the first
instance, express itself through that very
want — those tears and those strong
desires. It is not that man changes God’s
purpose, but that man verily and indeed
discovers that purpose through his own
earnest prayer.”
So
how do we get our prayers answered? John
15:7-10"If you abide in Me, and My
words abide in you, you will ask what you
desire, and it shall be done for you.
"By this My Father is glorified, that
you bear much fruit; so you will be My
disciples. "As the Father loved Me, I
also have loved you; abide in My love.
"If you keep My commandments, you will
abide in My love, just as I have kept My
Father's commandments and abide in His
love.” We need to be walking with the Lord
and seeking to do the things pleasing in his
sight and he is more than willing to
answer our requests. Not that we will ask
for something for ourselves but if we are
really and truly walking with him our prayer
will be a dying to our self wants and
lifting up to him his kingdom wants.
Paul
says in Eph.6:18 praying always with all
prayer and supplications in the Spirit. “
We are to consistently have an attitude of
prayer for anything that happens even if we
know we have the ability to correct or fix
something. Now this kind of attitude
breads humility and is a hard thing to
discipline ourselves to. But it is necessary
so that we train ourselves to be God
dependent.
Col
1:9-10 For this reason we also, since the
day we heard it, do not cease to pray for
you, and to ask that you may be filled with
the knowledge of His will in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you
may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully
pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good
work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
It
would be good to pray this for we are to
walk correctly thereby having the confidence
that God hears us and will answer. Because
we have the understanding of his will.
Paul's prayer is for a knowledge which leads
to godly living in accordance with wisdom
and the Spirit, rather than the theoretical
knowledge of the false teachers. True
knowledge leads to wisdom for living .Paul
is asking for this in their walk in contrast
to the effects of the false teachers'
"wisdom" they were exposed to.
God's people have always been destroyed by a
lack of knowledge
Phil.4:6
“do not be anxious about anything but in
everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known
to God.” To wait with patience is very
different from commanding God for what you
think you may want. We should
not expect that every prayer will be
answered the way we would like. Elizabeth in
Lk.1 was righteous yet her prayers were not
immediately answered. It wasn’t until she
was very old that God granted her and her
husband their request - the answer a miracle
in their lives with John the Baptist as the
herald for the messiah. It was God’s
perfect timing.
Paul
asked in 2 Cor.12:8-9 about the thorn in his
flesh. The Lord responded by saying to him
that his grace is sufficient. God’s
purpose was not to deliver Paul from his
immediate uncomfortable position but he had
a greater purpose. Paul’ suffering became
his pulpit with power, for when he was weak
God was strong through him.
If we look at Heb.11 the great men of faith
they became outcasts at certain times of
their lives or most of them. Hebrews 11
mentions all these faithful ones Abraham,
Moses Samson etc. the writer also states Heb
11:36-12:1 “Still others had trial of
mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains
and imprisonment. They were stoned,
they were sawn in two, were tempted, were
slain with the sword. They wandered about in
sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute,
afflicted, tormented-- of whom the
world was not worthy. They wandered in
deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of
the earth. And all these, having
obtained a good testimony through faith, did
not receive the promise, God having provided
something better for us, that they should
not be made perfect apart from us.”
E.M.Bounds
wrote, Obedience helps faith,
and faith, in turn, helps obedience. To do
God’s will is essential to true faith, and
faith is necessary to implicit obedience.
Yet faith is called upon, and that right
often to wait in patience before
God,
and is prepared for God’s seeming delays
in answering prayer. Faith does not grow
disheartened because prayer is not
immediately honored; it takes God at His
Word, and lets Him take what time He chooses
in fulfilling His purposes, and in carrying
on His work. There is bound to be much delay
and long days of waiting for true faith, but
faith accepts the conditions — knows there
will be delays in answering prayer, and
regards such delays as times of testing, in
the which, it is privileged to show its
mettle, and the stern stuff of which it is
made.
1
Pet 1:6-7 “In this you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while, if need be,
you have been grieved by various trials,
that the genuineness of your faith, being
much more precious than gold that perishes,
though it is tested by fire, may be found to
praise, honor, and glory at the revelation
of Jesus Christ.” We are married to Christ
and His love will see us through the worst
of times in our pilgrimage on earth. He
never told us to pray to be delivered out of
the trials but that we should be
strengthened through them. This is for our
own benefit. If we were to be delivered out
of every trial we would be weak in spirit.
If you ask the people in China how to pray
for them they will tell you not to pray for
their deliverance from persecution but that
they would have the fortitude to stand in
the face of adversity and persecution. If
those in America who claim to have great
faith in prayer were to spend some time over
in China or a place of persecution would get
a reality check and see what 1st
century Christianity is about. There
lukewarm bless me abundantly prayers would
be blown away as chaff in the wind. This is
where we learn true faith and to submit
ourselves to God’s ways even when we
don’t understand them.
The
mature Christian prays through his
sufferings, adversity strengthens our faith
and trust, all of Gods great saints went
through trials to perfect their faith even
Jesus learned obedience by his experience of
suffering and was brought to his goal
becoming mature and complete. Heb.4:8-9. It
when we are in the cauldron of adversity
that drives us to pray like we are on fire.
Acts
21:14 “After Paul refused the warning of
his being bound in chains and given over
into gentile hands They all said let the
will of the Lord be done.” If my prayer
does not line up with God's will as revealed
in the Scriptures, then I need to ask Him to
change my heart. Molding us by
changing our desire is part of the
sanctification process. If a prayer does not
have God’s will in its center, it is not a
“biblical prayer. It doesn’t mater how
many testimonials one gets to prove it was
answered.”
The
psalmist reflecting on Israel’s trek
through the wilderness in Ps 78:16-18 “He
also brought streams out of the rock, and
caused waters to run down like rivers. But
they sinned even more against Him by
rebelling against the Most High in the
wilderness. And they tested God in their
heart by asking for the food of their
fancy.” We can ask for things on ourselves
and ignore God’s will and guidance to our
own destruction, Israel did. Sometimes he
will ignore our prayer as it misses the
mark, other times he may just give us our
request to test our hearts.
Jesus
prayed thy will be done and taught the
apostles to do the same. The apostles
followed Jesus ' way of praying God’s
will. If God has no will then He would have
no influence over the affairs of mankind, we
would then be in charge which is not a
comforting thought.
Imagine hundreds or thousands praying for
the same thing such a s job but only one
would get it. Its not because one prayed
more or better. God’s will is involved, he
has a plan and we need to gain insight into
it to be part of His plans. When the
disciples asked Jesus how to pray he taught
them to pray in a certain manner, it was
never meant to be a repetition said over and
over, no prayer is. Jesus never said a
certain prayer is more powerful than
another.
Jesus
taught the disciples to pray in this way,
contrary to the way the Pharisee’s prayed.
Our
Father which art in Heaven
speaks of our relationship- We are to
consider the person we are speaking to and
address Him in reverence.
Hallowed
be thy name
speaks of worship, exalting him for who he
is- We are speaking of our reverence and
respect of Him who we now know praising and
thanking Him.
Your
kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as
it is in heaven
Submission
to His Lordship in our lives and our affairs
on earth. Asking for his influence to
change things that are contrary to his ways.
First in us so we can be his representatives
to others. We should look for God’s will
in a given situation that we may be part of
it. If it is not apparent to us we should
pray that it will be.
Give
us this day our daily bread
addresses
dependence and petitions God to be our
supplier. This speaks of our physical and
spiritual needs to be met by his hand. We
are promised he will supply our needs
according to his riches in Christ Jesus.
forgive
us our debts, as we forgive our debtors
forgiveness
is to be consistent lifestyle. We want to
practice forgiveness and let things that are
not crucial roll off of us. We should be
willing to hear things out and try to make
peace. To forgive does not mean we
intentionally ignore biblical issues but
human ones.
Do
not lead us into temptation but deliver us
from the evil one.
addresses
our need for guidance and discerning good
from evil. God will always make a way out
for those who want to be delivered from
bondage and evil. We should be aware of the
schemes of the enemy.
For Yours
is the kingdom and the power and the glory
forever. Amen
We
are to give Him all the honor, allegiance,
loyalty and worship. No man should
receive this no matter how Godly they are,
it is due to the one who is our
creator and the maker of all things.
After
Jesus died and rose from the dead, our
access to God is now immediate as the book
of Hebrews says we can come boldly before
the throne of grace because of his shed
blood.
It’s
not the position of our body nor how
uncomfortable we are when we pray. Its not
how loud we are nor how many we may have
praying in agreement. Nor is it any
repetition of our prayer that would bring a
speedy answer. It begins as a matter of our
heart. We being open and honest. We are to
seek God’s will in our prayer and that we
are found inside it. If it is not apparent
pray for His will to be known to you.
Sometimes a person praying to receive an
answer from God may get a yes -a wait or a
no. There are decisions from God that we
will never understand this side of heaven
and we are to accept them as his hand of
divine providence on our lives.
It
is not a certain prayer that yields results.
Not the prayer of Jabez, not the prayer of
Jesus repeated over and over that will bring
you blessings. Cleverly designed techniques
only feed into our carnal desires and they
will never reach the presence of God for
answers. There is no package of words that
can move the hand of God to be quicker or
more constant. The
Christian object in prayer is God, not the
prayer itself. It means to trust in someone
greater and wiser than us. Real faith has
anticipation in prayer that God hears us and
that He will answer in His way and His time.
Faith is to have an absolute, yet
simple assurance of God’s promise, and
have the patience for God’s timing.
We want to be
confident that God will answer our prayer.
We want to pray on target so our prayers hit
the mark. Intercession is someone pleading
on behalf of others. Jesus is the church’s
high priest who continually intercedes for
each of us personally to the father. Jesus
leaves the unsaved in our hands to pray to
God to save them. If you know someone who
needs the Lord in their life, start praying
for them and see what God can do. He just
may answer beyond your wildest expectations.
