Are We Really Serious When We Pray or Just Pretending? (Part 5 )

In this series on prayer, I have dealt with a number of reason why people struggle so much with having a fulfilling prayer life. In this article I want to talk about two very big hindrances to Christians having real faith when they pray. These two subjects have been taught by many pastors and teachers over the years because in the body of Christ no one wants to be labeled as a teacher of wrong concepts or theology, and because these teachers have been trained to embrace reformed theology in particular. In my mind, these teachings are damaging to not only the practice of prayer but to evangelism and reaching unbelievers.

Let’s start with the first major hindrance believers have about the practice of prayer. Most reformed teachers use the scripture in Malachi 3:6 to create a false concept about God and our expectations of him. When it comes to listening to peoples’ prayer this false concept has done more to hinder our desire to pray than almost any other concept.

Malachi 3:6

 “I am the LORD, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already completely destroyed.” 

The idea that God does not change has been used to build the idea that because God is perfect he can not change what he plans to do, including anything to do with prayer. In other words, these reformed teachers suggest that a believer’s prayer is nothing more than the means of discovering Gods will, it is “NOT” about asking God to intervene in our affairs and problems.

Satan has had hundreds of years to twist scripture and disconnect our trust in God for help in our every day lives. The idea that God does not change does not mean he will not take action based on our prayrs. It does mean that God does not change his character. It is about his reliability and trustworthiness.

The second idea that reformed teachers use to claim that God will only do as he has already planned is the concept of “Sovereignty,” which is about God’s control. The reformed teacher states that everything that happens in life happens because God is in charge and to think otherwise is to diminish God’s authority. When someone dies in a car accident the statement is often made, “It Was God Will” to take him or her. This is so often said when maybe they were driving too fast or the other car that hit them had a drunk driver. Not everything that happens in life is God’s will. Satan is behind much of the chaos in the world that happens through him giving thoughts and temptations to people under his influence. Sometimes we just make bad choices purely originating from our selfish desires. There are so many variables that create life. Everything happening by the will of God is totally against scripture as a whole. God does cause things to happen in the world but leaves our choices as the primary reason.

So, lets look at a number of places in scripture that show very clearly that when people pray God is moved to alter his course of action. If we accept the notion that God can and does change his mind then the possibilities of prayer are enormous. Take Abraham’s prayer for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. God intended to destroy them for their wickedness yet Abraham believed his interceding for these cities could move the heart of God to alter his intentions. There are many times when God states that if people humble themselves and pray he will listen and move accordingly.

Genesis 18:22-26

The two other men (angels) went on toward Sodom, but the LORD remained with Abraham for a while. [23] Abraham approached him and said, “Will you destroy both innocent and guilty alike? [24] Suppose you find fifty innocent people there within the city—will you still destroy it, and not spare it for their sakes? [25] Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the innocent with the guilty. Why, you would be treating the innocent and the guilty exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”       [26] And the LORD replied, “If I find fifty innocent people in Sodom, I will spare the entire city for their sake.”

Abraham starts out negotiating with God that if 50 righteous people are in the city would God change his mind about their destruction? Abraham goes all the way down to 10 people and asks would God spare the cities and the Lord says yes. The unfortunate part is Abraham counted on at least 10 righteous and that was a mistake. The point is that Abraham believed that if his request were justified God would change his mind about what he intended to do. There are many times when God puts outcomes in our hands to cause us to grow in responsibility. If we fail to act in our requests of prayer then the outcomes will become different than we hoped for, all because we did not ask.

Take Moses being told by God that he was so angry with the stubborn and evil hearts of the Jewish people that he was going to wipe them out and use Moses to start all over again. Look at the boldness of Moses to intercede for the Jewish people and how God changed his mind about what he intended to do.

Exodus 32:9-11

Then the LORD said, “I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. Now leave me alone so my anger can blaze against them and destroy them all. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation instead of them.” [11] But Moses pleaded with the LORD his God not to do it. “O LORD!” he exclaimed. “Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and mighty acts?

Exodus 32:14

So the LORD withdrew his threat and didn’t bring against his people the disaster he had threatened.

Finally, take the story of Jonah where God told him to go and declare God was going to destroy the great city of Nineveh in 40 days. Jonah didn’t want to do what God asked because he knew if the people of that city repented of their evil ways God would indeed change his mind.

Jonah 1:1-2

The LORD gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh!                                                                                       Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”

Jonah 3:4-5

On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they decided to go without food and wear sackcloth to show their sorrow.

Jonah 3:10

When God saw that they had put a stop to their evil ways, he had mercy on them and didn’t carry out the destruction he had threatened.

There are so many more examples of God changing his mind (Not His Character) when people pray and pray in faith. How can people pray in faith, and why would they, if it were true that God won’t change his mind based on our prayer request? There are certain things God will not do unless we pray. We don’t always know the will of God so we need to pray to discover that first. Once we understand the will of God we can pray accordingly. God, in fact, loves when we seek his help in our lives through the vehicle of prayer.

Questions:

1) Have you felt uninspired to pray because you don’t think it makes a difference? Understand this passage of scripture:

James 5:16

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 

2) Have you given up on prayer because you think God doesn’t care? Consider the following scripture:

Psalms 18:6

In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry for help before Him came into His ears.

May the devil lose his grip on our lives over the issue of prayer and may God inspire us to seek the Lord’s help in all areas of our lives.

Pastor Dale