Prayer that Changes the Mind of God
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What if we you told by God that you are to die in a few days? What would you do?
Obviously our priorities will shift.
You will probably quit your job.
Set our house in order.
Make sure your family is taken care of.
From a spiritual perspective, you will make sure your relationship with God and your fellowmen will be good.
You will look for your enemy and reconcile.
You will be spending time with God in prayer and maybe leading others to pray as well.
You will take the money that you saved for your retirement, along with it sell your property and give them to those who need it the most. Maybe give a huge contribution to your local church.
If you knew you were going to die soon, you will try to do everything right.
There is a saying:
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
It seems we know exactly what to do if the uncertainty of our time on earth is removed and we are a few days away from meeting our creator.
Our perspective in life becomes changed dramatically, our long term plans are out the window, the phrase “brevity of life” is no longer a proverb, it becomes a reality.
If someone knows he is gonna die soon, he will stop worrying about tomorrow, why? Because there is no tomorrow.
There is a person in the Bible who was told that he was going to die soon. His name is Hezekiah. His story is found in ; and to 39.
King Hezekiah
Let’s turn to our Bibles and read from :
1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’ ”
2 Kings 20
Background on the life of King Hezekiah here...
Sickness unto death.
What was King Hezekiah’s response when told he was going to die?
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 “Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
2 Kings 20:2
So Hezekiah did not give up..
He heard thus saith the Lord, who are we?
“you shall die”
“you shall not recover”
Our training is when we hear “thus saith the Lord, we are to receive and we are to comply and submit.”
How dare Hezekiah to bargain with what the Lord says?
And if you look at his prayer,
It goes against the pattern of prayer that we learned, actually this falls under the “anti-pattern” of prayer, look.
First - he wept bitterly upon hearing the news. He did not accept the will of God. Don’t we pray “Your will be done” in our prayers?
Secondly, look at the structure of his prayer:
“Lord please remember how I walked before You in faithfulness and with a whole heart.”
“Lord I have done what is good in your sight.”
This clearly goes against the pattern of prayer to lift up our adoration and praise to God! Instead, who did Hezekiah lift up in this prayer? (ask)
Himself - I walked.. I have done what is good.. seems to be a self-centered and self-serving prayer.
Certainly not the kind of prayer that God would answer, right?
What happened after this?
4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, 6 and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” 7 And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”
2 Kings 20:4-
For all of its shortcomings, Hezekiah’s prayer was answered by God.
This is a great study in prayer..
God answers prayers on the basis of His merits not our own.
God answered Hezekiah’s prayer not because it was perfect, he answered it in spite of its imperfections!
Did Hezekiah resist the will of God that he should not recover from his sickness and die? In reality, he didn’t..
Observe the things that Hezekiah did right:
What Hezekiah did right:
He did not go after the man of God.
When Isaiah came and gave him the bad news, and left.. here you see Isaiah the prophet was really a man of God.. he came, “hello Hezekiah, he said thus saith the Lord, your sickness … yes.. you will not recover, you will die, set your house in order..” bye bye..
you know he was a man of God, he just gave the word of the Lord. He did not embellish, he did not abuse, he did not coach or give false hope.. the word of the Lord, there you go..
Hezekiah, did not stop him, or cling to him, plead to the Lord in my behalf! He instead took his case directly to the Lord.
Hezekiah did not leverage his relationship with Isaiah. He leveraged his closeness and relationship with God.
Second truth about prayer:
We come to God in prayer out of a relationship with Him.
How do you respond to life’s problems? Do you go to someone else to vent about your issues in life? examples.. why can’t we go to God directly.
Bible says, Hezekiah wept bitterly..
Godly Lamentation
It is good to ask the pastor or someone for prayer or to ask for counsel on a difficult situation. But if you are a child of God, you can go to God directly..
There are many areas and concerns in your life that only God can understand. God hears us in our desperation, he hears our cries..
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
Psalm 34:
There is power in crying privately before the Lord..
If you cry from a broken and sincere heart, God hears!
If you are in a predicament that seemed inescapable. If there is a mountain that seemed insurmountable, pray in desperation out of the sincerity of your heart and God will Deliver!
If you are surrounded by enemies, people that have mistreated you, pray in desperation out of the purity of your heart, God will vindicate!
Don’t go to other people crying about your predicament, if you tend to go to people first to air out your grievance against someone or people then you have a problem with your relationship with God.
Why not go to God first?
I tell leaders of the church about serious issues so they know and can pray for it. But I make sure I have told God first and am actively praying for it before I do so.
Well, pastor Ramon, he is my best friend, I can trust that he won’t gossip. There is a problem there: Isn’t God your best friend?
Second thing that Hezekiah did right:
2. He leveraged his friendship with God.
God was Hezekiah’s best friend.
Is God your BFF?
Make your case before your most loyal friend - Almighty God.
Actually, when Hezekiah cried to God and said “I have walked in faithfulness and uprightness of heart and have done what is good in your sight.” it is not self-promotion, he is talking to God out of confidence in His friendship with God, God knows him intimately.
He knows God.
What he did was not to remind God of what he has done (I am upright, I am a good person), He reminded God of His promise to those whose walk is upright.
I believe Hezekiah had a deep understanding of God’s word, His commandments and His promise.
One example is :
First of all, what Hezekiah said was true.. Bible says: He did what was right in the eyes of the LOrd ()
40 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
he also appealed to God’s promises to David concerning his descendants in the kingly line:
14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”
2 Samuel
Third thing Hezekiah did right:
3. He prayed with a knowledge and understanding of God’s word and trust in His promise.
You know what happened next:
4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, 6 and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.”
4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord,
4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him:
2 Kings
Poor Isaiah..
So question is does God change His mind?
Obviously.. title of my message..
Yes and No
Yes - He allows our prayers to change the natural course of events. there are cases..
No - God already knows the end and nothing surprises Him.
God does not change… He is consistent in His Holiness and His love.
God does not change… He is consistent in His Holiness and His love.
God remained Holy when He told Hezekiah, that He will die..
Some people think it may have been a test, just like God tested Abraham.. Abraham obeyed His command to kill Isaac, his son.
In the same manner, Hezekiah believed in God’s promises to his father David.. he knew and believed that the line of the Messiah will be through his offspring.. And God honored his faith just like He did Abraham’s.
God extended Hezekiah’s life by 15 years.
In those 15 years, God accomplished great exploits through Hezekiah(siege of the Assyrians)
15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 16 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”
4. Continue to walk in personal holiness.
The extra 15 years of Hezekiah’s life brought some bad things to the Kingdom.
Bible says he became prideful and made the most crucial mistake of his reign..
Manasseh his son was born..
Paul said
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
God is wise and sovereign, through His sickness God wanted him to be humble
Pray to God,
Go to Him directly, you are Child, He is your Father..
Pray to God,
Hold up His promises to Him
Continue to walk in holiness..
