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3TF-343

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WHEN DOES PRAYINi

If you have found yourself proving repeatedly about some 'How long should I persist? Why doesn't He answer?


 


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eorge Mueller shocked the wealthy widow as he shook his head, refusing her generous offer. Even Mrs. Mueller was sur­prised—both she and George knew that 500 pounds would pay the bill for their orphanage. But more than that, Mary Mueller .knew that for more than a month her husband had prayed daily for this woman, asking God to move her to give her legacy to the orphanage. Now here she was, ad­mitting, "The Lord has told me to give up my money."

God has answered prayer, Mary thought. What is holding George back?

"I don't know how to tell you," he said. "I guess itfe just this: I'm fright­ened by the power of prayer".

If anyone was qualified to say that, it was George Mueller. In everything, he prayed fervently. Some answers came as quickly as an immediate stilling of a storm at sea, and others not during his lifetime, as when he prayed 60 years for a friends salva­tion. George Mueller took God se­riously. Do we?

WHY PRAY PERSISTENTLY?

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he old adage is true: "Prayer changes things." In prayer we apply our wills to move God to alter the course of events.   Otherwise the urgency of prayer is removed; it is mere ritual, "a soliloquy only over­heard by God." By His own sovereign design, God has ordained that He will act to do certain things only in re­sponse to believing prayer. Although God's eternal purposes and desires are fixed, prayer can affect how He acts.

For example, suppose we are in the factious church described in 1 Cor­inthians and some sin of ours has caused God to discipline us as He

Dr. Klein is assistant professor'of New Testament at Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary.


did those Christians—we are phys­ically ill (1 Cor. 11).

Now, in response to the exhortation of another Christian, we admit our sin and, in prayer, ask Godls forgiveness. What is Gods response? We are healed. We have moved Him to change his tactics because of repen­tant prayer.

The Nature of Prayer

But prayer is not a will-against-will tug-of-war with God. Our struggle in prayer is primarily against ourselves and Satan. Often our desires are at odds with Godfe; meanwhile, Satan seeks to thwart Gods- purposes for us.

Ultimately, prayer is the struggle of the redeemed but still sinning saint to find Gods will and to implore Him to act in keeping with that will. We do not pray to get our own way, contrary to some contemporary teaching. God is not a vending machine requiring suffi­cient faith in lieu of the desired goodies.

God loves us too much to grant our every request; the overruling principle is "Thy will be done." Only when Godfe will prevails is God glorified and His kingdom advanced.

God's Purpose in rYayer

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:7-11), Jesus used three common terms to urge people to pray persist­ently: "ask," "seek," and "knock." The verbs are in the Greek present tense, suggesting continual action. Disci­ples are to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking.

"Ask," a word commonly used with prayer, means to solicit what we want from God.

To "seek" God is a concept preva­lent in both testaments. In the Old Testament, it emphasizes the need for repentance. A reverential fear is often present if one is to find God, as sin hides Him from individuals. Thus Jesus promises that God will not stay hidden if a person will truly seek Him.

"Knocking" pictures one seeking to gain entry. Rabbis often used this


metaphor to refer to prayer. Hers again, Jesus conveys Gods willing ness to respond to those who desire to find Him.

Certainly God could (and does give us things without our asking. Or the other hand, God says, at time; "you do not have because you do no ask" (James 4:2). If even sinful par ents provide for the basic needs o their children, Jesus reasons, hew much more will God grant His chil drenls requests (Matt. 7:9-11).

Jesus emphasized not only that we pray, but also that we do so persist­ently. Consider His parable of the importunate friend (Luke 11:5-8), re­membering it is Oriental in nature.

A certain man ran the great risk d losing face when he found he had nc food to provide for a late-arriving visitor. A sleeping friend was his only recourse. But the friend was not in­clined to help, for the request was extremely inconvenient. Friendship was not reason enough to grant such an outrageous request.

But something else did move the friend to action—persistence, or "im­portunity" The Greek word used, anaideia, can mean simple per­sistence, but here it also carries the sense of shamelessness. The man reduces himself to shameless beg­ging, even after his friend says no.

The point is this: If even a reluctant friend, in spite of great inconve­nience, will eventually grant such a "shameless" request, how much more will God respond to our needs. In other words, don't give up hope.

We must be careful, however, to note that in no way does Jesus imply that if you pray long enough, God will eventually rouse Himself to come to your aid. Rather, we should pray be­cause God delights in responding to the needs of His children (Luke 11:9-13).

A similar theme is conveyed in Christ^ parable of the unconsciona­ble judge (Luke 18:1-8), who at first refused to take any action to aid a helpless widow. If he would not assist her, she had no hope for justice. So


 


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XF-34-3


BECOME PESTERING?

no doubt you've wondered:

by William W. Klein


she nagged him until he finally did grant her request. Jesus' point is clear; If such a hard and ungodly judge could be moved to action by dogged persistence, how much more will our righteous and compas-


sionate God respond to the prayers of His elect.

Jesus does not suggest that God can be worn down (ike this judge; His illustration is not a license to nag God until we get what we want. Christ's


emphasis rests on the contrast be­tween the  cooperation of an unrighteous judge and God, the righ­teous Judge. Unlike the dilatory judge, God acts

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quickly to vindicate His elect.

Both parables indicate that contin­ued prayer pleases God. Per­severance in prayer is an important spiritual discipline.

Yet another insight is portrayed by Jesus' reluctance to heal the daugh­ter of the Syrophoenician woman (Matt. 15:21-28), a request similar to our petitions in prayer.

It is unlikely Jesus did not wish to heal her, that He changed His mind at the last moment because she per­sisted. Had He not wanted to heal her at the outset, He could have taken the disciples' advice and sent her away. In principle, Jesus was not opposed to healing gentiles (Matt. 8:5-13), and such a refusal would have been out of character for Him.

Jesus was simply testing the womanls faith. He had not stated He did not want to heal her; He merely set up an obstacle to demonstrate her faith. She willingly appealed to Jesus to act in keeping with His character.

Jesus welcomes all who come to Him in faith, weary, needy, helpless, and humble. His delay in answering her no doubt taught the disciples, whose hard hearts would gladly have rejected her desperate cries. Jesus responds to faith.

This ties in closely with the parable of the unjust judge, which the Lord summed up by saying, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8 NIV). Prayer characterizes those with faith. Will we continue in prayer until Jesus returns, or will we abandon it, betraying our lack of faith?

WHY DOESNT HE ANSWER?

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part from our failure to meet the conditions nec­essary for prayer (for ex­ample, praying in faith, in Jesus' name, according to His will), still other reasons may explain why prayers are not answered as we wished. For one thing, God may delay answers to impress on us our need of Him.

I recall my anguish years ago when God seemed to delay answering an urgent request As an American living in Aberdeen, Scotland, I was not allowed to accept employment. In our church, however, a part-time job opened for a "church officer," a


glorified term for "janitor" But this seemed idea! for my family, as the job included a rent-free flat with the small salary. I knew this arrangement would enable us to survive while I finished my doctoral work.

So I applied to the authorities, ask­ing them to waive the regulation in my case. Meanwhile, we prayed and prayed. The church had set a dead­line, for they needed someone to care for the property. Soon we were within a few days of that deadline; if we didn't hear from the officials, I would have to abandon the idea.

Why doesn't God answer? I won­dered. Why do the bureacratic wheels turn so slowly?

At that time, I had no idea that this "delay" would so tremendously enhance my prayer life. I was helpless to act; the matter was out of my hands. Only God could move the bureacracy. 1 realized how much I needed to depend on Him, not only for that answer, but also for life itself and all its details.

A second reason is that we may not be spiritually ready to receive what we have requested.

For example, I did get that job, but only after praying fervently. Scrub­bing floors and cleaning toilets are not fun tasks. However, instead of being tempted to complain, I could look back and see it as Godfe provi­sion. Because I knew that job was His answer, no feelings of pride or in­gratitude could overwhelm me. Our persistent prayers prepare us spiritu­ally so that we can graciously accept Godfe answer.

Third, for His'own inscrutable rea­sons, God may answer "not yet." In His wisdom, according to His econ­omy, now is not always the best tim­ing.

Jesus instructed His disciples to pray: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matt. 6:10 NASB). Obviously, this prayer is according to Godfe will, yet the complete answer has not been granted, although the church has prayed persistently for more than 1,900 years. Indeed, in some mea­sure He has, as many have re­sponded to His invitation to enter the kingdom and believers have accom­plished Godfe will. But the consum­mate answer awaits the end times.

Thus, when a prayer that is clearly Godls will has not been answered, we must persist in faith, knowing Godls


XF-343 answer appears to be "not yet."

WHY DENY REQUESTS?

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ometimes God chooses to deny our specific request while He honors our desire. At times, what would best fulfill the desire of our hearts is not what we requested.

Recorded in Augustinete Confes­sions is an incident involving his mother, a devout Christian who prayed that God would prevent Au­gustine from going to Italy. She longed for his conversion and thought that her influence could best bring him to Christ. Nevertheless, Augustine did sail for Italy. But there, under the influence of Ambrose, he became a Christian. God granted the mother^ desire, but to do so, He denied her request. Certainly, such a response doesn't really qualify as unanswered prayer.

So what about a "no" response? Is it consistent with all the promises about prayer? Of course it is, for God is God, and all that happens in the universe is subject to His will.

Scripture reports many cases in which God answers no. Once, for ex­ample, David fasted and prayed with tears for seven days and nights, ask­ing God to spare the life of his child that Bathsheba bore (2 Sam. 12:14-18). But as Nathan had prophesied, the child died on the seventh day.

At one time the prophet Elijah prayed in the desert, "I have had enough, Lord. . . . Take my life" (1 Kings 19:4 NIV). But God denied the godly mans foolish request.

Even Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane was not answered with a "yes." He prayed, "Abba, Father... everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me" (Mark 14:36). Jesus then acknowledged His readiness to accept the Father's will, saying, "Yet not what I will, but what you will"; nevertheless, His initial request was not granted.

God does not reject our prayer. But at times He does reject our proposal as to how our request ought to be answered.

Because God desires to give the best gifts to His children, He accom­plishes His will rather than ours, by providing His answer. Yet our prayers still prove effectual—an answer has

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PERSISTING OR PESTERING?It would be foolish for us to persist in making a request when the answer is consistently no, a request we are not certain is Gods will. It's one thing to pray daily for our bread, as we know that is Gods will. We also know we should pray persistently for the salvation of a friend or loved one, for God desires that people be saved (2 Peter 3:9). But concerning the removal of the cross, Jesus prayed only three times. And concerning his specific "thorn," Paul also prayed only three times.It's doubtful that three is the divinely appointed number of times we ought to request something, but there does come a time when we must accept a "no" and go on from there. Paul urges believers to pray about ev­erything  rather than be anxious, and he adds that in doing so we will have God's peace   (Phil. 4:6,7).In and of itself, persistence in prayer is not an indication of faith. In fact, it may indicate just the opposite— that we are full ofanxiety about the issue and don't really trust God.Apart from biblical evidence that reveals a certain matter is God's will, we might be guilty of badgering God by constantly praying for something. Even something we sense would enhance our ministry might be of lesser concern to God. What He has in mind might seem to us less com­fortable although it is better.   'If we sincerely desire to please God, we must be willing to accept with thanksgiving even a "no." We rest assured knowing God has answered us, and for our own good, He has denied our request.Because we know God delights to give us what is best, we have no need to come to Him with frivolous or faithless requests (Matt. 6:7).Somehow I cannot imagine the apostle Paul asking God to find him a

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come that would not have apart from believing prayer.

When we reject "no" as a valid answer, we neglect the personal di­mension of prayer. A rubber stamp approval is sometimes less than best. God may, in fact, respond by giving us better insight or more energy to do a task ourselves, guiding others to act in ways that inevitably answer our request or influencing events that provide an answer.

If we continue to demand a "yes" answer, we may fail to discern how God has actually answered our prayers. Surely we cannot confine an all-knowing and all-powerful God to our plans or our methods of working in this world.

Whatever served as Paul's thorn in the flesh, we know Paul viewed it as a

Somehow I cannot

imagine the apostle Paul asking God to find him a convenient parking place. Paul accepted and expected inconvenience. He knew it comes with following Christ.

negative obstacle to his ministry, "a messenger of Satan, to torment me" (2 Cor. 12:7). Paul figured it wasn't simply an unpleasant physical trait or disability. Therefore, he concluded that removal of the thorn would be consistent with God's will. To that end he prayed.

Three times he pleaded that God might remove it. But although Paul's motives were right, God did not grant his literal request. We have no reason to doubt that Paul prayed in faith; God simply had a better idea.

For Paul's benefit and the advance­ment of the gospel, God allowed the thorn to remain. God knew its pres­ence would accomplish more than its removal. So God said no, but He also added a great spiritual insight: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness?' (2 Cor. 12:9).


convenient parking place. Paul ac­cepted and expected inconve­nience. In fact, he knew it comes with following Christ (2 Cor. 4:7-18).

To pray for our comfort or ease or for our material and financial success indicates a lack of faith in God, who has promised to care for our needs. It also reveals a frightful insensitivity to God's concern for the poor and needy of the world.

How can we ask for more for our­selves, when many of God's children are literally starving? The "good gifts" God wants to give us will benefit us spiritually, not simply make our lives more comfortable (Matt. 7:11; Luke 11:13).

When Should I Persist?

The surest source for knowing what kinds of prayers to persist in is Godfe Word. In it we discover what conforms to His will. We ought to pray for fellow believers who fall into sin, that they will repent and seek Gods forgiveness (1 John 5:16). Both troublesome times and times of joy should also spur us on to prayer (James 5:13).

It is appropriate to pray for healing (James 5:15). But as we recall Paul's experience, we know our sovereign God is the One who determines whether healing is the best course of action.

Because Jesus pronounced his blessing upon peacemakers (Matt. 5:9), we know itls appropriate for God's children to persist in praying for peace (Psalm 122:6-9).

God has called us to holiness, and He's seeking to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, we ought to persist in prayer for our own spiritual growth, as this is one of the good gifts He longs to give us.

Jesus urged His disciples to "pray for those who mistreat you" (Luke 6:28). And we know that He urges us to do likewise.

The world needs the gospel des­perately, and we ought to persist in following Jesus' command to "ask the Lord of the harvest... to send out workers into his harvest field" (Luke 10:2).

The list could go on and on; Gods Word gives us much guidance in knowing how to pray. If we believe that prayer really works, there are no short­ages of concerns worthy of our prayer. The biggest danger is not to pray. ■    .


 


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