Prayer is one of the greatest blessings that God has given us. It is so important that the apostle Paul wrote that we should pray “without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). This is clearly an exaggeration to show us how much time should be spent in prayer. While prayer is such a wonderful part of the Christian’s life, I think that there are misconceptions about prayer that need to be addressed. I have publicly taught the things in this article and had them met with resistance even from my own brethren. While I understand why some would disagree, the whole of scriptures must be taken into view on all subjects – prayer included.
Many people seem to view God as a type of Santa Claus – just ask Him for whatever you want and you’ll get it. Because so many people believe and teach this falsehood comedian George Carlin said that he prays to the sun and gets the same results as when he prayed to God. This belief probably comes from a misunderstanding of John 14:13, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
To simply take this verse and run with it, you might conclude that whatever you ask of God will be granted, but this ignores many other passages. While much time could be devoted to the many misconceptions about prayer, allow me to move on to the issue I wish to expand upon.
The real issue that I wish to deal with is whether or not our prayers change the mind of God. For example, your friend has been diagnosed with cancer. If you pray for this friend, will God heal them of their disease? The thing that is so often overlooked when we discuss prayer is the foreknowledge of God. Consider Isaiah 46: 9: Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10: Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure”
There are many other passages that could be given to show that God knows all things before they ever happen. Since most people already believe in the foreknowledge of God, I don’t think it is necessary to list many other passages to confirm that which we are probably in agreement on.
Now we must ask the question – if God already knows what He is going to do, or allow to happen, what is the purpose of praying for a change in someone’s health, our personal troubles, etc.? What would be accomplished by prayer if the outcome is already known by God?
I think that part of the problem comes from a lack of appreciation of what we’ve been given through prayer. Picture this – President Elect Obama invites you to visit with him. He wants your opinion on what direction the country should take. You are given personal, one-on-one time with the President of the United States. Even if he chooses not to pursue your suggestions you would probably tell everyone about the time you got to sit down with the President and tell him what you’d like to see happen. Friends, the President of the United States is just a man and most of us will never gain personal access to him. We are given unlimited access to the one, true, living God! If we do His will, his ears are open to our prayers (1 Peter 3:12). Why don’t we appreciate this like we should? Shouldn’t we have a sense of awe that, even if our petitions are not granted, that we are given the opportunity to speak to the Creator of the universe?
Consider this – if God does not know what He will do until we ask something of Him, then He does not possess true foreknowledge. If God literally changes His mind based upon our requests then He has no real plan – He would be tossed to and fro by the wants of mankind. Some people will point to the conversation between Abraham and God regarding Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18: 20-33) as an example of God changing His mind (and there are other examples that could be cited).
We must ask – did God truly change His mind because of Abraham’s petitions? Again, if God did change His mind, then He had no clue as to what He would really do. I submit to you that this is anthropomorphism – deity being represented as having the traits of man in order to deal with man. This exchange shows the great mercy of God – if only 10 good souls were found God wouldn’t have destroyed those wicked cities. We must understand the implications of our beliefs. If we believe that God’s mind has even been truly changed (as men change their minds), then He does not possess the foreknowledge that He has stated He has. If He does not possess foreknowledge then He is a liar and all that we read of in scriptures cannot be trusted.
To fully understand how God answers prayer, let us look at two great examples:
2 Corinthians 12: 7Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me–to keep me from exalting myself!
8Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
9And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness ” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Here we see the apostle Paul, who probably did more for the cause of Christ than anyone in history. Three times he prayed for his physical ailment to be removed, yet this request was not granted him. And why? Because God’s power is perfected in weakness. Simply put, it was not the will of God that Paul’s problem would be removed. This is not even the best example! Look:
Mark 14:36 And He was saying, ” Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.”
Like Paul after Him, Jesus prayed three times that the suffering of the cross might be avoided. Just like Paul, this request was denied. These examples shatter the notion that any request will be granted. The prayer of the Son of God was denied, so we must realize that our prayers will also be denied from time to time.
It is in Jesus’ prayer above that I think we can see the true aim of prayer – to speak with God in order to bend our will to His. We must get to the point where we can always say, “not what I will, but what You will”. If we can get to that point we can say that we are like our Savior in our prayers. We acknowledge that the important thing is that the will of the Lord be done. Our focus shouldn’t be getting the things that we want, but that we have the strength to accept what God has decided should be done.
To be certain, even though He already knows what we want, God wants us to ask Him for these things. Let us make sure that our motives are pure when we ask things of God that we might receive them (James 4:3). Let us not be selfish in our requests, and let us pray that we might be able to accept whatever His will may prove to be. I think this is the true goal of our prayers.
16 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 3, 2009 at 6:54 am
ProdigalKnot
Your comment “the true aim of prayer – to speak with God in order to bend our will to His.” nails it!
I appreciate very much, Corey, that you take the time and have the interest to engage in scriptural debate and examination. It always distresses me when I visit a minister’s blog and find articles that speak not a word about God, truth, scripture, spirituality or souls, but rather go on and on about their favorite sports team, their favorite rock albums, the movies they gone to see and so on.
While I am not their judge, I wonder how they will answer God for the time and opportunity they squandered on meaningless drivel and led no one toward God through their words.
January 22, 2009 at 2:31 pm
lee
good morning corey,
please consider these scriptures.
Jas 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
Jas 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
Jas 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Jas 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
i have asked the coc reps in my area about this, specifically do they
obey the command to anoint the sick…..they do not.
i told them they are not being obedient to the bible.
they dont think god heals this way.
what do you think?
lets talk
lee
January 22, 2009 at 3:22 pm
coreydavis
Lee,
I have worshiped with the Destin, Florida church of Christ and they announced that they had done this very thing only a few nights previously. I know you didn’t say it, but many have said that none of the churches of Christ do this and that is untrue.
I would say this – we do need to consider what the purpose of the oil was. Look at Luke 10:
33″But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion,
34and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
We can see from other passages that oil was often used in a medicinal fashion. The first century Christians couldn’t just go to a hospital and have their ailments treated. I believe that in verse 14 James is saying that the elders are to pray for the individual (this is the spiritual part) and they are to anoint him with oil as the physical part – to actually do something physically to help the infirmity if they can.
Notice that the oil is never mentioned again, yet in the next verse we see that the prayer of faith can save the sick. The real power is in the prayer, not in the oil. I see nothing wrong with someone literally following these instructions to the letter, but I think that if we focus on the oil (as if it has some magical properties) then we miss the point James was making.
I look at the oil in this passage much like the wine in 1 Timothy 5:23 – it is making use of the limited resources in health care. Would we insist that someone should only use a little wine for their stomachs if it is troubling them? I think not – we have much better treatments for these problems.
January 22, 2009 at 4:35 pm
lee
Exo 40:9 And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof: and it shall be holy.
Jas 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
Jas 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
i think it is a stretch to say the oil is for medicinal reasons when the earliest use is for what appears to be sanctification.
however this was not my point, which was if any one in the church is sick
they should call for the elders to be anointed and prayed for.
the should EXPECT to be healed.
this should NOT be a rare event as the church is full of sick people.
if johnny robertson and his followers refuse to carry out gods word
just like the bible says, then according to their own words they are not
in the lords church.
they pick and choose what scripture is for today and what has passed.
i am not imposing this standard upon them. i just want someone to admit the inconsistency.
lee
January 22, 2009 at 4:53 pm
coreydavis
You can go to the OT and find oil used to anoint places, objects and people – this is true. The fact is, oil was used for multiple purposes. We can’t ignore the context. In Luke 10 oil is used – why? For medicinal purposes – the Samaritan used it to treat the wounded man. Why would the oil be used in James 5? We have a sick individual being discussed – he is not a vessel being anointed for holy use. He is not being made a king, like Saul in 1 Samuel. We should be able to use the process of elimination here to get to the purpose of the oil.
There are many sick people in the church, and having the elders (and the entire congregation) pray for them is practiced in probably every church of Christ. It is hardly rare. These sick individuals also seek out medical treatment. I would again have you look at Paul’s instruction to Timothy and note that this doesn’t have to be stretched to the point that people can’t seek out better medical care where it is available.
There is no inconsistency here – there are always those who will search for some “gotcha” scripture to attack the churches of Christ. James 5:14 can fall into this category when context is ignored. Those who refuse to teach the Biblical plan of salvation and ignore the inspired organization, work and worship of the church can search all they want for some supposed inconsistency to no avail. Again I say that the only way this can be viewed as an inconsistency is by completely ignoring the context and emphasis of the passage.
January 22, 2009 at 5:07 pm
lee
woa there big fella,
take it easy………
i dont even know what you do in your church.
go back and read again.
i said these are johnnys standards and practices.
they dont anoint and pray.
is it fair to say that this is unbiblical?
will you agree?
you seem to think im searching for a weak spot in their doctrine,
but im just trying to rightly divide the word.
‘there are always those who will search for some “gotcha” scripture to attack the churches of Christ.’
dont fence me in corey
lee
January 22, 2009 at 6:02 pm
coreydavis
Lee,
I’m not angry. I do get weary of people who love questions like, “well, why don’t you practice a holy kiss?” I did feel like this discussion was heading that way, but it doesn’t make me angry.
As to Johnny and the churches of Christ in your area, it seems like there are some people who constantly want me to comment on their practices. I don’t like to comment on something that I can’t confirm when it comes to other congregations.
I have little doubt that they don’t practice anointing the sick with oil (for the reasons I’ve already explained). Few congregations do (also for the reasons I’ve explained). I find it hard to believe that they don’t pray for the sick. I think that without exception every congregation that I’ve been to prays for the sick. IF they don’t pray for the sick then they are definitely in violation of God’s word, but I highly doubt that to be the case.
January 22, 2009 at 6:33 pm
lee
i go to the doc as much as the next guy. but that doesnt mean
i dont pray for healing.
is this a lack of faith? god can decide.
as far as confirming what i say about johnny…. its very easy to find out.
let me tell you what i believe is the one time i believe god “spoke”
to me. i was wondering one day in the car why it was that some people
who are prayed for never get healed.
these are christian people{in my belief} who have done much work for god
who died. i was also suffering with back issues at the time and then i “heard it”. what is so special about you?
after thinking awhile on it i realized that all people die, good and evil suffer.
with two exceptions enoch and elijah, sooner or later it happens to us all.
i still believe god heals but i dont know why some and not others.
this has helped me understand that im just clay and he makes the vessel
as he wills.
even if we all lived to be 100, it is still a small amount of time.
i am comforted that he is in control.
lee
January 22, 2009 at 8:10 pm
coreydavis
Lee – every night, almost without exception, I pray for God to heal me from multiple sclerosis. Paul prayed 3 times for his thorn in the flesh to be removed but was answered that God’s power is perfected in weakness. Perhaps that is what He is telling me, yet like the widow of Luke 18 I ask over and over for healing. If you have a lack of faith then I guess I do too.
You may be surprised, but I had an experience like you. I don’t believe God “spoke” to me, but He allowed His truth to come forcefully to my mind.
In my “infidel” period I used to ask people, “Does God love me more than my mother?” They’d say, “yes”. I’d say, “well my mother wouldn’t condemn me to eternal punishment, so how can you say God loves me more if He might do that?” No one ever had an answer for that.
When I began attending my congregation with my wife (then my girlfriend) I was really hearing the word for the first time. Not clever illustrations, personal “testimonies”, or motivational speeches loosely rooted in scripture – really getting into the word for the first time.
I remember I was sitting in a religious studies class in college before class actually started when the answer hit me. I realized that God’s version of love is sending His only Son to die for me. It isn’t hugs and kisses. It is sacrifice and action. I saw that my version of “love” wasn’t God’s version. I think that finally getting into the scriptures allowed me to see that truth. It wasn’t a revelation apart from the word, but rather a revelation FROM the word. I admit that when the thought came to me I felt stunned, and yet happy that I finally understood the truth. That may sound silly that I could feel blown away by such a simple Biblical truth, but I was.
I think that the same thing happened to you – you were hit by a realization from the word – what is so special about us? Paul suffered. Jesus suffered. Why would you and I be above it?
January 22, 2009 at 8:23 pm
lee
i will pray for your healing too
January 25, 2009 at 3:37 am
walkinginlove
As will I!
January 25, 2009 at 3:51 am
walkinginlove
BTW I agree with about 95% of your original comments but I am concerned about one thing, I have read where God appears to change his mind about things. Now if God really already knows what will be, the conclusion I read in your post is that he isn’t really changing his mind but only allowing the human to think that. Now to me that seems to be a falsehood coming from God.
Where I see things is this, if you know anything about the game of Chess, Grandmasters can see into the game 20-30 moves ahead. I see God’s ability as such, but on an infinite scale. Thus the board has billions of players, and he sees the results of the complete combination of moves of all the pieces, thus there are times when one line of play as it were and another will still lead to the same position later on in the game. Thus it does not matter to God what line is played, during those times when he is hearing our prayers, he may change from line 1 to line 2 because he knows that it will not effect the results. But there are times when a line of play is critical, like Jesus death, Jesus asks, but also knows that the only real line of advancement is through his suffering.
So I see God as the Master Chess player who sees the victory at the end of the ages, who also sees it gained through multitudes of choices, thus he has a plan that takes into account all variables of freewill, yet still wins in the end since he has analyzed it completely.
I just have an issue with God appearing to change his mind. To me he does change his mind.
January 27, 2009 at 2:46 pm
coreydavis
WIL – I have also entertained the “Chessmaster” view, but that really isn’t the same as being all knowing. Even we, as humans, can usually foresee the possible outcomes of various choices, but that isn’t the same as actually knowing what will happen.
We must understand the implications of such a belief – God wouldn’t have known that Jesus would fulfill His mission, He would only know that he possibly would fulfill His mission. That is not the same as foreknowledge.
I do see, as you do, what appears to be a changing of God’s mind in several instances. If we can say that He indeed changes His mind, I think we are forced to conclude that it isn’t the same as when we change our minds as humans. Many of the times that God appears to change His mind I think truly are tests of the men He was dealing with at the time. This doesn’t appear to be a falsehood on God’s part to me. Look at the exchange with Abraham like this (regarding Sodom & Gomorrah) – God truly would have changed His mind and spared the cities if 10 righteous had been found. This showed His great mercy to Abraham. However, God knew that 10 righteous would NOT be found. Many other examples can be viewed in the same light.
I think you, like me, struggle with separating God’s foreknowledge from our free will. This struggle has left some to abandon the notion that we even have free will. Thankfully that doesn’t appear to be the case with you. I think we must understand that God knowing what we will do doesn’t change the fact we were free to make our own choices. God knew that Adam & Eve would sin, yet they were free to make that choice. This is a hard thing to understand, yet if we’re going to understand the foreknowledge of God, and our free will, we must try to reconcile these things.
Again, I agree with you that God may have changed His mind in some divine sense, but it is definitely not the way that we change our minds. When we reach some conclusion we must make sure it harmonizes with all of scripture and we must understand the implications of our conclusions. This is a difficult subject and I think that whatever we conclude must be weighed against those two guidelines.
February 3, 2009 at 2:54 pm
churchesofchrist
Corey. My Pentecostal friends believe that God speaks to them – what say ye? Just this morning my friend of 10 years said God woke him up at 4am talked to him regarding a motorcycle. He told God he was concerned about purchasing the bike, because of layoffs and insecurity on his job. He said the Lord told him, “MY RICHES ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD” and that he needed to live in the realm of God, not to look at the world, meaning to ignore the layoffs and lack of jobs. In others words, he said the Lord told him to step out in faith despite his circumstances and the circumstances around him. Okay….my opinion on this is that God doesn’t speak to people this way today and in these last days has spoken to us through his Son…the written Word. My guess is that these people are thinking thoughts in their mind and calling their thoughts God speaking…
February 3, 2009 at 3:09 pm
coreydavis
Isn’t that convenient that “God” told him to do exactly what he wanted to do?
I’ve seen televangelists claim God told them to build amusement parks. I’m sure you know of many who have made predictive claims only to have them never come to be. The things these people claim God has told them are absurd, and it is sad that so many people will believe them without putting them to the test (1 John 4:1). If we were still under the law of Moses these people would be put to death (Deut. 18:20).
What it comes down to for me is that the miraculous spiritual gifts have ceased. There is now only one baptism – water – (Eph 4:5), which means the baptism of the Holy Spirit has ceased. There are no living apostles to transmit those gifts by the laying on of hands (Acts 8:17-18). One of the miraculous gifts was the gift of prophecy – to get a divine message directly from God. If this gift has ceased, then God is not communicating directly with these individuals.
As I’ve told Lee, we can sometimes be hit so forcefully with a revelation from the word that it almost feels like God is speaking to us, but there is no biblical evidence to support messages directly from God apart from His word. I would agree with your assessment that people often call their own thoughts messages from God.
February 3, 2009 at 4:47 pm
churchesofchrist
Growing up in this movement, I also seen services where God supposedly would speak through individuals. One person would speak in an unknown tongue and then someone else would stand up and interpret what the unknown tongue was and start off by saying “ I am God…then give a brief message and then end with “thus said the Lord.”
Most of my friends are from this movement, family too. I can not write them off as “unsaved” …because I know these people truly trust Jesus to save them and their faith is in what Jesus done for them. They are just ignorant in doctrine and have misunderstandings. If Gods grace can cover our disagreements-misunderstandings ( and we have many ) of scripture/doctrine, will he not do the same for others, who place real faith in Christ? After all, who can really say that they know it all??? Who understands everything as God? I am sure I know what you will say, but maybe others may not.
Maybe one day I will reach a point where I can say someone is lost who trust Jesus to save them, seeing their doctrine and practice isn’t 100% correct…but right now, I haven’t come to that point. Maybe if I were perfect, knowing all…I could, but I am far from knowing it all….maybe that’s what grace is about
Even Jesus, who was/is perfect accepted us knowing little or no doctrine….so I will follow that pattern, until I see otherwise.