Ephesians 6:18; the attitude of prayer – humility and awe (fear of the Lord).

Class Outline:

Wednesday August 17, 2022

 

Attitude in prayer:

We must be humble before the holiness of God.

 

Before God, in the inner room, which is akin to the Holy of Holies, the brilliant light of God’s glory does not admit darkness. Darkness itself hates divine light.

 

Now, do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that we have to be sinless to enter into prayer with God or communion with God. We must be humble like the tax-collector.

 

ISA 57:15

For thus says the high and exalted One

Who lives forever, whose name is Holy,

"I dwell on a high and holy place,

And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit

In order to revive the spirit of the lowly

And to revive the heart of the contrite.

 

It was preposterous to sin the Holy of Holies or to bring sin in there. Aaron’s sons brought unholy fire, something they were not commanded, to the Lord’s presence, and they died on the spot.

 

LEV 10:3

Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the Lord spoke, saying,

'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy,

And before all the people I will be honored.'"

 

The Pharisee has taken the history of Nadab and Abihu to heart. He knows this passage well. But he has interpreted it to mean adherence to a few commandments while rejecting mercy, love, and compassion for others. He thinks that his few observances have made him holy and so he can brag about himself to God.

 

It always leads to dangerous conclusions when we know and do part of the truth while we reject other parts of the truth.

 

The reason that our own unholy approaches to God are never met with death is that every believer is cleansed by the blood of Christ. But we cannot believe that our prayers that lack faith, requests that are motivated by sin and selfishness, petitions that are not according to the will of God are going to be granted. God hears all we say and sees every thought we have, but effective communication with the Father, answers from the Father, can only come when we enter into the inner room in a manner of holiness.

 

Effective communication with God can only happen when we enter the inner room in a manner of holiness.

 

Our hearts must be in a holy condition and our requests or statements must also be in a holy condition. That doesn’t mean that we have to sound holy (whatever that means). The particular words we use are unimportant. What matters is that we are under God’s will and in communion with His holy Person.

 

ROM 8:26-27

And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

 

It is important for us to see in depth what Pharisaism really is (it remains a human condition today). It is more than people being religious or false. It is the reduction of the right way of mankind before God to something ceremonial, overt only, partial, and easier to do; while being convinced it is all that is required and therefore good and holy.

 

MAT 5:21-24

“You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell (bitterness finding expression in words - hell deserving). 23 If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”

 

At the start we should concede that not everyone will reconcile with us when we offer such peace to them. Be that as it is, the Lord reveals that we should be at peace with all and offer peace to all before we commune with Him, serve Him, worship Him. Jesus is teaching about a condition of the heart that rightly communes with God.

 

PSA 66:16, 18

Come and hear, all who fear God, …

If I regard wickedness in my heart,

The Lord will not hear;

 

1JO 3:21-22

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.

 

It may at first sound to us like we are doing good so that God will give us things, which would make the Christian life something like a job. But we know this not to be true, so John must mean something else, which is not difficult to determine. If our hearts are pure in character we enter into God’s inner chamber of holiness and commune with Him. Having that heart gives us the capacity to enjoy God’s spiritual blessings. We will be able to enjoy the material as well, but no material is promised to us beyond what we need to live. God is offering us the life of heaven, not the dreams of the world.

 

One great OT example is the Book of Job. Job practically prays throughout the whole book, but he lacks understanding of what is happening to him until God clarifies it (from the whirlwind) and Job has a breakthrough, and then, when Job understands God better, he prays much better (JOB 42:1-6). However, at the start of the book a question is raised by Satan, “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Is it possible that a person can come to love God for Himself alone so that God’s presence is enough for pure contentment in life? 42 chapters later, after a lot of struggle to understand, the answer is yes, and understanding God and prayer to Him is the key to it.

 

JOB 42:1-6

Then Job answered the Lord, and said,

2 "I know that Thou canst do all things,

And that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted.

3 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?'

"Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,

Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know."

4 'Hear, now, and I will speak;

I will ask Thee, and do Thou instruct me.'

5 "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear;

But now my eye sees Thee;

6 Therefore I retract,

And I repent in dust and ashes."

 

In the last line, Job sounds a lot like the tax-collector in the Lord’s parable.

 

God is sufficient for us. Our Lord’s instruction is to not think that doing a few good things (not actually committing murder) reveals a heart in the condition of holiness. A great OT example of this is in 1Sa 15 where king Saul did some of what he was commanded but not all, and then, thinking all was well, went right on praising and worshipping God. Samuel arrived and asked Saul what he was doing, to which Saul replied, “I have carried out the commandments of the Lord.” Samuel replied condemning him, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, and in obeying His voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.”

 

Prayer is much more than the words or the position or the place. It is the condition of the heart (humility, fear, obedience, love, etc.).

 

In our parable, the Pharisee says:

 

“God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get”

(LUK 18:11-12).

 

Therefore, to the Pharisee, if he didn’t actually commit murder, he was fulfilling the Law concerning others. The apostle Paul tells us that when he was a Pharisee, that he was convinced that he kept the Law perfectly, so also with the rich, young ruler. And so, Christians can do the same if they miss the heart of the Scripture while keeping a few popular behaviors. If we do that, our inner-selves remain untransformed and our prayer lives ineffective. Jesus says no to this.