Ask anything - Doctrine of prayer part 3 John 14:13John 14:13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14:14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
/2. Defining Prayer:
a. Prayer is the privileged function of the royal priest to approach the grace throne of the Father with thanksgiving, petition (self), and intercession (others).\
Prayer is commanded by God and is a part of the priesthood. All prayer is based on grace and not on works. Volition is never violated by prayer, which would place you in authority over others and over God. When you intercede for another believer you assist in their ministry.
Since we are all commanded to be in full time Christian service our prayer life should be consistent and according to God’s protocol and not your own false ideas which are usually related to sincerity.
Praying to Mary, to other so called saints, to Jesus or to the Holy Spirit goes directly against God’s procedure of protocol.
/b. All prayer is directed towards the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the power of the Spirit.\
When God’s precise procedure is not followed then prayer becomes ineffective. While many people are sincere, if they are sincerely wrong then prayer is not heard. Who are we to superimpose our own ideas about how something should be done when God has given us clear and precise direction? Yet unfortunately, this is what people do.
/c. Prayer comes to the Father from three sources: The believer priest, Jesus Christ (Heb 7:25), and God the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:28-29). \
God the Father never prays because He is the recipient of all prayer. Prayers are not direct towards Christ, because if they were it would destroy His function as Mediator. Prayers are not directed towards G/HS because if they were it would destroy His function as the power source.
/d. Prayer is communication with God in the intimacy as well as the respect of a child to a Father for the expression of personal needs in petition and perceived needs of others in intercession. \
/Rom 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit [HS] of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" \
It was stated that a slave was not allowed to use the word “Abba” when referring to his master. So it is most likely used here to solidify for all time what the Spirit has identified to you supernaturally, that you are an adopted son of God, not in modern terms but in Roman style adoption = you are a fellow heir with Christ so when you pray you approach boldly as such a one without a trace of fear.
Roman adoption was very different than what we think of when he hear the word adoption today. In the Roman Empire a father would adopt his own son when he was mature enough to be a man and a Roman citizen. If a father’s son failed under authority and never gained that level of maturity then another member of the family, a younger brother or nephew would be adopted. He was clothed with a white robe and a grand ceremony was given in his honor. The adopted, adult son would then be ready to receive the inheritance of the father and eventually be asked to assume control of the family economy. Roman adoption was an honor given to an adult son [whether a biological son or not] that is alien to adoption as we know it today.
On the opening pages of The Robe, Lloyd Douglas has Lucia describe the ceremony by which her older brother had been acknowledged as a Roman citizen.
“Father had bought Demetrius [the Corinthian slave] six years ago and presented him to Marcellus on his seventeenth birthday. What a wonderful day that was, with all their good friends assembled in the Forum to see Marcellus — clean-shaven for the first time in his life — step forward to receive his white toga. Cornelius Capito and Father had made speeches, and then they had put the white toga on Marcellus. Lucia had been so proud and happy that her heart had pounded and her throat had hurt, though she was only nine then, and couldn’t know much about the ceremony except that Marcellus was expected to act like a man now....
Later in the volume Marcellus himself tells a friend of this ceremony. “When a Roman of our sort comes of age, Paulus, there is an impressive ceremony by which we are inducted into manhood. Doubtless you felt, as I did, that this was one of the high moments of life. Well do I remember — the thrill of it abides with me still —how all our relatives and friends assembled that day in the stately Forum Julium. My father made an address, welcoming me into Roman citizenship. It was as if I had never lived until that hour. I was so deeply stirred, Paulus, that my eyes swam with tears. And then good old Cornelius Capito made a speech, a very serious one, about Rome’s right to my loyalty, my courage, and my strength. I knew that tough old Capito had a right to talk of such matters, and I was proud that he was there. They beckoned to me, and I stepped forward. Capito and my father put the white toga on me — and life had begun.”’
/Eph 1:5 In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,\ So in prayer you must recognize your adoption. You have been adopted as an adult son. God has given you the inheritance of Jesus Christ. You never, ever have anything to fear when you approach the throne of your Father.
/Mark 14:36 And He was saying, "Abba! Father! All things are possible for Thee; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what Thou wilt." \
As sons we must conform to the will of the Father.
Yes, He can do all things, but not all things are a part of His will.
The Father here could have said, “OK son, we’ll find another way,” but there was no other way. It was foretold, and the Lord was familiar with all the prophecies concerning His cross and He accepted the Father’s will.
Why bother praying this when He knows the answer? Relationship.
Principle: /If the Father’s will entails great undeserved suffering the end of it will be maximum glory to Him which will be shared with you. Don’t pray to get out of it!\
If you pray to get out of suffering you have failed to take advantage of God’s grace, and then undeserved suffering will turn to deserved suffering because of your weakness and NV.
We will be delivered in [not out of] the underserved suffering if we don’t lose heart. Without the suffering we will never glorify God with the result that we will not share in it.
2 Cor 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
/ “lose heart” – present active indicative of egkakeo [egkakeo] = to become despondent, fearful, discouraged, or weary. Even in undeserved suffering we should maintain vigor and life.\
2 Cor 4:17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
/To pray for suffering to be removed is to ask God to remove your opportunity to glorify Him; rather, pray for insight and wisdom for application.\
2 Cor 4:18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
/Heb 12:3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. \
We consider Him because we have been graciously given the same power and plan that He was given as well as the same access to the throne of God.
/ “lose heart” – present passive participle of ekluo [ekluo] = to become fatigued, despondent, discouraged, to faint in the soul.\
/e. All prayer was heard by the omniscience of God in eternity past, therefore the Father, the maker of the decree, has heard your prayer twice, Isa 64:24.\
/Isa 65:24 "It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. \
Effective prayer agrees with God’s will and so He is happy to make your request a part of the divine decree – a part of human history.
God can arrange your circumstances, He can choose the time of your birth, your parents, environment, etc., but God does not make you ask for certain things. Whatever you ask for, in the right way, with the right motivation and power, and according to His will, He has made a part of the divine decree.
Several times God was about to stomp out the Exodus generation in the desert and Moses interceded and God heeded the request.
Num 11:1 Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.
Num 11:2 The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died out.
Num 11:3 So the name of that place was called Taberah [burning], because the fire of the Lord burned among them.
/3. Prayer is commanded:
a. Prayer is mandated in the OT (Jer 33:3) and the NT, 1 Thess 5:17 pray without ceasing; [make a habit of prayer, habitual and spontaneously; always be in a ready frame of mind to pray].\
Turn to 1Thess 5.
In verses 16-18 we are commanded to have inner happiness, to pray, and to give thanks, and for each of them there is attached an adverb stating it is to be so at all times.
1 Thess 5:16 Rejoice [have inner happiness] always [at all times or at all occasions] [shortest verse in the Greek NT];
/ “Have inner happiness at all times,”\ [this does not refer to outbursts of emotion over everything.]
1 Thess 5:17 pray without ceasing [incessantly];
/ “without ceasing” – adialeiptos [adialeiptos] = without intermission, incessantly, assiduously. \
This word is also used in:
/Rom 1:9 - 10 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly [adialeiptos] I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. \
1 Thess 1:2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;
1 Thess 1:3 constantly [adialeiptos]bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father,
/Part of our thanksgiving in prayer is for others in the congregation or elsewhere that are positive towards doctrine.\
1 Thess 2:13 And for this reason we also constantly [adialeiptos]thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.
1 Thess 5:18 in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Therefore, it is not just prayer that is in the category of unceasingly, but also the entire metal attitude of the believer in being filled with the spirit, having faith, taking in doctrine, giving thanks, experiencing inner happiness, being occupied with Christ, etc.
/The concept of assiduousness (i.e. everything, all, and at all times) appears over 1250 times in the NT in connection with all things related to the plan of God. \
It is obvious that we cannot be doing them all at the same time at every moment.
Can I be taking in doctrine, praying and serving at the same time? Can I be rejoicing, singing, praying and comforting another believer all at the same time?
However, there are so many of these attitudes and virtues that do occur simultaneously. I can rejoice in prayer and I can sing and give thanks as well as pray and give thanks. So, when and where is the believer to do what God desires Him to do? That would take me a year to answer, so let’s just stick with prayer. |