The concept of God’s sovereignty presupposes that He has absolute authority over all things both in Heaven and on Earth and that He can choose to do whatever He wants to whomever He wants at wherever time He wants it done.
The trend unfortunately today when spiritual matters are discussed almost on every subject is to magnify man and to dishonour and degrade God.
On the subject of prayer, there are many prayers today that many who call themselves believers are praying that are not only unbiblical but stands as an insult and a direct disregard for God’s sovereignty.
The idea that ‘’Prayer changes things’’ or that we can somehow persuade God to change His plans because of our many words or that by our prayers change our destinies is a direct disregard for God’s sovereignty.There is no inherent power in faith or prayer but there is in the God who answers them. In other words its not our emotions or our good speaking that moves God to answer. It is whether or not it is according to what he wants accomplished, his will!
If God indeed is all knowing possessing the attribute of knowing the ending from the beginning, then to suggest God changes His purpose through our praying is to deny His eternal wisdom.
Eph 3:11 speaks of God having an eternal purpose and Eph 1:11 says he does all things after the counsel of his own will. If His purpose is an eternal one, then His policy and plans cannot be reshaped by anybody’s prayers.
This God, is the unseen director behind every event in our lives.
Jeremiah understood this when he said in chapter 10:23 ‘’’O Lord I know that the determination of the way of a man is not in himself, it’s not in man, even in a strong man or in a man at his best to direct his own steps” (Amp).
No other scripture puts it better than Psalms 139:16.
‘’ Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days of my life were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.(Amp).
If God then is sovereign and He ordain all things, and if all events in our lives are suppose to be part of an eternal programme of God, what then do we intend to achieve through prayers. If all of His blessings, grace and indeed our salvation is not dependent on human input, of what importance then is prayer.
Why must we pray at all. We should pray, because God tells us to pray. God offers us prayer as a possibility and commands us to pray because He is a relational God who purposes to have a relationship with his people. It is not that God receives new data through our prayers, but that through our prayers information is clothed in love making it communication. God has ordained that He will be affected by our loving communication to him.
It must be understood that we do not pray to change the decree of divine providence but rather we pray to obtain what God has determined would be obtained by our prayers. The mystery actually is this ” that this Sovereign God has woven our prayers from eternity into all of His creation.That if our prayers are answered at all, they had been from the foundation of the world.
God wants us to pray because He wants a relationship with us and by His sovereign right has choosen our prayers as a means of attaining the end which He has so determine before the foundation of the world.
Let us also understand that this same God who determined to grant a blessing or an event to occur also gives gives the burden and spirit of supplication to the one who prays and seeks the blessing. The burden to pray starts with Him and not with us. “” For its Him that worketh in us both to will and to do His good pleasure”‘
In Daniel, Chapter 9, the prophet fervently prays for the very thing that he is positive the sovereign God is going to accomplish. Daniel is told the exact time that God is going to fulfill a prior prophecy made through Jeremiah. Notice that Daniel’s knowing exactly what God was going to do and the precise time that He was going to do it, in no way kept him from pleading with God to actually accomplish what had been promised. In fact, the exact opposite is always true! The more certain we are about God’s sovereign promises and providence, the more we will plead for the very things we know belong to us in His covenant.
The first recorded prayer meeting in the early church after the day of Pentecost is a classic illustration of the biblical relationship of the sovereignty of God and prayer. Let us read the text in Acts 4:
23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. 24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: 25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? 26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28 For TO DO WHATSOEVER THY HAND AND THY COUNSEL DETERMINED BEFORE TO BE DONE. 29. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, 30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:23-31).
This special prayer meeting was in response to the first great persecution of the church.
Is it not amazing that they did not begin their prayer like we would normally have done. They started by worshipping and praising God for His greatness and Sovereignty. Inspite of what they were going through at the time they could praise Him and be sure God was in control even of that situation.
This is the foundation for true biblical prayer.
Faith in God’s Sovereignty. Absolute trust and confidence in God’s power and sovereign providence. They were so sure He was in charge no matter what.
Why did the church remind God of how David’s prophecy concerning the world’s hatred of Christ was so clearly fulfilled in the crucifixion? Everybody was against Christ. Every source of human authority determined to destroy Him forever. The Christians were reminding themselves and God that they were at that moment in the very same situation that their Elder Brother had been in before them. He was hated and in trouble; they were hated and in trouble. However , just as Christ was safe in the hands of His Father, so were they. The cause was God’s, not their own. They realized that they were only pawns and God Himself was the Master of the game.
Those besieged Christians saw no conflict between fervent prayer and God’s sovereign decrees. They knew that nothing could have happened to them that had not been decreed by God, any more than it could have happened to Christ.
If we could only trust and believe Him at all times, that He is always in charge even times when we have felt let down and hurt, if we could always approach Him with worship and thanksgiving knowing that nothing could happen to us without our Father’s permission, we would have established a true foundation for a true biblical praying that honours God.
Isn’t it also amazing that when they do finally ask for specific help from God that they ask for grace to boldly keep on preaching the very same message that got them into trouble in the first place. They leave the persecution with God and pray for boldness to declare what they know is the truth of God, regardless of the results. My friend, that is real prayer.
Real prayer is a joyful submission to a sovereign God to be used for His purposes. We are acknowledging that God has the right and power to do whatever seems good to Him. We are saying that regardless of what God does tomorrow, we know it is part of the “”all things” in Romans 8:28.
And the true test of prayer is in what is asked for. These believers were only concerned about God’s interest and not their safety.
How about praying for personal needs or for things we are not sure God’s decree or purpose in the matter is. Like praying for the healing of a loved one that is sick, praying for journey mercies or for any specific need.
Take David’s Prayer For His Baby.
Reading 2 Samuel 12:15-23, we find David petitioning the Lord to heal the stricken baby who was born as a result of his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. In this case, God clearly revealed to David what is going to happen, the child was going to die, yet he still pleaded for the boy to live.
David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground’
(Verse 16)
David was grief-stricken as all of us would be; in great sorrow, he pleaded with the Lord for the small child. But did he use ‘positive confession’? Did he say, ‘I rebuke this illness in the name of the Lord. God is a miracle-working God and I claim the healing miracle right here and now!’?? No! There is no indication of that, rather a recognition that while he should fast and pray for the child, God’s will in the matter would be just.
‘Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”
So he said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again?…”‘
(Verses 21-23)
Was David wrong in praying as he did? Had not God said that the child would die and therefore it was a waste of time to pray, or does that conclusion not necessarily follow?
Please notice that David had wept for the little child while petitioning the Lord. But today’s ‘positive confession’ kind of praying would say, weeping is negative – just claim the sick back! David recognised God’s sovereignty in the matter, so when the child died, he accepted God’s will.
How about praying for our daily needs.
Jesus clearly taught the disciples in Matt 6:11, that they could ask and trust God for their daily needs, and we are clearly instructed that we could ” ask, seek and knock” as long we do so with the “”nevertheless, not my will but your will” attitude of heart.
Real prayer is acknowledging that we realize our own insufficiency and need. We are confessing our total dependence upon God for each day and all it brings.
The Disciples Prayer
Jesus gave us a model for all forms of christian praying, though scripture also shows clearly that all prayers do not have to reflect every aspect of this model each time they are uttered, every prayer must however conform to the principles of Christ’s commandment for prayer as recorded in the Gospels.
And just before Jesus example he corrected the way the had seen the Pharisees and others pray. “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him
This, then, is how you should pray: ””Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
This is a prayer that we are not told to repeat verbatim, in fact we are not to repeat it with vain repetitions (Matt. 6:7) but this is the prayer we can use as a model.
Our father in heaven-speaks of our relationship
“Hallowed be Your name”- speaks of worship, exalting him for who he is
Your Will be done- speaks of submission to his control in our lives and the affairs on earth.
“Give us this day- speaks of petition and dependence on him alone.
“forgive us Our debts” speaks of forgiveness.
“Lead us not into temptation”- speaks of guidance and protection in our daily lives.
‘Thine is the kingdom (the power and the glory forever)”- speaks of worship acknowledging everything comes from Gods hands and he is in control.
This model Prayer starts with worship and adoration of God, acknowledging His sovereignty and Kingdom. Missing in this form of prayer is the asking for blessings and breakthroughs, but rather the request for simple needs.
Conclusion:
Prayer is the means in which God gets his will done on earth not the means in which man gets his will done.
Many times God will impress us to pray a certain way or for a certain thing to be accomplished. The purpose is to have our hearts lined up with what God wants to bring to pass so that we are praying in the will of God. In this way we will have our prayers answered.
Matt 21:22 ” And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” must always be taken with 1John 5:14. ” And this is the confidence we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us”"
God hears us only If we ask “according To his will.” In other words, if we make a request that is not His will to grant, no amount of faith or confession can affect that petition. God does not want it to happen. since he is in control and we are not, we should not expect it to occur.
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