Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Session 71:Prayer
Woody Folsom, the owner of a car dealership in Hazelhurst, has an advertisement on the radio with a very cathcy saying: "This is Woody, talk to me!" Communicate! Let me know what you are thinking! Is that not what our Lord wants from us? Have a personal quiet time and relationship with Jesus. Prayer is simply that: talking to Jesus. We see the scripture as it is referred to as the model prayer. I have used an acrostic on several occassions when speaking on prayer. It is not my original but it goes something like this: PRAY Praise, Repent, Ask, and Yield. So many times we go to God with all our problems and we never even think of being thankful and praising Him for all He has done in our lives. Not only should we praise, but we should also repent. Don't get me wrong, He wants us to ask for things but it should always be with the understanding if it is in the "will of God". As we yield it over to Him we are realizing that it is not in our hands but we are entrusting the Almighty God with our conversation. Prayer is a wonderful thing that can be done by saved individuals. This topic came up on Wednesday night a few weeks back. Does the Lord hear the prayers of the unsaved? Does the Lord change His mind when I pray? Since God knows everything (past present and future) does is do me any good whatsoever to ask for His assistance in a matter? These are just a few things that are on the minds of our teenagers. Anyone care to answer?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I am not a prayer warrior by any means; however, long ago I settled on 2 points for Paul when I pray.
1. Everything I ask is only if it is in God's will because He knows best. (took awhile to come to that conclusion)
2. I never complain. I am an American. I have nothing to complain about, even when sickness comes. When your family is getting hacked to death with machetes in front of you, then I will give some leeway to complaining.
Does the Lord hear the prayers of the unsaved? No, unless it is unto salvation.
Will He change His mind? Yes, at least He did in the Bible.
Does it do good to ask for assistance? I struggle with this one, not sure how to answer.
Billy, the answer to your first question, I learned about 6 years ago in a youth class when Lynn Harris was filling in for you. The answer is, No, God does not hear the prayers of the lost. (except a prayer requesting salvation) I remember thinking….. man this guy has lost his mind. After checking the scriptural references he gave, I asked myself….how could I have missed this? Thank God I am saved. I’ve found that this lesson by itself puts both lost and saved people into shock. We Christians have to get this message to the lost. Lost people want to know how we benefit from being saved other than our “get out of Hell free card.” See, lost people don’t understand that God doesn’t hear them. If you want to peak their interest, use the following scriptures as a witnessing tool. Isaiah 59:1and 2 1. Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. 2. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. The bible also tells us in John 9:31. 31. Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
I’m willing to go a step further, and submit that God doesn’t hear the prayers of a believer with unconfessed sin. (what do ya’ll think?)
Now, to answer the second question. I do believe that God has and may change his mind. I believe God told Moses in Numbers 14:12……I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and I will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. I believe that after Moses interceded, God changed his mind.
The answer to question number three is….Absolutely, yes it does me good to pray for assistance from God.
If God knows our needs before we ask, why pray anyway? Although God commands us to pray, and is pleased with our obedience, prayer is not for God’s benefit. We’re not telling him anything he doesn’t know anyway. However, prayer does benefit the believer. Prayer teaches us how helpless we are without the Lord. How selfish, prideful, and unthankful would we be if He gave us everything without our asking? The person who prays is saying, Lord you have what I need. I can’t, but you can. I’m weak, but you’re strong. I don’t understand, but you do. Prayer teaches us who the real giver is, and places us under the spout, where the blessings pour out. Prayer involves confession, praise, thanksgiving, intercession, and ASKING. Philippians 4:6 tells us to let our request be made known to God. James 4:2 says we have not because we ask not. Sometimes we think we’re so blessed, we don’t deserve anything else from God. And that’s exactly right! We don’t deserve anything good from God to start with. But, if your cups overflowing……… drink from the saucer or give some to somebody else.
Note: John 9:31 is in the context of miracles and not necessarily prayer; however, I still think a principle could be applied as you have suggested.
Just wanted to clarify scripture in a contextual sense.
Billy, I have read the article on "does God answer the prayer of sinners" from Got Questions ( a link you will find at the bottom of the blog) He makes a very compelling case, and I would suggest everyone read it. As you could imagine, I still think i could debate the fact that the biblical instances he uses were specific events for the nation of Israel. He is talking about God's will, and even a blind pig can find a nut every now and then.
Crystal Gill said …. Sorry I have not been blogging the last couple of weeks.
On question 1: No, I do not think God hears the prayers of the unsaved. I do understand why that would be hard for someone to understand. We want to think of a God of love and kindness and don’t want to think that the sin that we committed has broken that relationship. I think the unsaved want to believe that God hears their prayers because they remember a time in their life that they prayed for something and if came to pass – even though that happened to be God’s will not their prayer answered.
Second Question: I do believe God can change his mind. With several family members who are lost, I feel an overwhelming burden to ask every time I pray for God to change their hearts. But I believe that God can choose to leave someone on this earth longer for him to save them. I think of Billy’s Uncle Buddy who died recently. He found out he had cancer and died only a few weeks later. He was saved shortly before he passed. Who knows how many people were praying for his salvation? But the outcome could have been different if he was killed in a car accident.
Third Question: Yes it does me good to pray for assistance for God. I need God’s help for everything to seek God’s solutions for my situations.
I know it's Monday morning but I have a question to ask. We say we believe that God knows everything past, present and future. If that is so, does prayer REALLY change God's mind or do you think that maybe He is giving us the chance to intercede for others?
I know it's Monday morning but I have a question to ask. We say we believe that God knows everything past, present and future. If that is so, does prayer REALLY change God's mind or do you think that maybe He is giving us the chance to intercede for others?
Stephen Bene'
Post a Comment