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016 - Ch 9 God's Sovereignty and Prayer · Sovereignty of God

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  Speaker 1: Chapter nine of the Sovereignty of God. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Sovereignty of God by Arthur Pink, Chapter nine, God's Sovereignty
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  Speaker 1: and Prayer. If we ask anything according to His will,
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  Speaker 1: he hereth thus First John five fourteen. Throughout this book
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  Speaker 1: it has been our chief aim to exalt the Creator
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  Speaker 1: and abase the creature. The well nigh universal tendency now
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  Speaker 1: is to magnify man in dishonor, and to great God.
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  Speaker 1: On every hand, it will be found that when spiritual
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  Speaker 1: things are under discussion, the human side and element is
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  Speaker 1: pressed and stressed, and the divine side, if not altogether ignored,
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  Speaker 1: is relegated to the background. This holds true of very
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  Speaker 1: much of the modern teaching about prayer. In the great
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  Speaker 1: majority of the books written and in the sermons preached
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  Speaker 1: upon prayer, the human element fills the scene almost entirely.
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  Speaker 1: It is the conditions which we must meet, the promises
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  Speaker 1: we must claim, the things we must do in order
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  Speaker 1: to get our request granted, and God's claims, God's rights,
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  Speaker 1: God's glory are disregarded as a fair example of what
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  Speaker 1: is being given out today. We subjoin in a brief
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  Speaker 1: editorial which appeared recently in one of the leading religious weeklies,
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  Speaker 1: entitled Prayer or Faith. God, in his sovereignty has ordained
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  Speaker 1: that human destinies may be changed and molded by the
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  Speaker 1: will of man. This is at the heart of the
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  Speaker 1: truth that prayer changes things, meaning that God changes things
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  Speaker 1: when men pray. Someone has strikingly expressed it this way.
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  Speaker 1: There are certain things that will happen in a man's
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  Speaker 1: life whether he prays or not. There are other things
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  Speaker 1: that will happen if he prays, and will not happen
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  Speaker 1: if he does not pray. A Christian worker was impressed
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  Speaker 1: by these sentences as he entered a business office, and
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  Speaker 1: he prayed that the Lord would open the way to
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  Speaker 1: speak to someone about Christ, reflecting that things would be
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  Speaker 1: changed because he prayed. Then his mind turned to other things,
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  Speaker 1: and the prayer is forgotten. The opportunity came to speak
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  Speaker 1: to the business man upon whom he was calling, but
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  Speaker 1: he did not grasp it and was on his way
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  Speaker 1: out when he remembered his prayer of half an hour
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  Speaker 1: before and God's answer. He promptly returned and had a
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  Speaker 1: talk with the business man, who, though a church member,
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  Speaker 1: had never in his life been asked whether he were saved.
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  Speaker 1: Let us give ourselves to prayer and open the way
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  Speaker 1: for God to change things. Let us beware lest we
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  Speaker 1: become virtual fatalist by failing to exercise our God given
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  Speaker 1: wills in praying. The above illustrates what is being taught
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  Speaker 1: on the subject of prayer, and the deplorable thing is
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  Speaker 1: that scarcely a voice is lifted in protest. To say
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  Speaker 1: that human destinies may be changed and molded by the
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  Speaker 1: will of man is rank infidelity. That is the only
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  Speaker 1: proper term for it. Should anyone challenge this classification, we
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  Speaker 1: would ask them whether they can find an infidel anywhere
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  Speaker 1: who would descend from such a statement, And we are
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  Speaker 1: confident that such a one could not be found. To
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  Speaker 1: say that God has ordained that human destinies may be
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  Speaker 1: changed and molded by the will of man is absolutely untrue.
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  Speaker 1: Human destiny is not by the will of man, but
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  Speaker 1: by the will of God. That which determines human destiny
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  Speaker 1: is whether or not a man has been born again.
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  Speaker 1: For it is written, except a man be born again,
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  Speaker 1: he cannot see the kingdom of God. And as to
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  Speaker 1: whose will, whether gods or man's, is responsible for the
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  Speaker 1: new birth, is settled unequivocally by John one thirteen, Which
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  Speaker 1: were born not of blood, nor of the will of
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  Speaker 1: the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
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  Speaker 1: To say that human destiny may be changed by the
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  Speaker 1: will of man is to make the creature's will supreme,
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  Speaker 1: and that is virtually to the throne God. But what
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  Speaker 1: sayth the scriptures? Let the book answer the Lord killeth
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  Speaker 1: and make it alive. He bringeth down to the grave,
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  Speaker 1: and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich.
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  Speaker 1: He bringeth low and lifted up. He raised it up,
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  Speaker 1: the poorer out of the dust, and lifted up the
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  Speaker 1: beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and
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  Speaker 1: to make them inherit the throne of glory, First Samuel
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  Speaker 1: two six through eight. Turning back to the editorial here
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  Speaker 1: under review, we are next told this is at the
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  Speaker 1: heart of the truth that prayer changes things, meaning that
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  Speaker 1: God changes things when men pray. Almost everywhere we go
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  Speaker 1: to day, one becomes across a motto card bearing the
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  Speaker 1: inscription prayer changes things as to what those words are
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  Speaker 1: designed to signify. As evident from the current literature on prayer,
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  Speaker 1: we are to persuade God to change his purpose. Concerning this,
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  Speaker 1: we shall have more to say below. Again, the editor
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  Speaker 1: tells us someone has strikingly expressed it this way. There
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  Speaker 1: are certain things that will happen in a man's life
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  Speaker 1: whether he prays or not. There are other things that
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  Speaker 1: will happen if he prays, and will not happen if
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  Speaker 1: he does not pray. That things happen whether a man
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  Speaker 1: prays or not is exemplified daily in the lives of
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  Speaker 1: the unregenerate, most of whom never pray at all. The
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  Speaker 1: other things will happen if he prays is in need
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  Speaker 1: of qualification. If a believer prays in faith and ask
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  Speaker 1: for those things which are according to God's will, he
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  Speaker 1: will most certainly obtain that for which he has asked. Again,
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  Speaker 1: that other things will happen if he prays is also
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  Speaker 1: true in respect to the subjective benefits derived from prayer.
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  Speaker 1: God will become more real to him, and his promise
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  Speaker 1: is more precious. The other things will not happen if
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  Speaker 1: he does not pray. Is true so far as his
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  Speaker 1: own life is concerned. A prayerless life means a life
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  Speaker 1: lived out of communion with God and all that is
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  Speaker 1: involved by this. But to affirm that God will not
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  Speaker 1: and cannot bring to pass his eternal purpose unless we
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  Speaker 1: pray is utterly erroneous. For the same God who has
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  Speaker 1: decreed the end has also decreed that his end shall
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  Speaker 1: be reached to his appointed means, and one of these
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  Speaker 1: is prayer. The God who has determined to grant a
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  Speaker 1: blessing also gives a spirit a supplication which first seeks
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  Speaker 1: the blessing. The example side in the above ditorial of
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  Speaker 1: the Christian worker and the business man is a very
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  Speaker 1: unhappy one, to say the least, for, according to the
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  Speaker 1: terms of the illustration, the Christian Worker's prayer was not
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  Speaker 1: answered by God at all, inasmuch as apparently the way
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  Speaker 1: was not open to speak to the business man about
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  Speaker 1: his soul. But on leaving the office and recalling his prayer,
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  Speaker 1: the Christian worker, perhaps in the energy of the flesh,
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  Speaker 1: determined to answer the prayer for himself, and instead of
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  Speaker 1: leaving the Lord to open a way for him, took
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  Speaker 1: matters into his own hand. We quote next from one
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  Speaker 1: of the latest books issued on prayer. In it, the
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  Speaker 1: author says, the possibilities and necessity of prayer, its power
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  Speaker 1: and results, are manifested in arresting and changing the purposes
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  Speaker 1: of God, and in relieving the stroke of His power.
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  Speaker 1: Such an assertion as this is a horrible reflection upon
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  Speaker 1: the character of the Most High God, who do it
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  Speaker 1: according to his will in the army of heaven and
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  Speaker 1: among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
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  Speaker 1: his hand hand or say unto him, what doest thou
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  Speaker 1: Daniel four thirty five. There is no need whatever for
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  Speaker 1: God to change his designs or alter his purpose, for
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  Speaker 1: the all sufficient reason that these were framed under the
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  Speaker 1: influence of perfect goodness and unerring wisdom. Men may have
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  Speaker 1: occasion to alter their purposes, for in their short sightedness
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  Speaker 1: they are frequently unable to anticipate what may arise after
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  Speaker 1: their plans are formed. But not so with God, for
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  Speaker 1: he knows the end from the beginning. To affirm God
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  Speaker 1: changes his purpose is either to impugne his goodness or
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  Speaker 1: to deny his eternal wisdom. In the same book, we
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  Speaker 1: are told the prayers of God's saints are the capital
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  Speaker 1: stock in Heaven. By which Christ carries on his great
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  Speaker 1: work upon earth. The great throes and mighty convulsions on
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  Speaker 1: Earth are the results of these prayers. Earth is changed, revolutionized,
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  Speaker 1: angels move on, more powerful, more rapid wing, and God's
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  Speaker 1: policy is shaped as the prayers and w or numerous
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  Speaker 1: more efficient if possible, this is even worse, and we
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  Speaker 1: have no hesitation in denominating it as blasphemy. In the
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  Speaker 1: first place, it flatly denies Ephesians three eleven, which speaks
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  Speaker 1: of God's having an eternal purpose. If God's purpose is
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  Speaker 1: an eternal one, then his policy is not being shaped today.
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  Speaker 1: In the second place, it contradicts Ephesians one eleven, which
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  Speaker 1: expressly declares that God worketh all things after the counsel
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  Speaker 1: of his own will. Therefore, it follows that God's policy
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  Speaker 1: is not being shaped by man's prayers. In the third place,
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  Speaker 1: such a statement as the above makes the will of
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  Speaker 1: the creature supreme. For if our prayers shape God's policy,
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  Speaker 1: then is the most High subordinate to the worms of
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  Speaker 1: the earth. Well might the Holy Spirit ask through the apostle,
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  Speaker 1: for who hath known the mind of the Lord, or
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  Speaker 1: who hath been his counselor? Romans eleven thirty four. Such
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  Speaker 1: thoughts on prayer, as we have been citing, are due
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  Speaker 1: to and inadequate conceptions of God himself. It ought to
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  Speaker 1: be apparent that there could be little or no comfort
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  Speaker 1: in praying to God. That was like the chameleon which
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  Speaker 1: changes its color every day. What encouragement is there to
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  Speaker 1: lift up our hearts to the one who is in
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  Speaker 1: one mind yesterday and another today. What would be the
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  Speaker 1: use of petitioning an earthly monarch if we knew he
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  Speaker 1: was so mutable as to grant a petition one day
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  Speaker 1: and denied another. Is it not the very unchangeableness of
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  Speaker 1: God which is our greatest encouragement to pray? It is
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  Speaker 1: because he is without variableness or shadow of turning, we
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  Speaker 1: are assured that if we ask anything according to His will,
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  Speaker 1: we are most certain of being heard. Well did Luther
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  Speaker 1: remark prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold
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  Speaker 1: of his willingness. And this leads us to offer a
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  Speaker 1: few remarks concerning the design of prayer. Why has God
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  Speaker 1: appointed that we should pray? The vast majority of people
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  Speaker 1: would reply, in order that we may obtain from go
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  Speaker 1: God the things which we need. While this is one
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  Speaker 1: of the purposes of prayer, it is by no means
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  Speaker 1: the chief one. Moreover, it considers prayer only from the
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  Speaker 1: human side, and prayer sadly needs be viewed from the
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  Speaker 1: divine side. Let us look then, at some of the
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  Speaker 1: reasons why God has bidden us to pray. First, and foremost,
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  Speaker 1: prayer has been appointed that the Lord God himself should
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  Speaker 1: be honored. God requires that we should recognize that He
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  Speaker 1: is indeed the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah fifty seven fifteen. God requires that we shall own
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  Speaker 1: his universal dominion. In petitioning God for rain, Elijah did
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  Speaker 1: but confess his control of the elements. In praying to
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  Speaker 1: God to deliver a poor sinner from the wrath to come,
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  Speaker 1: we acknowledge that salvation is of the Lord Jonah two nine.
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  Speaker 1: In supplicating his blessing on the Gospel unto the uttermost
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  Speaker 1: parts of the earth, we declare his rulership over the
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  Speaker 1: whole world. Again, God requires that we shall worship Him
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  Speaker 1: and prayer. Real prayer is an act of worship. Prayer
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  Speaker 1: is an act of worship inasmuch as it is the
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  Speaker 1: prostrating of a soul before Him, inasmuch as it is
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  Speaker 1: calling upon His great and holy name, inasmuch as it
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  Speaker 1: is the owning of his goodness, his power, his mutability,
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  Speaker 1: his grace, And inasmuch as it is the recognition of
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  Speaker 1: his sovereignty own by a submission to His will. It
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  Speaker 1: is highly significant to notice in this connection that the
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  Speaker 1: Temple wasn't termed by Christ the house of sacrifice, but
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  Speaker 1: instead the house of prayer. Again, prayer redounds to God's glory,
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  Speaker 1: for in prayer we do but acknowledge dependency on Him.
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  Speaker 1: When we humbly supplicate the Divine Being, we cast ourselves
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  Speaker 1: upon His power and mercy. In seeking blessings from God,
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  Speaker 1: we own that He is the author and fountain of
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  Speaker 1: every good and perfect gift. That prayer brings glory to
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  Speaker 1: God is further seen from the fact that prayer calls
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  Speaker 1: faith into exercise, and nothing from us is so honoring
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  Speaker 1: and pleasing to Him as the confidence of our hearts.
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  Speaker 1: In the second place, prayer is appointed by God for
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  Speaker 1: our spiritual blessing, as a means for our growth in grace.
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  Speaker 1: When seeking to learn the design of prayer, this should
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  Speaker 1: ever occupy us before we regard prayer as a means
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  Speaker 1: of obtaining the supply of our need. Prayer is designed
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  Speaker 1: by God for our humbling prayer. Real prayer is the
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  Speaker 1: coming into the presence of God and a sense of
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  Speaker 1: his awful majesty produces a realization about nothingness and unworthiness. Again,
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  Speaker 1: prayers designed by God for the exercise of our faith.
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  Speaker 1: Faith is begotten in the Word Romans ten eight, but
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  Speaker 1: it is exercised in prayer. Hence we read of the
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  Speaker 1: prayer of faith. Again, prayer calls love into action. Concerning
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  Speaker 1: the hypocrite, the question is asked, will he delight himself
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  Speaker 1: in the Almighty? Will he always call upon God Job
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  Speaker 1: twenty sevent ten. But they that love the Lord cannot
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  Speaker 1: be long away from Him, for they delight in unburdening
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  Speaker 1: themselves to Him. Not only does prayer call love into action,
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  Speaker 1: but through the direct answers vouchsafed to our prayers, our
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  Speaker 1: love to God has increased. I love the Lord because
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  Speaker 1: he hath heard my voice and supplications Psalm one sixteen one. Again,
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  Speaker 1: prayers designed by God to teach us the value of
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  Speaker 1: the blessings we have sought from Him, and it causes
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  Speaker 1: us to rejoice the more when He has bestowed upon
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  Speaker 1: us that for which we supplicate him. Third, prayer is
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  Speaker 1: appointed by God for our seeking from Him the things
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  Speaker 1: which we are in need of. But here a difficulty
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  Speaker 1: may present itself to those who have read carefully the
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  Speaker 1: previous chapters of this book. If God has foreordained before
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  Speaker 1: the foundation of the world everything which happens in time,
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  Speaker 1: what is the use of prayer? If it is true
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  Speaker 1: that of Him, and through Him and to Him are
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  Speaker 1: all things Romans eleven thirty, then why pray ere replying
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  Speaker 1: to directly to these queries? It should be pointed out,
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  Speaker 1: how that there is just as much reason to ask,
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  Speaker 1: what is the use of me coming to God and
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  Speaker 1: telling him what he already knows? Wherein is the use
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  Speaker 1: of me spreading before him my need, seeing he is
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  Speaker 1: already acquainted with it? As there is to object, What
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  Speaker 1: is the use of praying for anything when everything has
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  Speaker 1: been ordained beforehand by God? Prayer is not for the
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  Speaker 1: purpose of informing God, as if he were ignorant. The
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  Speaker 1: Savior expressly declared, for your Father knoweth what things ye
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  Speaker 1: have need of before ye ask him Matthew six s eighth.
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  Speaker 1: But it is to acknowledge He does know what we
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  Speaker 1: are in need of. Prayer is not appointed for the
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  Speaker 1: furnishing of God with the knowledge of what we need,
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  Speaker 1: but is designed as a confession to Him of our
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  Speaker 1: sense of need. In this, as in everything, God's thoughts
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  Speaker 1: are not as ours. God requires that his gifts should
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  Speaker 1: be sought for He designs to be honored by your asking,
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  Speaker 1: just as he is to be thanked by us after
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  Speaker 1: he has bestowed his blessing. However, the question still returns
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  Speaker 1: on us. If God be the predestinator of everything that
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  Speaker 1: comes to pass and the regulator of all events, then
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  Speaker 1: is not prayer a profitless exercise a sufficient answer to
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  Speaker 1: these questions that God bids us to pray pray without ceasing. First,
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  Speaker 1: Aslonians five seventeen, and again men ought always to pray
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  Speaker 1: Luke eighteen one. And further, Scripture declares that a prayer
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  Speaker 1: of faith shall save the sick, and the effectual, fervent
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  Speaker 1: prayer of a righteous man availeth much James five fifteen sixteen.
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  Speaker 1: While the Lord Jesus Christ, our perfect example in all things,
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  Speaker 1: was pre eminently a man of prayer. Thus it is
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  Speaker 1: evident that prayer is neither meaningless nor valueless. But still
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  Speaker 1: this does not remove the difficulty nor answer the question
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  Speaker 1: with which we Ye started out, What then, is the
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  Speaker 1: relationship between God's sovereignty and Christian prayer. First of all,
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  Speaker 1: we would say with emphasis that prayer is not intended
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  Speaker 1: to change God's purpose, nor is it to move him
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  Speaker 1: to form fresh purposes. God has decreed that certain events
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  Speaker 1: shall come to pass through the means he has appointed
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  Speaker 1: for their accomplishment. God has elected certain ones to be saved,
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  Speaker 1: but he has also decreed that these shall be saved
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  Speaker 1: through the preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel, then, is
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  Speaker 1: one of the appointed means for the working out of
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  Speaker 1: the eternal counsel of the Lord, and prayers another. God
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  Speaker 1: has decreed the means as well as the end, and
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  Speaker 1: among the means is prayer. Even the prayers of his
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  Speaker 1: people are included in his eternal decrees. Therefore, instead of
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  Speaker 1: prayers being in vain, they are among the means through
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  Speaker 1: which God exercises his decrees. If indeed, all things happen
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  Speaker 1: by a blind chance or a fatal necessity, prayers in
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  Speaker 1: that case could be of no moral efficacy and of
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  Speaker 1: no use. But since they are regulated by the direction
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  Speaker 1: of divine wisdom. Prayers have a place in the order
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  Speaker 1: of events. Haldane that prayers for the execution of the
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  Speaker 1: very things decreed by God are not meaningless is clearly
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  Speaker 1: taught in the scriptures. Elijah knew that God was about
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  Speaker 1: to give rein, but that did not prevent him from
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  Speaker 1: at once betaking himself to prayer James five seventeen through eighteen.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel understood by the writings of the prophets that the
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  Speaker 1: captivity was to last but seventy years. Yet when these
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  Speaker 1: seventy years were almost ended, we are told that he
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  Speaker 1: set his face unto the Lord God, to seek by
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  Speaker 1: prayer and supplications, with fasting and sacloth and ashes Daniel nine,
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  Speaker 1: verses two and three. God told the prophet Jeremiah, for
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  Speaker 1: I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to
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  Speaker 1: give you an expected end. But instead of adding there
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  Speaker 1: is therefore no need for you to supplicate me for
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  Speaker 1: these things, he said, then shall ye call upon me,
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  Speaker 1: and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I
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  Speaker 1: will hearken unto you. Jeremiah twenty nine eleven through twelve. Here, then,
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  Speaker 1: is the design of prayer, not that God's will may
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  Speaker 1: be altered, but that it may be accomplished in his
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  Speaker 1: own good time and way. It is because God has
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  Speaker 1: promised certain things that we can ask for them with
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  Speaker 1: the full assurance of faith. It is God's purpose that
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  Speaker 1: his will shall be brought about by his own appointed means,
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  Speaker 1: and that he may do his people good upon his
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  Speaker 1: own terms, and that is, by the means and terms
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  Speaker 1: of entreaty and supplication. Did not the Son of God
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  Speaker 1: know for certain that after his death and resurrection he
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  Speaker 1: would be exalted by the Father? He assuredly did. Yet
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: we find him asking for this very thing, O, Father,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: which I had with thee before the world was John
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: seventeen five. Did not he know that none of his
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: people could perish? Yet he besought the Father to keep
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: them John seventeen eleven. Finally, it should be said that
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: God's will is mutable and cannot be altered by our cryings.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: When the mind of God is not toward a people
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: to do them good, it cannot be turned to them
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: by the most fervent and important prayer of those who
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: have the greatest interest in him. Then said the Lord
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: unto me. Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: my mind could not be toward this people. Cast them
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: out of my sight and let them go forth Jeremiah
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: fifteen one. The prayers of Moses to enter the Promised
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Land is a parallel case. Our views respecting prayer need
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: to be revised and broadened, a harmony with the teaching
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: of scripture on the subject. The prevailing idea seems to
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: be that I come to God and ask him for
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: something that I want, and that I expect Him to
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: give me that which I have asked. But this is
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: a most dishonoring and degrading conception. The popular belief reduces
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: God to a servant, our servant doing our bidding, performing
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: our pleasure, granting our desires. No prayer is a coming
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: to God God, telling him my need, committing my way
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: to the Lord, and leaving him to deal with it
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: as seemeth him best. This makes my will subject to
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: his instead of, as in the former case, seeking to
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: bring his will into subjection to mine. No prayer is
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: pleasing to God unless the spirit actuating it is not
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: my will, but thine be done. When God bestows blessings
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: upon a praying people, it is not for the sake
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: of their prayers, as if He was inclined and turned
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: by them, but it is for his own sake and
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: of his own sovereign will and pleasure. Should it be said,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: to what purpose that is prayer? It is answered, this
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: is the way and means God has appointed for the
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: communication of the blessing of his goodness to his people.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: For though He has purposed, provided and promised them, yet
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: He will be sought unto to give them. And it
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: is a duty and privilege to ask when they are
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: blessed with the spirit of prayer. It forebodes well and
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: looks as if God intended to bestow the good things asked,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: which should be asked always with submission to the will
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: of God, saying not my will, but thine be done.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: John Gill. The distinction just noted above is of great
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: practical importance for our peace of heart. Perhaps the one
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: thing that exercises Christians as much as anything else is
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: that of unanswered prayers. They have asked God for something,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: so far as they are able to judge, They have
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: asked in faith believing they would receive that for which
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: they had supplicated the Lord. And they have asked earnestly
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: and repeatedly, but the answer has not come. The result
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: is that, in many cases, faith in the efficacy of
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: prayer becomes weakened, until hope gives way to despair and
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: the clauset is altogether neglected. Is it not so? Now?
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Will it surprise our readers when we say that every
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: real prayer of faith that has ever been offered to
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: God has been answered. Yet we unhesitatingly affirm it. But
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: in saying this we must refer back to our definition
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: of prayer. Let us repeat it. Prayer is a coming
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: to God, telling him my need or the needs of others,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: committing my way unto the Lord, and then leaving him
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: to deal with the case as seemeth him best. This
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: leaves God to answer the prayer in whatever way he
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: sees fit, and often his answer may be the very
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: opposite of what would be most acceptable to the flesh.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Yet if we have really left our needs in his hands,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: it will be his answer. Nevertheless, let us look at
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: two examples. In John eleven, we read of the sickness
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: of Lazarus, the Lord loved him, but he was absent
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: from Bethany. The sisters sent a messenger unto the Lord,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: acquainting him of their brother's condition, And note particularly how
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: their appeal was worded. Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: is sick, Thou was all. They did not ask him
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: to heal Lazarus. They did not request him to hasten
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: at once to Bethany. They simply spread their need before him,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: committed the case into his hands, and left him to
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: act as he deemed best. And what was our Lord's reply?
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Did he respond to their appeal and answer their mute request?
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Certainly he did, though not perhaps in the way they
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: had hoped. He answered by biding two days still in
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: the same place where he was John eleven six, and
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: allowing Lazarus to die. But in this instance that was
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: not all. Later he journeyed to Bethany and raised Lazarus
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: from the dead. Our purpose in referring here to this
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: case is to illustrate the proper attitude for the believer
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: to take before God in the hour of need. The
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: next example will emphasize rather God's method of responding to
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: his needy child. Turned to Sewo Corinthian's twelve. The apostle
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Paul has been accorded an unheard of privilege. He has
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: been transported into paradise. His ears had listened to, and
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: his eyes had gazed upon that which no other mortal
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: had heard or seen, this sight of death. The wondrous
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: revelation was more than the apostle could endure. He was
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: in danger of becoming puffed up by his extraordinary experience. Therefore,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: a thorn in the flesh. The messenger of Satan was
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: sent to buffet him lest he be exalted above measure.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: And the apostle sprays his need before the Lord. He
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: thrice beseeches him that his thorn in the flesh should
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: be removed. Was his prayer answered assuredly, though not in
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: the manner he had desired. The thorn was not removed,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: but grace was given to bear it. The burden was
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: not lifted, but strength was vouchsafed to carry it. Does
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: some one object that it is our privilege to do
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: more than spread our knee before God? Or we reminded
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: that God has, as it were, given us a blank
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: check and invited us to fill it in. Is it
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: said that the promises of God are all inclusive, and
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: that we may ask God for what we will. If so,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: we must call attention to the fact that it is
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: necessary to compare scripture with scripture if we are to
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: learn the full mind of God on any subject, and
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: that as this is done we discover. God has qualified
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: the promises given two praying souls by saying, if ye
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: ask anything according to his will, he hearth us one
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: John five fourteen. Real prayer is communion with God, so
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: that there will be common thoughts between his mind and ours.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: What is needed is for Him to fill our hearts
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: with his thoughts, and then his desires will become our
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: desires flowing back to him. Here, then, is the meeting
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: place between God's sovereignty and Christian prayer. If we ask
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: anything according to his will, he hearth us, and if
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: we do not so ask, he does not hear us.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: As saith the apostle James, ye ask and receive not
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: your lusts or desires four three. But did not the
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus tell his disciples verily, verily, I say unto you,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: will give it to you John sixteen twenty three. He did.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: But this promise does not give praying souls carte blanche.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: The words of our Lord are in perfect accord with
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: those of the Apostle. John. If ye ask anything according
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: to His will, he hear it. Thus, what is it
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: to ask in the name of Christ? Surely it is
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: very much more than a prayer formula, the mere concluding
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: of our supplications with the words in the name of Christ.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: To apply to God for anything in the name of Christ,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: it must needs being in keeping with what Christ is.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: To ask God in the name of Christ is as
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: though Christ himself were the suppliant. We can only ask
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: God for what Christ would ask. To ask in the
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: name of Christ is therefore, to set aside our own
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: wills accepting God's. Let us now amplify our definition of prayer.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: What is prayer? Prayer is not so much an act
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: as it is an attitude, an attitude of dependency, dependency
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: upon God. Prayer is a confession of creature weakness, yea
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: of helplessness. Prayer is the acknowledgment of our need and
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: the spreading of it before God. We do not say
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: that this is all there is to prayer, it is not,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: but it is the essential, the primary element in prayer.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: We freely admit that we are quite unable to give
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: a complete definition of prayer within the compass of a
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: brief sentence or in any number of words. Prayer is
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: both an attitude and an act, a human act, and
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: yet there is a divine element in it too, And
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: it is this which makes an exhaustive analysis impossible, as
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: well as imposts to attempt. But admitting this, we do
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: insist again that prayer is fundamentally an attitude of dependency
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: upon God. Therefore, prayer is the very opposite of dictating
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: to God. Because prayer is an attitude of dependency, the
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: one who really prays is submissive, submissive to the divine will.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: And submission to the divine will means that we are
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: content for the Lord to supply our need according to
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: the dictates of his own sovereign pleasure. And hence it
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: is that we say every prayer that is offered to
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: God in this spirit is sure of meeting with an
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: answer or response from Him. Here, then, is the reply
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: to our opening question and the scriptural solution to the
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: seeming difficulty. Prayer is not the requesting of God to
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: alter his purpose or for him to form a new one.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Prayer is the taking of an attitude of dependency upon God,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: the breading of our need before him, the asking for
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: those things which are in accordance with His will. And
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: therefore there is nothing whatever inconsistent between divine sovereignty and
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Christian prayer. In closing this chapter, we would utter a
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: word of caution to safeguard the reader against drawing a
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: false conclusion from what has been said. We have not
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: here sought to epitomize the whole teaching of Scripture upon
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: the subject of prayer, nor have we even attempted to
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: discuss in general the problem of prayer. Instead, we have
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: confined ourselves more or less to a consideration of the
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: relationship between God's sovereignty and Christian prayer. What we have
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: written is intended chiefly as a protest against much of
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: the modern teaching, which so stresses the human element in
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: prayer that the divine side is almost entirely lost sight of.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: In Jeremiah ten twenty three, we are told it is
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: not in man that walketh to direct his steps reference
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Proverbs sixteen nine. And yet in many of his prayers.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Man's impulse presumes to direct the Lord as to his
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: way and as to what he ought to do, even
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: implying that if only he had the direction of the
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: affairs of the world and of the Church, he would
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: soon have things very different from what they are. This
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: cannot be denied, for anyone with any spiritual discernment at
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: all could not fail to detect this spirit in many
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: of our modern prayer meetings, where the flesh holds sway.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: How slow we all are to learn the lesson that
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: the haughty creature needs to be brought down to his
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: knees and humbled into the dust. And this is where
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: the very act of prayer is intended to put us.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: But man, in his usual perversity, turns the footstool into
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: a throne, from whence he would fain direct the Almighty
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: as to what he ought to do, giving the onlooker
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: the impression that if God had half the compassion that
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: those who pray have, all would quickly be right. Such
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: is the arrogance of the old nature, even in the
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Child of God. Our main purpose in this chapter has
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: been to emphasize the need for submitting in prayer our
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: wills to God's. But it must also be added that
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: prayer is much more than a pious exercise, and far
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: otherwise than mechanical performance. Prayer is indeed a divinely appointed means,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: whereby we may obtain from God the things we ask,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: providing we ask for those things which are in accord
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: with His will. These pages will have been penned in
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: vain unless they lead both the writer and reader to
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: cry with the deeper earnestness than heretofore Lord, teach us
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: to pray. Luke eleven one, end of chapter nine