Biblical Prayer: An Introduction

Okay, we're looking at prayer, and to start off, I'm going to do somewhat of a brief introduction on the topic of what is prayer, and then we're going to look at some of the common fallacies, fallacious teaching on prayer.

And then by next week, we'll get into patterns, purpose, and we'll get in a little bit deeper. But so this is more of an introduction. So prayer, at its core, the basics of it that covers everything else is that it is communion with God.

It's both communion and communication with God. John MacArthur writes this. The essence of prayer is simply talking to God as you would to a beloved friend without pretense or flippancy. Martin Lloyd-Jones writes this.

Prayer is beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when he is upon his knees. He comes face to face with God. Two pretty good authorities. MacArthur continues, and the next series of quotations are all from MacArthur, even though I don't attribute them on the slide.

He says, yet it is in that very attitude toward prayer so many believers have trouble. In other words, what he's saying is even though you come with respect and looking at God and understanding what prayer is, he says there's still many believers have trouble.

And he says, because communion with God is so vital and prayer is so effective in the fulfillment of God's plan, the enemy attempts constantly to introduce errors into our understanding of and commitment to prayer.

All right.

It's obviously I mean, if prayer is that important, it's one of the biggest weapons we have in our spiritual warfare. We can expect that Satan would be attacking the church, especially on that one particular area.

And that's the area of prayer. He says every generation faces the necessity to reprioritize and purify a corrupted or confused perception of prayer. He says for many, prayer has been replaced with pragmatic action.

Function overrides fellowship with God. Busyness crowds out communication. Now he's going to go through a list of things here as to what can possibly go wrong in your prayer life. For others, prayer lacks a sense of awe and respect.

And this became very popular in the mid to late 20th century where they're having conversational prayer and you wouldn't even know that somebody was praying because they were just talking in all kinds of jive language and stuff like that.

The reference are flippant, disrespectful, and irreverent. Then there are those who believe prayer is designed to make demands and claims on God. They attempt to force him to do what they believe he should do for them.

I'm going to elaborate on that particular problem tonight. Finally, for some, prayer is nothing more than a routine ritual. This is what Jesus warns about in the Sermon on the Mount, about meaningless repetition in prayer, just for the sake of repetition.

He says you may hold prayer with the utmost respect, yet you find your own practice lacks purpose and vitality, so you don't spend time with God like you know you should. While there are many reasons Christians struggle to pray, and this is MacArthur talking here, excuse me.

While there are many reasons Christians struggle to pray, I believe there is one overriding factor. To come to this, he actually quotes Martin Lloyd-Jones. I guess that's so he can blame someone else.

No. This is what Martin Lloyd-Jones says. Does everybody know who Martin Lloyd-Jones is? If you don't, shame on you, look him up. It is the highest activity of the human soul. Therefore, it is at the same time the ultimate test of a man's true spiritual condition.

There is nothing that tells the truth about us as a Christian people so much as our prayer life. Ultimately, therefore, a man discovers the real condition of his spiritual life when he examines himself in private, when he is alone with God.

And have we not all known what it is to find that somehow we have less to say to God when we're alone than when we're in the presence of others? It should not be so, but it often is. So that it is when we have left the realm of activities and outward dealings with other people and are alone with God that we really know where we stand in a spiritual sense.

That's a profound, anybody want to comment on that? No, I don't either. Okay. All right, so what is prayer? And again, this is just a simplistic overview with a couple of good points just to get us thinking in the right direction.

Prayer as Communion with God

First, prayer is designed that God should be honored. God requires of us that we should recognize who he is. And that should always be part of our praying. Because unfortunately, most praying is man-centered instead of God-centered.

And we see this how often where people, when do people pray? When they're in trouble, all right? Or when they need something, they want something. And so the prayer list looks more like a Christmas list than it does biblical praying.

We need to come to prayer with an attitude of understanding who God is. And first and foremost, he is the creator of all things. Everything that is, is because of him. He upholds all things. He is God Almighty.

If we come with this as an attitude, it should change the way we pray. Isaiah 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.

Obviously, if we take Bible verses such as this from Isaiah, it'll help us to focus on who God is so that we come with the right attitude. And we're going to spend a good deal of time, a couple of lessons down the road, talking about how we should, and even a pattern, how should we come to prayer?

Well, just off the top of your head, what's the opening to the Lord's prayer? When you pray, pray like this. How's it open? Our Father. What? Who art in heaven. There's a reminder. He is our Father and he is in heaven.

He is the high and exalted one. He dwells on the high and holy place. We should change the way we come before God in prayer. Prayer is an act of worship. As an act of worship, prayer is commanded by Scripture.

It's not an optional. There can be no such thing as a prayerless Christian. And to emphasize the point, Christ even referred to the temple. He could have called it a house of worship. He could have called it the house of my Father.

He could have called it a kind house. There's so many things he could have said, but he chose to list it as a house of prayer. And, in fact, every time the disciples lost track of Jesus, where did they find him?

Alone in prayer. We honour God through our prayers when we acknowledge our dependence upon him for all things. Second, prayer is appointed by God for our spiritual blessing. It is a means of our growth in grace.

So there is a benefit that when we come to prayer in the right vein, honouring God first, it is a means for us to grow in grace. And the reason is prayer is designed to humble us. If we understand when we come to prayer that we're acknowledging that everything that we need, everything that we have comes from him, and everything we need will be supplied by him, that's humbling.

It's none of this, I don't need anybody. No, as the hymn writer said, I need thee every hour. And, of course, God gives grace to the humble, James 4, 6. So if we're praying with a humble attitude, God gives us more grace.

Praying is an exercise of faith. And it's also a reflection of how faithful you really are. How much faith do you have? If you don't believe that prayer is effectual, then how much time are you going to spend in prayer?

But if you understand what prayer is and how important it is, and how effectual prayer is, then you'll spend all the more time on your knees in prayer. Prayer teaches us the value of the blessings from God.

I don't think that needs any comment. Second, well, we're still on point two. It's a demonstration of our love for him. Look at Psalm 116. I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my supplications.

We understand that because God answers our prayers, it's a manifestation of his love and causes us to love him even more. We rejoice in prayer as we count our blessings from God. There should always be a sense of rejoicing.

One of the things that I appreciate about our prayer meeting is that we always bring any praises, any answers to prayer, and then we list those in the front of our prayer bulletin. We must always come back and count our blessings from God when we pray and we receive the answers, even if that answer is no.

Third, prayer is God's appointed method for us to seek from him the things that we need. This is related to the first one, but a little bit different. This does not mean trying to persuade God to do something he doesn't want to do.

I mean, it's amazing that people would even come and plead, thinking that we're going to convince God to do something that he himself says he's not going to do. It doesn't make any sense. I love that quotation from Luther.

Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance but laying hold of his willingness. We'll get into that later on in the study as well, a couple of weeks down the road. Here's the thing. God requires that his gifts be sought after.

Ask and you shall receive, even though he knows what we need before we ask. He still expects us to come and to ask for it. And then fourth, prayer is God's appointed method for us to bring petitions and to intercede on behalf of others.

Again, prayer is not always self-centered. It's God first and then others, and then we should actually start praying for what we need ourselves. That little acronym from Sunday school, joy, Jesus, others, and you.

And fifth, God requires that we be thanked for his gifts after we receive them. Now, we're going to do a little bit of false teaching. I'm going to do a commentary on false teaching. I just want to see if you're awake.

What do some of the false teaches on prayer teach? Well, the Word of Faith movement has done so much harm in the church. This is a quotation by Frederick Casey Price. I think he's still around. Now, this is a shocker.

But God has to be given permission to work in this earth realm on behalf of man. Just pause for that. Let's not even go any further yet. According to this man who's had a public TV show for years and years, ministered in crusades to thousands of people at a time.

And this is the teaching. God has to be given permission to work in this earth realm on behalf of man. So he says, yes, you are in control. So if man has control, who no longer has it? God. When God gave Adam dominion, that meant God no longer had dominion.

So God cannot do anything in this earth unless we let him. And the way we let him or give him permission is through prayer. I mean, that is so wrong on so many levels that it's amazing that there are people who accept this and believe it.

God cannot do anything on this earth unless we let him. Another Word of Faith movement teacher says God spoke these words to him. Charles Capps is his name. Now notice, he says, these are the words of God that spoke to him.

You are under an attack of the evil one, and I can't do anything. This is God speaking according to him. God says, I can't do anything about it. You have bound me by the words of your own mouth. What is the error of this teaching?

Let me count the ways. Psalm 115 .3, but our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all the deeps. A little bit of a contrast here, wouldn't you say?

And of course, when Nebuchadnezzar was humbled by God, he accurately proclaimed, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing.

But he does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can ward off his hand or say to him, what hast thou done? Here's what I find interesting. These are the words of a pagan.

Well, not when he said it, but he was a pagan king, and yet we have supposed men of the cloth, men who have supposedly seminary trained, and they have this other teaching, and yet here we have the clear teaching of scripture, and in this case from the lips of the king of a pagan land.

Jeremiah 32, 17,. That is what we call a universal negative. Nothing is too difficult for thee. So what is the false teaching? Firstly, they contradict the words of Jesus. And looking upon them, Jesus said to them, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Benny Hinn, you know what? We've said this a million times, and it's not even scriptural, all because of Job. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I have news for you.

That is not Bible. That's not Bible. The Lord giveth and never taketh away, and just because he said blessed be the name of the Lord don't mean that he's right. When he said blessed be the name of the Lord, he was just being religious, and being religious don't mean you're right.

It's incredible, isn't it? What does he do? Hinn changes the words of the text, and then he blatantly disregards verse 2, which says very clearly, naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there.

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Through all this Job did not sin, nor did he blame God. I mean, a second grader can see the contradiction. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away.

And in Psalm 50 verses 21 to 22 has a severe warning for those who disregard the word of God. This is verse 22. These things you have done, and I kept silence. You thought that I was just like you. That's God speaking.

I will reprove you, and state the case in order before your eyes. Now consider this. You who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. These men have no idea of the shaky ground they're walking on.

However, and unfortunately, the word of faith movement is not the only place we find false teaching on prayer. Following is a quotation from a respected evangelical magazine article. God in his sovereignty has ordained that human destinies may be changed and molded by the will of man.

This is at the heart of the truth that prayer changes things, meaning that God changes things when men pray. Someone has strikingly expressed it this way. There are certain things that happen, that will happen in a man's life, whether he prays or not.

There are other things that will happen if he prays and will not happen if he does not pray. But keep in mind what is underlying there. What this article is saying is human destinies may be changed and molded, not by the will of God, but by the will of man.

And this is from an evangelical book on prayer. The possibilities and necessity of prayer, its power and results are manifested in arresting and changing the purposes of God and in relieving the stroke of his power.

The prayers of God's saints are the capital stock in heaven by which Christ carries on his great work upon earth. The great throes and mighty convulsions on earth are the result of these prayers. And I should have highlighted, I didn't.

I should have underlined. Earth is changed. Revolutionized angels move on more powerful, more rapid wing. And this was the one, look at this. God's policy is shaped on the prayers as the prayers are more numerous, more efficient.

In other words, God's policy is changing as we pray. That's what the man is saying. Couple of comments. To say that human destiny may be changed by the will of man elevates man's will above God's will.

It virtually dethrones God. And to say that God changes his purpose denigrates his character. James 1, 17, talking about God, calls him the father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

So much for changing the will of God. Malachi 3, 6, for I the Lord do not change, therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. And then Arthur Pink said, to affirm that God changes his purpose is either to impugn his goodness or to deny his eternal wisdom.

To say that God's policy is shaped by the prayers of men is nothing short of blasphemy. It denies that God has an eternal purpose. Ephesians 3, 11, this was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Contradicts Ephesians 1, 11, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will. And all of this false teaching on prayer is the result of low and inadequate understanding of the sovereignty of God.

Can you see why it's so important that we teach the basics of theology? These men, if you ask them, do you believe in the sovereignty of God? Every one of these people would say absolutely yes. Then how can they say the things that they've said?

Because they don't know what sovereignty means, okay?

Yeah.

The illustration that they typically use is of a football game where, you know, God owns the stadium and the field and the players, but his children, us, are like the referees. God has the power, but we have the authority on the field.

So we can call a foul. We can move the game. So it takes power out of God's hands and puts it in man's hands, which is just a man-centered theology. It all revolves around man, not God.

Yep. It is man trying to bring God down to his own level. Isaiah 55, verses 8 and 9. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Questions? Went through that rather quickly, more quickly than I thought. Yes, Sarah.

I was just going to say, I think part of it also shows a poor understanding of hermeneutics. I'm assuming probably some of the passages they might use to prove their theology is like when Abraham was talking to God about Solomon Gomorrah and not understanding, like not interpreting the unclear passages but the clear, like the key components of theology like you were talking about, like understanding God's sovereignty and how God uses means, like just our relationship between, you know, that.

So it's a failure to understand that and they're probably like taking those unclear passages and then just promoting this bad theology because they lack understanding of like the foundational.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. And as when, I forget who it was, I think it was Benny Hinn said that, or Price, said that when God gave dominion to Adam, then God didn't have it anymore. Like dominion was some parcel, but when you give it away, you don't have it anymore.

You can delegate dominion and still maintain it yourself, John.

All of these men that you mentioned that give these wrong viewpoints, they're all charlatans and they're tickling men's ears. It's a man-centered, you know, you're in control. Oh, people love to hear that, you know, but we're not.

It's a total misunderstanding of who God is.

And the shame is, every one of these guys that I've listed here are all, maybe not now, because some of these quotes are a little bit old, but they were all filling stadiums and preaching to thousands of people.

And people were eating it up. Yeah, terrible.

Prayer, which is designed for us to acknowledge our dependence of God, actually turns it upside down and God has to acknowledge his dependence on us to get stuff done on the earth. It's blasphemous.

Yeah.

Any other thoughts?

Yes, Ryan.

I think it was Burt Parsons who said it when asked, you know, we spoke about this too just recently in class, but, you know, talking about the question is, if God is sovereign, then why pray? And then he says, because God is sovereign, why pray?

It's like understanding that he has ultimate authority. If you're not to understand that, then you're not understanding the essence of prayer. It's like understanding, you know.

Yeah, actually, the way that should be answered, if God is not sovereign, why pray? Because if he's not sovereign, well, maybe he can answer it, maybe he can't.

That's tough.

So what do you say about the length of time that somebody spends in prayer?

He didn't say anything about the length of time.

I'm asking you what you think about that.

As long as necessary.

As long as necessary.

I'm not being a wise guy. Different things call for different times, you know, and there should always be, and these are future lessons we're going to get into, the manner of praying, the purpose of praying, and the pattern for praying.

We're going to be looking at all of that. But there are some things that should always be, there should always be a fervency in prayer.

All right?

There should always be, not meaningless repetition, but, and actually he says, you know, keep on knocking, keep on asking. Don't just say one time, yes, you know, please do this. You do want to go and importune him because that repetition, in that respect, is expressing a desire, you know, and the urgency with which you place on it.

But what I mean by as long as necessary depends on your purpose of prayer. So like if you're in your own prayer plaza at home and you've designated a certain amount of time, take as long as necessary, as long as you've got things to pray for.

All right.

When I used to go to a crime scene, I'd get a call, our headquarters was out in Yappang, and then frequently we were going up to Amityville and Huntington and whatnot to crime scenes. And I'm racing, you know, just a little bit over the speed limit on the expressway.

Just a little bit. Red light and siren, so that was good. But the whole time I'm there I'm praying. And I used to pray, Lord give me wisdom, give me insight into what has taken place. You called us as police officers to bring justice, you know, to the community.

Please help me to do that. And I would pray very specific prayers. But all the while I'm watching out for cars so I don't crack up on my way down there. So you can do both. But then, so those prayers were different than when I'm home and I'm just sitting there reading the scriptures and praying.

You know.

I wasn't praying for sick people on the expressway. You follow what I mean? So the length of your prayer and the content of your prayer depends on the circumstances and your manner for prayer. In fact, I have a pet peeve.

When you ask somebody to say grace and you pray for everything and then you never ask for a blessing on their food. It's just a pet peeve of mine, you know. Whenever I'm asked to say a blessing, I say, Lord, thank you for this day, thank you for this food, bless it for our body, we pray in Jesus' name.

Everybody's hungry, let them eat. I ask about a blessing on their food, you know. But I'm not going to pray for Aunt Phyllis' ulcer at that point.

You mean you can't say, like, rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub?

You can get away with that. Any other thoughts?

Okay. Let's pray.