BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Essential Tools for Christian Growth

Lesson Nine:  How We Should Pray — and Why It Matters 

Some people think that just because they pray and “put on a holy face” that God will bless them, or answer their prayers the way they want Him to, or at least that He won’t discipline them for what they know is sinful behavior.  And that is simply wrong.  Prayer was never intended to be used to try to bribe God into doing what you want Him to.  You are not to try to fulfill your own lusts and desires through prayer.  Prayer is not a Christmas list.  People that try to use prayer this way impugn the integrity of God and are blaspheming (slandering) His character—whether they know it or not.

 

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Essential Tools for Christian Growth

Lesson Nine

How We Should Pray — and Why It Matters 

by John McReynolds

As we have done in our past lessons, before we start our Bible study, we pause for a moment of self examination.  This gives us the opportunity to determine our own spiritual status—whether we are in a state of fellowship with God or not.  If we determine that we have unconfessed sin in our lives, 1 John 1:9 promises us that we can regain that state of fellowship with God by confessing our known sins, and allowing Him to forgive our sins and cleanse us of any remaining unrighteousness. Let us pray:

Thank You, Heavenly Father for Your word.  It is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.  Cause us, we pray, to learn these timeless principles of prayer as You have revealed them in Your Word, so that we might draw ever closer to You in communion and in fellowship, for we ask it in Christ’s name, amen.

We are resuming our study of the subject of prayer.  Since prayer is God’s provision for us to communicate with Him we need to have a thorough understanding of it.  In our last lesson we explored what prayer is, things for which we use prayer, and a little about God’s protocol for prayer.  At this point I want to revisit the subject of protocol before we go on to our main subject.

Every Believer is a Priest 

One of the protocols for prayer we covered last time was that we must pray in the name of Jesus Christ, and we stated that the reason for this was that it was Jesus who became the sacrifice for our sins, and through His victory on the cross He paved the way for us to have access to the Father and His Throne of Grace. 

After His death Jesus was resurrected and ascended to heaven.  After His ascension he was seated at the right hand of the Father and began a new role as High Priest (Heb. 4:14).  And, just as Jesus is our High Priest, we believers in the Age of the Church are royal priests, each one responsible to represent himself before God.  1 Pet. 2:9 states, “But you [believers of the Church Age] are a chosen race, A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”  This verse is talking about believers in the Church Age, not the Old Testament priests of the Levitical Priesthood.

This subject of Christ’s High Priesthood and the Royal Priesthood of the believer are deserving of far more space than we can give it here.  In fact, a whole book of the New Testament dealt with Christ as the High Priest—the Book of Hebrews.  But the point I’m making here is that because we are believer-priests, we are able to represent ourselves before the Heavenly Father in prayer—we do not need a separate priesthood to represent us as the Jews had in the Old Testament era, and as some other well known denominations have wrongly instituted in the New Testament era—the Church Age.  So this is another reason why we pray directly to the Father, in the name of the Son.

The Agenda for Prayer 

In our last lesson we looked at different things for which we use prayer.  We named Restoration to Fellowship, we named Thanksgiving, Worship, and Praise, and lastly Intercession and Petition.  These six things are generally the agenda items that our prayers should contain.  Now different Bible teachers teach the proper content of prayer differently.  Some teach that there are six different categories to prayer, others four, and others three, depending on whether they lump some categories together or not.  How we group the prayer agenda items isn’t really that important as long as our prayers regularly and appropriately address them.  But for the sake of guidance here is a general agenda for prayer that, depending on the needs and the circumstances of your prayers, will show you how you can approach the Throne of Grace effectively.

1.  Restoration to Fellowship

Restoration to Fellowship (RTF) should be the first item on the believer’s prayer agenda, because the believer must be in fellowship when he prays, or he might as well be praying to the floor for all the good his prayer will do him.  the Lord will simply not hear him if he is out of fellowship — Psa. 66:18 – “If I regard wickedness [sin] in my heart, the Lord will not hear …”  It is RTF that opens the door for the Lord to respond to prayer — Rev. 3:20 – “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door [RTF], I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me [a picture of fellowship with the Lord].”

2.  Thanksgiving, Worship, and Praise

Here the order isn’t quite so important, which is why I lump these three together: thanksgiving, praise, and worship—worship, thanksgiving, and praise—it really doesn’t matter, because these activities are very closely related. In thanksgiving we express gratitude to God for His provision for us—general and specific as appropriate.  In praise we lift Him up, exalt, and magnify Him, usually in a public way.  And in worship, we ascribe the greatest possible worth to Him—“worthship” as we learned in Lesson Eight—and we figuratively, and sometimes literally prostrate ourselves before Him.  Normally this is done in a private venue, except in joint or corporate worship which is done along with fellow believers in the venue of the local church.  Practically speaking, where private prayer is concerned, there is little difference between praise and worship.

3.  Intercession

Intercession and petition could be considered together in this study since they are so similar in their aims—to ask God to supply the needs of others and ourselves.  But for our purposes in this lesson I am going to treat them separately because I think the order in which we offer intercession and petition matters.

Intercession should be offered first, simply because—as we saw in lesson eight—we are to consider the needs of others ahead of our own—Phil. 2:3-4; Jas. 5:16.  Intercession is basically petitioning God on behalf of others, and placing their needs and problems before the Lord and asking for his Divine intervention:  Eph. 6:18—“With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints …”  Of course the need must be legitimate, as we will see shortly.

4.  Petition

Petition is placing our personal needs before the Lord and asking for His intervention or provision.  Here again, the need must be legitimate—for example, it would be foolish to ask God to make your horse win at the racetrack, or to pray that the IRS auditors won’t catch you cheating on your taxes.  But for our legitimate needs it is proper to lay them before the Lord: Heb 4:16—“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Reasons for Prayer 

Nobody prays to God for no reason at all.  Everyone who prays to God has an agenda for the prayer—something he wants accomplished, some relief from trouble, some situation he feels requires Divine intervention.  We just looked at a model for the proper agenda for private prayer.  Some, usually mature believers, often approach God simply to express their thanks and praise to Him—which should be one of the primary reasons we pray.  They aren’t necessarily motivated by personal or intercessory need, but just simply because in their private devotions they are overwhelmed with the need to praise God for Who He is.  But since asking God to address our needs is a legitimate reason for prayer, let’s look at some of those reasons—both legitimate and illegitimate.

Illegitimate Reasons for Prayer

It is simply amazing to me how many times people try to manipulate God.  I suppose that kind of wrongheaded thinking stems from the erroneous idea that God is basically like humans—limited, not able to read people’s hearts, unable to resist manipulation.  These folks could not be more wrong.  And what is so bad is that very often it’s Christians who ought to know better than do this!  Here’s just a few of the illegitimate prayers I’ve heard or heard of Christians praying:

• A young Christian woman asking God to bless her liaison with some young, charming, unbelieving man, when she knows it’s against the clear teaching of the Scriptures to marry an unbeliever. 
  
• A Christian businessman promising to tithe the profits from a shady business deal in return for a successful outcome. 
  
• A gossipy person leading a group of equally gossipy friends in prayer “on behalf of” the latest victim of their gossip.
  
• People who promise God that they will change their wicked ways if only He will get them out of their jam.
  
• People who pray to get something or someone they want or who want a particular outcome to a situation, and assume that it’s their right to get it because of the “righteous” way they live, or because they tithe, or because they donated a stained glass window to their church, or because they attend a Bible-teaching church every Sunday and Wednesday.

Some people think that just because they pray and “put on a holy face” that God will bless them, or answer their prayers the way they want Him to, or at least that He won’t discipline them for what they know is sinful behavior.  And that is simply wrong.  Prayer was never intended to be used to try to bribe God into doing what you want Him to.  You are not to try to fulfill your own lusts and desires through prayer.  Prayer is not a Christmas list.  People that try to use prayer this way impugn the integrity of God and are blaspheming (slandering) His character—whether they know it or not.

Legitimate Reasons for Prayer

The difference between illegitimate and legitimate prayers boils down to whether the prayer is in accordance with the will of God.  Many people might ask then, “How in the world am I supposed to be able to know what God wants in a given situation?  I think I need what I’m asking for, but how am I supposed to know what God thinks about it?”

But if you think about it, such a question is foolish.  When you were a little child if you wanted something you asked for it—whether or not it was good for you, or whether or not your parent wanted you to have it.  But as you grew and began to understand more and more the way your mother and father thought, you began to know in advance whether something you asked for was going to be granted or not.  When I was a boy I remember I wanted a pistol—a .22 caliber nine shot revolver.  Fortunately, my parents knew me well and had determined that buying me a .22 revolver was NOT in my best interests—nor the best interests of anyone else within range!  I came to understand what their policy was regarding me having a pistol, and pretty soon I knew better than to ask.

The point is that the content of your prayers should reflect God’s will as He reveals it to you.  And if you know that what you’re asking for is contrary to God’s will, then don’t waste your time asking for it!  In this day and time—the Church Age—God does not reveal His will by directly communicating to you—no matter what some folks may claim. 

So how does God reveal His will to us?  He doesn’t make His will known in a flash of lightning and a thunderclap.  And typically He doesn’t reveal His will in dreams and visions like He did in Old Testament times.  Sometimes a person can feel a definite leading from God, but typically when that kind of leading occurs the believer is a mature Christian who has been solidly grounded in the Word for years, and is very sensitive to the leading of God.  Some folks who have not progressed in God’s word, who have not matured spiritually, may think they are feeling God’s leading, when all it may be is indigestion!

In Old Testament times God did sometimes communicate in dreams and visions, and occasionally—but rarely—face to face with people.  One of the reasons for this is that God had not yet given His complete Word to man in the form of the Holy Scriptures—the Bible.  The Bible was not completed until 96 AD when the Apostle John penned the final words of the Book of Revelation while in exile on the island of Patmos. 

Now, however we have the Word of God available to us in written form—the Bible, and God has gifted certain men as pastor-teachers, whose job it is to teach believers from the Holy Scriptures in the environment of the local church.  In this day of advanced communication technologies, such as the Internet, He has also opened other avenues of learning to anyone who seeks it, and enabled others with communication gifts to use those technologies to spread the Gospel and other Biblical truths. 

So the primary way God communicates His will to us is through the Word of God.  As we take in the Word and believe it, converting gnosis into epignosis, as we learned back in lesson seven, our minds become progressively attuned to spiritual things, and we become more and more spiritually sensitized and able to recognize God’s leading in our lives.  Of course, for the more obvious things it doesn’t take a lot of spiritual insight to understand that God is not going to bless an adulterous relationship, or any other action that involves anything He has condemned as sin in His Word.

What we should take away from this is that our prayers should be in line with what we legitimately understand as God’s revealed will.  If we’re not sure whether something is His will or not, we should ask Him for wisdom to discern what His will is.  “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” — James 1:5.  Just make sure you aren’t adding any pre-conditions to your request for wisdom—like really wanting God to bless a sinful course of action.  I guarantee you’ll be disappointed with the answer—or non-answer.

The Principle of Legitimate Need 

Now I realize that just telling you to read your Bible, trying to discern God’s will in its pages, and then trying to pray according to it, still may be a little unsatisfying if you’re looking for guidance about how to pray.  So let’s see if we can distill some principles from Scripture to help us.  There is something we call the Principle of Legitimate Need—we referred to it earlier—that if you apply it when you pray will normally keep your prayers centered in God’s will.  We’ll devote the rest of this lesson addressing it.

Basically, the Principle of Legitimate Need states that petitional or intercessory prayer is valid—in line with God’s will—only if the request is for a legitimate need.  Remember the line from the old Janis Joplin song we quoted last lesson: “Oh Lord, won’t You buy me, a Mercedes Benz?”  Sorry, Janis—that would probably not qualify as a legitimate need!  Maybe a Volkswagen … but probably not a Mercedes or a Porsche.  So let’s see what constitutes a legitimate need.  There are basically three categories of legitimate needs in life.

1.  Logistical Needs

These include the basic necessities for life—air, water, food, clothing, shelter, transportation, medical needs, and so on.  We tend to take all of these things for granted in this country, but there are many parts of the world that the availability of these essential items are very much in question!  If you want to make your head spin just stop and think of all the activities that have to occur for you to have food on your table, water in your glass, for you to be able to drive your car to the store to get your groceries.  If there were disruptions in any of the supply systems—what we call the logistics—you would find yourself in dire straits in pretty short order!

So it is not at all out of line to ask for God to supply our daily needs—a whole lot has to happen to keep those supplies coming to us.  As our Lord said when he was instructing His disciples how to pray in Luke 11:3 and Matt. 6:11, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

2.  Spiritual Needs

This addresses our need for spiritual food—the truth of God’s word—without which we would have no spiritual growth.  Like the necessities of physical life, the necessities for spiritual life must be supplied—and their supply is also not at all straight-forward.  We have the Bible available to virtually every person in this country—but again, this is not a given in many parts of the world today.  There are people in the world who risk being killed if they are found with a copy of the Holy Scriptures.

We also have available to us certain pastoral and teaching spiritual gifts that help illuminate the Scriptures in our souls.  In this country we have freedom—for the present at least—to study the Scriptures and worship our Lord without fear of reprisal and persecution.  We have our basic needs met so that we can focus on those essential spiritual needs.  As before, much has needed to happen to allow that freedom for us—and much must continue to happen.  If God lifted His hand of protection and supply for even a moment we would be in a terrible fix—both logistically and spiritually! 

Spiritual needs include not only what we need to have access to His truth, but also such things as the support of other believers—the resources available through the local church—fellowship, comfort, encouragement, sometimes even admonition, rebuke, and discipline.  These are all necessary for the spiritual health of the believer.  So we should always ask God to continue to supply all our needs—including that which we must have to be sustained spiritually.

3.  Divine Guidance

The category of spiritual needs we just discussed dealt with all of the aspects of supplying those needs—all of the systems that have to be in place for us to have access to Biblical truth.  But when it comes to applying that truth in our lives we still need more from God.  We need wisdom and insight from Him so that we know how to apply His truths to a given situation.  Thankfully, God has promised us His aid in that area too:

James 1:5 — “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” 

Related to wisdom is spiritual enlightenment:

Eph 1:18-19a — “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”

And the end result of wisdom and enlightenment is peace:

Phil. 4:7—“And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

This is definitely one of the legitimate needs we should pray for—wisdom from God and understanding so that we know how to proceed in all circumstances in a manner that is honoring and brings glory to Him.

Applying the Principle of Legitimate Need

There are many situations in which we can apply the Principle of Legitimate Need in our prayer life.  Examples of legitimate need that can be addressed in our intercessory prayers include those who are sick, those who are bereaved, those who are afflicted in the various circumstances of life.  We can and should pray for unbelievers, or those who have been caught up in Satan’s world system of sin—what we refer to as the Cosmic System.  These can be general or targeted toward specific individuals of whom we know.

A word of caution, though!  When interceding for someone who is caught up in the cosmic system or who is an unbeliever be very careful you do not get caught up in the sin of judgmentalism or gossip!  Gal 6:1, 3 – “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted … For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

Put No Constraints on God

Another word of caution: When asking for God to bless us in some area of legitimate need we must be careful not to put any constraints on God—to try to dictate to Him what the solution to our difficulty should be.  When we pray for Divine intervention in a particular situation, being human, we often have very specific ideas about what God’s answer should look like.  How often have believers in some difficulty prayed for a particular outcome only to find that God answered their prayer in a totally unexpected way? 

An example of this can be found in Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians.  In 2 Cor. 12:7-9 we read of a particular demonic affliction of a physical nature that was plaguing Paul and he prayed for God to remove it—but got what was not at all the answer he was expecting:

“Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations [a reference to a vision of heaven Paul was given in verses 3 and 4], for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!  Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.  And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

In our next lesson we will examine some of the different ways God answers prayer, but just as a general principle we need to remember that God, being omniscient (all-knowing), sees all of the possible pathways of the future.  He can tell which is the best possible outcome for the believer.  And since God is perfect love and desires only the best for His children, we need to get our narrow, limited views out of the way, trust Him for the outcome, and let Him bless us in the way that He knows as best—not what we think is best. 

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are 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…’” Isa. 55:8-9.

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the mercy that You have extended to us, undeserving as we are, by which we can approach You on Your Throne of Grace.  Help us to understand Your grace principles that we can know Your will for us and that we can pray for those things that we ought and thereby maximize our blessings in this life, and maximize Your glory, for we ask it in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, amen.

 

To the reader:  If you have read this lesson, I would greatly appreciate any feedback, questions, or comments you have.  Getting feedback from my readers is very helpful and encouraging to me.  I promise to respond to all legitimate questions or comments as appropriate.  But please, do keep your questions and comments appropriate and constructive.

Thank you very much.

In His Service,

John McReynolds

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