A child wants to get the latest video game. The child goes up to his parents with a polite smile and says, "Mom, Dad, may I please get the video game?" The parents respond by telling their child that he has to earn the video game by doing chores. The parents want to instill in this child a sense of earning value. He cuts the grass, he cleans the house, he does the dishes, he does what they ask him to. He then goes up to his parents and says, "I did the things you asked me to do. Now can I get the game?" His parents get him the game.
The next time the child asks for a video game, will the parents give it to him because he has shown them that he can work, or would they give him more opportunities to earn it?
How do you think God responds to our requests? Do you think the way these parents responded to their child asking for something is better or worse than the way God responds to us?
DOCTRINE #53: PRAYER
Prayer is a statement of the will of the individual that initiates the exchange of spiritual value with God. There is a specific structure to every prayer presented in the Bible. Prayer is able to change God's Will if the individual has faith and enough spiritual value.
Question: Do you believe God has a process for how He wants us to pray?
Next Doctrine: Doctrine #54
Table of Contents
If you need it, here is the support from the Word of God...
SCRIPTURE
"1 Whence come wars and whence come fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your pleasures that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures.
4 Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God.
5 Or think ye that the scripture speaketh in vain? Doth the spirit which he made to dwell in us long unto envying?
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore the scripture saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble." (James 4:1-6)
(This passage talked about you not getting what you wanted from God because you didn't even ask Him. You have to ask! Asking is a statement of your will. Another reason WHY your prayers wouldn't be answered is because you did not ask the right way. In order to do God's Will you have to hear from God (grace) and this requires you to kill your flesh. God has a way in which He wants us to pray. You can make a request to God carelessly, thinking as a man thinks, but that is what it meant to ask "amiss." It takes humility to pray.)
"5 And when ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites: for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee.
7 And in praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." (Matthew 6:5-8)
(God does know WHAT you need, and when we ask we show God our HOW/WHY. God wants us to state our will and "go hot" toward what we are praying for. This passage was in the Chapter of Matthew that we have called "The Reward Chapter". How Jesus told us to pray was to go into the inner chamber and shut the door. This meant out of sight: buried. The causes are buried, and God sees our causes when we are in fellowship with Him. Here were more verses stating you have to ask...)
"7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)
"24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full." (John 16:24)
"7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be my disciples." (John 15:7-8)
"30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, Lord, have mercy on us, thou son of David.
31 And the multitude rebuked them, that they should hold their peace: but they cried out the more, saying, Lord, have mercy on us, thou son of David.
32 And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I should do unto you?
33 They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.
34 And Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and straightway they received their sight, and followed him." (Matthew 20:30-34)
(Even Jesus needed people to ask Him before He helped them! Jesus knew they were blind but He still asked them and they had to state their will. We are all given free will by God, and if God could oppose our free will we wouldn't have it in the first place; this would be a contradiction!)
"19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)
(We are supposed to store up reward in heaven. Reward is something that we have to have faith that it exists. The treasure in heaven that we have is spiritual value. One of the conditions for getting what we ask for depends on how much spiritual value we have based on justice. In the Bible, every time God moved for someone, moved against someone, or didn't move for someone, it was in response to where the person was in relation to justice. Just like we saw in the introduction a parent gives the child a value because they built up value; it was just for the parents to reward the child. Let's look at four critical examples...)
"11 And Jehovah said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them?
12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they.
13 And Moses said unto Jehovah, Then the Egyptians will hear it; for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;
14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that thou Jehovah art in the midst of this people; for thou Jehovah art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth over them, and thou goest before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15 Now if thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
16 Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.
17 And now, I pray thee, let the power of the Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
18 Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.
19 Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy lovingkindness, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
20 And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy word:" (Numbers 14:11-20)
(God WANTED to kill off the Israelites and begin another nation under Moses because Moses had value and the people didn't. This was God's Will. Moses changed God's Will through prayer because of the value he had. Value is reward through justice. Does this mean Moses could always change God's Mind?...in any situation?)
"1 Then said Jehovah unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth." (Jeremiah 15:1)
(Later, God said that Moses and Samuel COULDN'T change His Mind in this case. The case in Jeremiah chapter 15, long after Moses was dead, was MUCH worse than what Moses faced. Moses (and Samuel) didn't have enough spiritual reward for this case. That brings up an interesting question: Who had the most reward in the Old Testament? Who gave the most and had the most taken away from them? Who handled themselves the best in adversity?)
"19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast;
20 though, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness." (Ezekiel 14:19-20)
(Noah, Daniel and Job had the most spiritual value in the Old Testament. They gave the most while receiving well the most abuse. In fact, they were abused BECAUSE they were good. In this case from the Book of Ezekiel, where Israel was on the wrong side of justice to a very high degree, God said these three men would only have enough value for themselves, not even enough to save their kids.)
"1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Set thy house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.
2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto Jehovah, saying,
3 Remember now, O Jehovah, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
4 And it came to pass, before Isaiah was gone out into the middle part of the city, that the word of Jehovah came to him, saying,
5 Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the prince of my people, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee; on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of Jehovah.
6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake." (2 Kings 20:1-6)
(Hezekiah wanted something that God didn't want. God said that Hezekiah was going to die and not live: this illness would result in death. Clearly Hezekiah's illness didn't result in death. Did God lie? God changed His Mind in response to Hezekiah's prayer. Hezekiah was able to get the wrong thing through prayer because he had enough value: Hezekiah was one of the few righteous kings over God's people. God will never be unjust or wrong, it was Just for Him to grant Hezekiah's request even though it resulted in Manasseh being born and God putting His people in captivity because of Manasseh. This passage is so problematic for some people, they attempt to interpret it in a different manner. Be careful: every other interpretation of this passage results in God lying. God cannot lie.)
"39 And he went forward alittle, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matthew 26:39)
(There is a Right way to pray: a Right HOW. Jesus stated His will, and then said that He wanted God's Will to be done before His. If you did not pray for God's Will you could be outside of His Will and still get what you wanted if you had the spiritual value, just like Hezekiah. Jesus had enough spiritual value to change God's Will. Jesus also had free will and could have chosen not to do God's Will. However, Jesus is God and Thought like God. He had a fleshly nature that He killed so that God's Will could be accomplished through Him. The ideal way to pray is to state your will and then finish by stating that you want God's Will to be done. In the ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE section, we go through the other example that presented the ideal way to pray from God's perspective!)
"12 And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold the doves;
13 and he saith unto them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer: but ye make it a den of robbers." (Matthew 21:12-13)
(Why would Jesus turn over the tables in the temple and tell them that they had made it a den of robbers? People were exchanging value, right? This value was a WHAT!... that ought to be an effect of the Right HOW/WHY, instead of a cause. These people were deceived! Jesus was stating that the temple was a place for prayer: a place for people to exchange spiritual value with God, NOT physical value with each other! Does your church focus on exchanging spiritual value with God (cause) more than they focus on physical value with each other (effect)?)
"1 And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples.
2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Father, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation." (Luke 11:1-4)
(The disciples asked Jesus HOW to pray. Jesus gave them a structure for prayer. There were four parts: 1) Recognize God, 2) Build faith through stating experience and/or understanding, 3) Reference justice, and 4) Make our request. We can talk with God as much as we want, in any way that we want, as long as we don't make a request. That wouldn't be prayer, it would be fellowship. Prayer requires that we make a request to God. Thinking that we can approach God in any way we choose and God has to adjust to us is proof of pride. When you make a request of someone else, do you ask them any way you want or are you intentional and humble? Treating your friends with more respect than you treat God is idolatry. This is so overlooked! Think about it, this was the Son of God showing us how to get our prayers answered. I believe prayer is a critical Doctrine. It is our ability to make requests to the Creator of the universe. WHY do people treat this so casually and with disrespect? EVERY prayer that was answered in the Bible was stated according to this structure. Every prayer other than this structure was a man-made prayer that was based in tradition. Do we know this structure? Do we use it in our churches?)
"15 And Hezekiah prayed before Jehovah, and said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, that sittest above the cherubim, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
16 Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, wherewith he hath sent him to defy the living God.
17 Of a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,
18 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them.
19 Now therefore, O Jehovah our God, save thou us, I beseech thee, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou Jehovah art God alone." (2 Kings 19:15-19)
(Look at the structure of this prayer. 1) Recognize God: "God of Israel," 2) Build faith: "all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth," 3) Reference justice: "sent him to defy the living God", and 4) Request: "save thou us". What was the result of this prayer?)
"35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh." (2 Kings 19:35-36)
(God answered Hezekiah's prayer.)
"9 And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.
10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that thy hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it be not to my sorrow! And God granted him that which he requested." (1 Chronicles 4:9-10)
(Notice the structure of this very famous prayer. It had all four parts. Jabez being more honorable than his brethren meant he had justice on his side. Jabez had spiritual value. Jabez had faith that GOD would grant him his request! Jabez believed that God was and was a rewarder of them that sought diligently after Him.)
"31 And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O Jehovah, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." (2 Samuel 15:31)
(David prayed against the will of another person. This was the definition of witchcraft! Notice, if David could state his will over another person who had a will, it would violate free will and result in a contradiction. We can express our will over inanimate objects, the weather, and animals: everything that does not have a will. In fact, we can state our will over demons! We can state our will over another person when they request that we do this. For example, when people ask us to pray for them. However, it is witchcraft to state our will over another person's will that hinders their free will. What was the result of David's prayer?)
"23 And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man inquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom." (2 Samuel 16:23)
(The opposite of David's prayer happened! God gave Ahithopel words that resulted in counsel that was directly from God. Clearly, it was wrong and unjust for David to pray as he did.)
"7 Ye husbands, in like manner, dwell with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor unto the woman, as unto the weaker vessel, as being also joint-heirs of the grace of life; to the end that your prayers be not hindered." (1 Peter 3:7)
(A husband and a wife are joint-heirs of the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life, and they are joint-heirs in the ability to repair. How many married couples recognize this... they are one flesh. If they lack agreement with one another about what they pray, their prayer will be hindered.)
"25 And whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." (Mark 11:25)
(A request for justice brings judgment. If you have not forgiven someone that is an unbeliever or you haven't forgiven a believer who has confessed and repented to you, your prayer will bring God's judgment on you. In the Lord's prayer, Jesus said to ask God to forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. We show God how to treat us by the way we treat others.)
"23 If therefore thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee,
24 leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." (Matthew 5:23-24)
(Before going to God with an offering, we are to go to those believers who have a complaint against us because we have sinned against them. This is justice. If we sin against believers, we don't remove that sin by confessing and repenting to God. The sin we commit (when we take from others) affect our reward, and if we do not have reward our prayers will not be answered. Sins we do against God affect our salvation. However, our lack of love for another believer is proof that we aren't in fellowship with God.)
"16 For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace; to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all
17 (as it is written, A father of many nations have I made thee) before him whom he believed, even God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were." (Romans 4:16-17)
(When you pray for something you should call things that are not as though they were. If you are sick you wouldn't pray NOT to be sick; you ought to pray to be healed. You can't say, "There is no wall" and run through them. You don't deny what is, but you look past the current state. If someone hit you, you wouldn't deny they hit you. You would state that they hit you and then forgive: state your will you wouldn't hit them back if you had the opportunity to do it. Forgiveness allows God to equal out justice. This also means that when you make your request, you have to let things go, which is also forgiveness.You can't make a request to God that He "put burning bamboo shoots" under someone's fingernails. Every prayer that was answered in the Bible requested a result (a WHAT, not a specific HOW). We saw Hezekiah asked "save thou us". Hezekiah didn't tell God specifically HOW to do it, otherwise, it would have been proof Hezekiah hadn't forgiven the injustice and proof that Hezekiah didn't have faith in God. Another HOW that God can use to equal out justice is BLESSINGS! If God uses a blessing to equal out justice, and humble someone, would you see the benefit in that?)
We have learned that the four causes of the Acts Church were: Fellowship (emotional), Breaking of bread (physical), the Apostles' Doctrine (mental), and Prayer (spiritual).
What does this community look like?
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE
In 1 Samuel 8, God wanted to lead the people. However, the people wanted to be like the heathen nations and be led by a king... by a man. The people told this to Samuel and Samuel told it to God. God's response was to allow Samuel to play God's role during prayer...
"6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto Jehovah.
7 And Jehovah said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them.
8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee."
(God stated these people had not only rejected Him, they had rejected Samuel. God and Samuel were on the same side. Remember, the passage above from Jeremiah: God stated though Moses and Samuel were before Him, His Mind could not be towards the people. Here, we see that Samuel was like Moses: the only person on the right side of justice against God's people. Samuel could now act in God's role...)
"9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit thou shalt protest solemnly unto them, and shalt show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them."
(God stated that Samuel ought to first listen to the people's request, which was prayer. Then Samuel ought to protest solemnly, even help the people to understand the request they were making. This raised an interesting point: Do you listen for God's response to your request? Jesus prayed a lot and for a long time. Now we can see it may have been because He was listening to God's thoughts about His prayers. Verses 10 through 18 documented that Samuel told them the evil things a king would do. Then the people responded...)
"19 But the people refused to hearken unto the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay: but we will have a king over us,
20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles."
(The people made a request. Samuel responded with an explanation for WHY this was not a good request. The people made their request again. Kind of like stating one's will and then saying, "final answer". If we don't listen to God, then our initial request becomes our "final answer".)
"21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of Jehovah.
22And Jehovah said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city."
(Samuel told God what had happened. God still needed to have it stated specifically to Him for Him to respond. God told Samuel to give the people what they wanted, even though it was NOT God's Will. The request by the people didn't require spiritual value because their request was unjust (a rejection of God) and God could give the people what they wanted through justice... their request was actually a punishment, yet they still had to request it. Again, the ideal way to pray is to make your request, listen to God, and then state your will that you want God's Will.)
