2017 is the year of Prayer at CDG. The Sunday morning Adult Bible Study Group after a series titled "Prayer Begins With Relationship now looks at the question Prayer Does It Make Any Difference? We are using a book by the same title written by Philip Yancey. In his book Philip explores the intimate place where God and humans meet in Prayer. Polls reveal that 90 percent of people pray. Yet prayer, which should be the most nourishing and uplifting time of the believer’s day, can also be frustrating, confusing, and fraught with mystery. Writing as a fellow pilgrim, Yancey probes such questions as: •Is God listening? •Why should God care about me? •If God knows everything, what’s the point of prayer? •Why do answers to prayer seem so inconsistent? •Why does God sometimes seem close and sometimes seem far away? •How can I make prayer more satisfying? Yancey tackles the tough questions and in the process comes up with a fresh new approach to this timeless topic. “I have learned to pray as a privilege, not a duty,” he says, and he invites you to join him on this all-important journey. These are my notes for the study. The audio of the study is at the end of the notes.
Prayer is the power by which that comes to pass which otherwise would not take place - Andrew Murray
Malachi 3:6-7 (GW)6 “I, the LORD, never change. That is why you descendants of Jacob haven't been destroyed yet.7 Since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my laws and have not followed them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return?'
Hosea 11:8 (GW)8 “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboim? I have changed my mind. I am deeply moved.
These are just two scriptures that seem to on one hand say God doesn’t change and then on the other hand say He changes His mind. I wrote a post back in January with the title “Does God Every Change His Mind”, and I included some other scriptures that said He doesn’t change;
Numbers 23:19 (NKJV) "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
James 1:17 (NKJV) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Hebrews 13:8 (NKJV) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
I also cited others that say He does change, or that He changed His mind;
Numbers 14:11-12 (NKJV)11 Then the LORD said to Moses: "How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."
Then Moses prayed;
Numbers 14:13-19 (NKJV)13 And Moses said to the LORD: "Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them,14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, LORD, are among these people; that You, LORD, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.15 Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying,16 'Because the LORD was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.'17 And now, I pray, let the power of my LORD be great, just as You have spoken, saying,18 'The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.'19 Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now." 20 Then the LORD said: "I have pardoned, according to your word;21 but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD--22 because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice,23 they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.
Then what happened?
Numbers 14:20-23 (NKJV)20 Then the LORD said: "I have pardoned, according to your word;
21 but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD--22 because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice,23 they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.
Jeremiah 18:7-10 (NKJV)7 The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it,8 if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.9 And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,10 if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.
Jonah 3:10 (NKJV) Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
I have a personal opinion that I have expressed to you before and that is that God, in fact doesn’t change although it may appear that He has. My belief is that because God is love, is merciful, and full of mercy and grace, and that never changes, when we change God must be merciful, and forgiving, and that is not a change. I talked about that last week and I won’t go into that again today.
Many people believe that God does change His mind and if He did it before that He will do it again, and they pray that way.
So let’s look at both opinions or beliefs. If you believe that God doesn’t change and He is all knowing or omniscient, that He already knows what will happen then prayer is of no use. If everything happens according to God’s will and His will doesn’t change then why pray? Many people who think this way follow the theology of John Calvin, who taught that God’s sovereignty is absolute. John Calvin taught that salvation is predestined for some and not others. He taught that the focus of prayer should not be to try to change or effect God but to change or affect the person praying. The Serenity Prayer is really in that vein:
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference”
On the other hand those who believe that God has and does change His mind point to the way God is portrayed in the Bible as One who does listen to prayer and responds. Jesus said that God knows what we need before we ask,
Matthew 6:7-13 (GW)7 “When you pray, don't ramble like heathens who think they'll be heard if they talk a lot.8 Don't be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Yet, He still told His disciples to ask anyway.
Matthew 6:9-13 (GW)9 “This is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, let your name be kept holy.10 Let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.
11 Give us our daily bread today.12 Forgive us as we forgive others.13 Don't allow us to be tempted. Instead, rescue us from the evil one.
God still listens even if He already knows. If we know He knows we don’t have to beat around the bush we can get right to the point with our requests.
1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV)14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
And John gives an example;
1 John 5:16-17 (NKJV)16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.
There are instances throughout the Bible where God didn’t act until after people prayed. We talked about some of those.
Exodus 3:1-2, 7-10 (NKJV)1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 7 And the LORD said: "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."
Judges 4:1-7, 14-16 (NKJV)1 When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD.2 So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim.3 And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he harshly oppressed the children of Israel.4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time.5 And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.6 Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, "Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, 'Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun;7 and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand'?" 14 Then Deborah said to Barak, "Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone out before you?" So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.15 And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot.16 But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.
Judges 6:1-6, 11-16 (NKJV)1 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains.3 So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.4 Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it.6 So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD. 11 Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.12 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, "The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!"13 Gideon said to Him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites."14 Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?"15 So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."16 And the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man."
Nehemiah 2:1-8 (NKJV)1 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.2 Therefore the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart." So I became dreadfully afraid,3 and said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?"4 Then the king said to me, "What do you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.5 And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it."6 Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), "How long will your journey be? And when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.7 Furthermore I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah,8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy." And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.
Psalm 34:15 (GW)15 The LORD'S eyes are on righteous people. His ears hear their cry for help.
Mikey talked about Hannah on Tuesday. She couldn’t have children, then she prayed, got pregnant and had Samuel and seems to have had others after him.
1 Samuel 1:9-11, 19-20 (GW)9 One day, after Hannah had something to eat and drink in Shiloh, she got up. (The priest Eli was sitting on a chair by the door of the Lord's temple.)10 Though she was resentful, she prayed to the LORD while she cried.11 She made this vow, “LORD of Armies, if you will look at my misery, remember me, and give me a boy, then I will give him to you for as long as he lives. A razor will never be used on his head.” 19 Early in the morning Elkanah and his family got up and worshiped in front of the LORD. Then they returned home to Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.20 Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel [God Hears], because she said, “I asked the LORD for him.”
1 Samuel 2:5 (GW)5 Those who were well-fed hire themselves out for a piece of bread, but those who were hungry hunger no more. Even the woman who was childless gives birth to seven children, but the mother of many children grieves all alone.
There’s scripture in the New Testament too that seems to say pray because it makes a difference;
Matthew 7:7-11 (GW)7 “Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.8 Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find, and for the one who knocks, the door will be opened.9 “If your child asks you for bread, would any of you give him a stone?10 Or if your child asks for a fish, would you give him a snake?11 Even though you're evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. So how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?
James 5:13-16 (GW)13 If any of you are having trouble, pray. If you are happy, sing psalms.
14 If you are sick, call for the church leaders. Have them pray for you and anoint you with olive oil in the name of the Lord.15 (Prayers offered in faith will save those who are sick, and the Lord will cure them.) If you have sinned, you will be forgiven.16 So admit your sins to each other, and pray for each other so that you will be healed. Prayers offered by those who have God's approval are effective.
James 4:2-3 (GW)2 You want what you don't have, so you commit murder. You're determined to have things, but you can't get what you want. You quarrel and fight. You don't have the things you want, because you don't pray for them.3 When you pray for things, you don't get them because you want them for the wrong reason—for your own pleasure.
How Do We Reconcile A Changeless God With The Responsive God
So how do we reconcile both attributes, a changeless God, and the responsive God described in the Bible. Here is a quote from Charles Finney, who was a minister during the 1700s who together with several other evangelical leaders, promoted social reforms, such as abolition of slavery and equal education for women and African Americans. From 1835 he taught at Oberlin College of Ohio, which accepted all genders and races. He served as its second president from 1851 to 1866, during which its faculty and students were activists for abolition, the Underground Railroad, and universal education. Here is his quote” If you ask why He ever answers prayer at all, the answer must be, Because He is unchangeable” To give an example, a God bound by unchanging qualities of love and mercy must forgive a sinner who prays repentantly. God changes course in response to the sinner’s change in course, and does so because of those eternal qualities”. Another quote from Clark Pinnock, another Christian theologian, apologist and author. “Since God’s nature is love, God must be impressionable and sympathetic: Because God's’ love never changes, God’s experience must change”.
Does prayer change things? Yes. Does God use prayer as a secondary means to bring His work to pass? Yes. Does God not only invite us to pray but command us to? Yes. Does the effective prayer of righteous man accomplish much? Yes. But do these things change God’s mind? No. Why? Because God has never had to change His mind from the foundation of the world
Ephesians 1:11 (NKJV) In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
Isaiah 46:10 (NKJV)10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,'
So Why Ask, Seek Knock?
Matthew 7:7-11 (GW)7 “Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.8 Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find, and for the one who knocks, the door will be opened.9 “If your child asks you for bread, would any of you give him a stone?10 Or if your child asks for a fish, would you give him a snake?11 Even though you're evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. So how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?
Jesus encourages his followers to ask, seek, and knock, that their deficiencies may be met from the divine supply. The three imperatives are in climactic order, and their durative forms suggest not only perseverance but frequent prayer for any and all needs. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
Luke 11:1-13 (NKJV)1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."2 So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.3 Give us day by day our daily bread.4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one."5 And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves;6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him';7 and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'?8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.9 "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
Did you notice that after giving His disciples the model for prayer He immediately told them to be persistent just like they would be in asking for food to share with a guest. Which was very very important in Jesus’ day and even today in the Middle East.
There is the antidote in our book about one of Philip’s friends who was a missionary in Lebanon 40 years about borrowing to make sure that guests were fed. “While living in primitive Middle Eastern villages, we discovered to our amazement that this custom of rounding up for the neighbors something adequate for the guest extended even to us when we were the guests. We would accept an invitation to a meal clear across the village, and arrive to eat from our own dishes which the villagers had borrowed quietly from our cook.”
Jesus was serious about being persistent because later on in Luke we find Him talking about it again in another parable.
Luke 18:1-8 (NKJV)1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,2 saying: "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.'4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man,5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.' "6 Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said.7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"
God is not like the judge in that He doesn’t get tired of our asking. Philip gives some examples of people who were persistent in their asking:
William Wilberforce submitting the same bill year after year before the British Parliament for the abolition of slavery. Senator William Proxmire giving a speech every day on the floor of the Senate 3211 speeches over 19 years for a bill, that his colleagues finally passed, outlawing genocide. Martin Luther King, Jr asking “How long?...How long… How long will it take?”
Once Is Not Enough
Persistence in asking indicates how important it is to you. It doesn’t mean that it’s best for you but it is important. God knows your true motives from the first time that you ask. Persistence keeps bringing you and God together. When we finally realize that, we can open up with God and talk to Him like our best friend, the One who only has out best in mind, we can pour out our souls to Him. We won’t hold anything back even if means asking for the same thing over and over until He gives us an answer even if it is no. When God says no He may or may not tell us why but when He says no we can be sure that it is what’s best for us.
Jeremiah 29:11 (GW)11 I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.
In persistent prayer your own desires and plans will gradually become God’s desire for you. Then you can really say:
Psalm 37:3-4 (NLT)3 Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires.
This comment hit home with me. “A God that should fail to hear, receive, attend to one single prayer, the feeblest or worst, I cannot believe in; but a God that would grant every request of every man or every company of mean, would be an evil God - that is no God, but a demon”. That’s a quote from George MacDonald (a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister his writing influenced Christian writers like C. S. Lewis) .
What Do You Think That Means?
Here’s something that happens to me and may happen to you when you pray. You may be thinking about what happened that day, you may be thinking about what you need to do tomorrow, your mind wanders so what’s the use? The point is that we don’t have to feel good to pray or really prepare to pray but we should pray because we need to spend time with our friend.
This is an interesting conclusion of a man quoted in the book. “Sitting in the presence of God for one hour each morning-day after day, week after week, and month after month, in total confusion and with a myriad of distractions-radically changes my life.”
Some other interesting comments;
Augustine - “that he himself may be constructed, not that God may be instructed”
Philip Yancey - I have sometimes found that I get an answer to my persistent request after I have learned to do without it. “I seek the gift, find instead the Giver, and eventually come away with the gift I no longer seek.
We may ask for relief from trials and instead get patience to bear them. We may pray for release from prison and instead get strength to redeem the time while there. Asking, seeking, and knocking does have an effect on God, as Jesus insists, but it also has a lasting effect on the asker-seeker-knocker.
Prayer offers an opportunity for God to remodel us, to chisel marble like a sculptor, touch up colors like an artist, edit words while a writer. The work continues until death, never perfected in this life.
Bible Study Audio
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