In God’s Prayer Book – prayer is about Christ’s glory.
length: 66:12 - taught on Oct, 25 2022
Class Outline:
Tuesday October 25, 2022
We should not ask what our prayers, or the prayers of the Psalms, have to do with us, but what they have to do with Christ.
All of life and history are centered on Christ, and so must our lives be.
If prayer is all about me and not the manifestation of Christ in me, then it will be ineffective.
We should always be aware of what our prayers have to do with the will and program of God for all history. When we pray for others and ourselves, are our prayers about centering and glorifying Christ or are they only about us, our desires apart from Christ, our own glory and not the glory of Christ.
We have to actually think about this while we pray or before we do. “Do I have the glory of Christ in mind or myself?” It will only take a few moments, and we know that in prayer, we can’t lie to God, and so then, we can’t lie to ourselves.
This theme is found in many psalms.
The program of God is to glorify Himself, which results in our glorification with Him (ROM 8:30). We can think about this very easily and quickly by thinking of the entire rollout of revelation throughout the whole of Scripture. Well, that is not quick, but to look at only the beginning and the end is pretty fast. God puts man in the Garden of Eden and blesses him. What does man do? How does God respond?
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel."
Near the end of all history, and the end of earth in the control of Satan and the people he has given power to, we have the Battle of Armageddon.
"These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful."
And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.
He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
In all of history, Jesus Christ alone is to be glorified, and so also in our prayers (there is something great in this for us).
This consideration is a surefire way of praying for the proper things, and is what we must remember when we say “in Christ’s name.” Jesus said that anything we asked in His name we would receive.
If this sounds off to you that we should be praying with Christ in mind and not ourselves, consider how God tells us in His Word how all that He does for us is for His sake.
Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name,
That He might make His power known.
whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
There are several more passages just like these. We’ll see a few more, but before we do, we must be cautious of getting the wrong idea.
So then, we don't do things for our sake, but when we do things for the Lord's sake they are all for our benefit.
Many times He would deliver them;
They, however, were rebellious in their counsel,
And so sank down in their iniquity.
44 Nevertheless He looked upon their distress,
When He heard their cry;
45 And He remembered His covenant for their sake,
And relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness.
46 He also made them objects of compassion
In the presence of all their captors.
We do not seek our own good. We seek the Lord’s good and then anticipate and expect our own good from Him.
This very much applies to proper prayer. Our motivation in seeking God and His will is not entirely lacking in self. We desire good things for ourselves, but only the good that comes from the Lord.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
It is to be His joy in us and His peace in us. Our strength is the strength of the Holy Spirit. Our wisdom is the Word of God. These and so much more are good things for us - the best of things. So, while we are seeking Christ in prayer, we are not ascetics. “Blessed are the poor,” does not mean that we should be poor. In the ancient world, the poor were not poor by choice. They were oppressed and got a raw deal in life. There was no welfare system back then. You could glean unless the greedy owners wouldn’t allow it, or you went into slavery or you died a beggar at too young an age. All who follow Christ will be oppressed by the world, the flesh, and the devil, hence all who follow Christ will be poor.
We are not promised riches. We are promised enough, as God’s will deems fit, and we are not to worry about it at all. We are to be filled with joy and enjoy good things and good relationships with people while we are careful not to get absorbed with them or think that they alone are the source of happiness - making them idols. The Christian life is a constant search for the proper road that is very narrow, and searching is a great use for prayer. Only the person who knows that Christ alone sits on the throne of his soul can skillfully walk that narrow path.
So then, a word of caution.
Any truth can be perverted into a harmful distortion.
Over emphasis of one aspect of the truth and the neglect of another will distort an idea into a hideous lie, which is most dangerous because it contains some truth. For example, emphasis of grace and the neglect of holiness leads to carnality that is claimed to be in the name of the Lord. The opposite is distorted into joyless legalism, also in the name of the Lord.
In our current topic, emphasis on doing all for the sake of the Lord and the neglect of our own desires can lead us to asceticism. Denial of all good things for ourselves will, in a short while, will increase our longing for personal good things and rob us of legitimate joy. This will distort Christianity into an impersonal, and anxious obedience, and a soul filled with the wrong kind of fear.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
And, for example, this has been distorted to mean that we shouldn’t fear at all, but that is not true. We are to fear God in the manner of reverence, awe, and a deep desire to please Him.
We must have obedience, but we must also understand that our obedience and our doing all things for His sake are going to bring the Lord’s great happiness and peace and love directly into our lives. Remember, the Lord indwells you and He is everywhere in this world. The world is cursed, but the hand of God is everywhere and there are many very good things to enjoy.
Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
So then, we don't do things for our sake, but when we do things for the Lord's sake they are all for our benefit. The Lord told us that the road is narrow. That doesn't mean it's impossible, but that we can easily veer off of it by slight moves to the right or left. When we do, and we will, we are to make the proper adjustments by the word of God, by active seeking and looking, and while the Holy Spirit lights your path, and then we will find and know the narrow road that leads to life.
If there is no good in the life of Christ specifically for you, your motivation to resist temptation when it comes will wane to a feeble weakness in a very short time. We are human and have desires. This is not wrong. It is the source of fulfillment that can be very wrong.
All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
After saying this Paul instructs us to not seek our own but to seek our neighbor. The glory of Christ is to seek for the betterment of others, but this has great benefits for us who do it.
We do all for His sake, and that "all" is our ultimate good. We do not do for our sake alone, but happiness and peace that results from doing things for His sake is for our benefit. Abundantly beyond.
Daniel is praying:
“To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; 10 nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets.”
Of anyone who could say “they have rebelled,” it could be Daniel, but he includes himself.
His beautiful conclusion - we are for His name’s sake not our own.
"And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day — we have sinned, we have been wicked. 16 "O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us. 17 "So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. 18 "O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. 19 "O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name."
When Moses prays for Israel, he appeals to God’s name in the same way.
Therefore He said that He would destroy them,
Had not Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him,
To turn away His wrath from destroying them.
Moses appealed in prayer:
“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself,”
Six verses later Moses saw the golden calf and all of them dancing around it like lunatics and his anger burned and shattered the tablets of the Ten Commandments. He was human, but a great and humble human in almost everything.
Whenever we think that things are about us, we begin the process of forgetting the Lord.
God loses focus in our conscience and becomes more and more faded as ourselves and our circumstances move to our center.
They made a calf in Horeb
And worshiped a molten image.
20 Thus they exchanged their glory
For the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot God their Savior,
Who had done great things in Egypt,
22 Wonders in the land of Ham
And awesome things by the Red Sea.
God saved us for His own sake, and His sake is the only way of great blessing for our sake.
Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name,
That He might make His power known.
Nevertheless He looked upon their distress
When He heard their cry;
45 And He remembered His covenant for their sake,
And relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness.
46 He also made them objects of compassion
In the presence of all their captors.
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name;
And deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name's sake.
Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God;
Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
11 For the sake of Your name, O Lord, revive me.
In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
12 And in Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies
And destroy all those who afflict my soul,
For I am Your servant.
“For the sake of My name I delay My wrath,
And for My praise I restrain it for you,
In order not to cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act;
For how can My name be profaned?
And My glory I will not give to another.”
This is why the statement is true that whatever you ask “in His name,” you will receive (in His timing).
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