Ask anything - Doctrine of prayer part 2 John 14:13

John 14:13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

 

/Christ sits at the right hand of God as the Mediator of prayer. All prayer is processed through Him, onto God the Father. “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will process to the Father…”\

 

In My name shows that the effective believer priest is occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore his requests are in line with the will of the Father and the mind of Christ.

 

Not all prayer is effective.

 

This is because all prayer has two parts:

/Prayer includes the petition and the desire. Example: Petition = money. Desire = happiness and security.\

 

If your desire is selfish then your prayer violates the will of God.

 

/James 4:3

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. \

 

With wrong motivation you will receive neither the petition or the desire.

 

With proper motivation you may receive both or the desire only.

 

God may say no to the petition [money, right man/woman, promotion, healing, etc.] and yes to the desire [happiness and security revealed in another way.

 

This is all processed by the Lord as He sits at the right hand of God.

 

As the Lord Mediates your prayer He may drop some aspects and add others so that when it reaches the Father it will be done. By this the Father is glorified by the Son.

 

/1 Tim 2:5

For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, \

 

John 14:14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

 

Prayer is addressed to the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is not incorrect here that the Lord instruct them to ask Him anything because He is not yet the Mediator.

 

 

 

The entire doctrine of prayer has not been given yet because the NT hasn’t even begun to be written. So we cannot take one scripture out from the rest that instruct us on the method, success, and purpose of proper prayer, and think that prayer is a blank check no matter what we ask for, how we ask for it, and the motivation behind asking for it. All of that will be revealed to the church.

 

And so we begin the doctrine of prayer.

 

/Doctrine of Prayer:

 

1. Introductory principles. \

 

/a. Prayer does not make God your servant, therefore all prayer must be in accordance with God’s will and authority.\

 

If prayer is a blank check or a shopping spree then God must do whatever you wish whether that wish or desire is in line with His will or not.

 

If a believer can get God to do something that is outside of His will and Sovereignty then that believer sits above God and that is obviously not ever going to happen.

 

/b. Prayer is not a stimulus program to bail us out of trouble; rather it is designed to show our helplessness, humility, and dependence on God’s power and not our human power.\

 

I’m not going to say that we should never ever pray, “Oh God, help!” since I think there are times when that is legit. But the prayer, “Oh God, get me out of this situation,” is always illegitimate.

 

We do not pray for God to take away adversity, but to help us understand how to be delivered in the adversity. Often this applies to us asking for wisdom that we already have but are failing to apply because of confusion.

 

/James 1:5

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. \

 

This is not God downloading doctrine that you do not have, but asking Him to show you which doctrines to apply, that you already have.

 

 /c. The believer who fails to utilize proper prayer will not execute the plan of God for his life. The altar of incense was right at the veil to the Holy of Holies.\

 

We have already seen that the Holy Place in the Tabernacle represented the spiritual life of the CA believer. The showbread represents doctrine, the golden candlestick represented occupation with Christ, and the altar of incense represented prayer.

The altar of incense was closest to the veil and therefore it shows us that effective prayer is for the mature believer. This is not to say that the baby or adolescent believer cannot have effective prayer, but that the common hindrances to effective prayer are removed from our hearts when we reach spiritual maturity.

 

Believer’s get lazy, apathetic, and claim to have no time for prayer when they have time for everything else. This pattern must be stopped, and it will be stopped if we recognize that without taking advantage of the great weapon of prayer we will not glorify Christ to the maximum.

 

That fact is understood by the mature. Believers who are not advanced spiritually do not recognize or believe in the power of prayer.

 

Effective prayer can begin in spiritual childhood. But you have to wait and hear the entire doctrine before you rush to conclusions about your prayer life. The most effective prayer emanates from the mature believer and after we finish this doctrine, you will understand why.

 

Ignorance of doctrine is one of the main reasons for failure in prayer. Most believers do not want to plug with doctrine day by day from whoever is their right PT. A little doctrine here and there only makes for an ignorant and confused believer and that status carries over into prayer.

 

 

I could say the things that people want to hear, that makes the majority of Christians feel good, and try to build a big church, but I’m sorry, I actually believe this stuff and I am accountable to the truth.

 

/d. Prayer was never designed to fulfill our lusts and desires but prayer was designed to fulfill the will, plan, and purpose of God for our lives and to give us access to heaven while still living on earth.\

 

Too many prayers are expressions of what you want, not what God wants. To express the will of God in your prayers, you have to come to know what the will of God is or how to ask for the will of God instead of your own will.

 

/e. Every believer in this dispensation is a royal priest and one of our great priestly functions is prayer. \

 

The priest served in the Tabernacle and the Temple every day, even on the Sabbath. Every royal priest is commanded to pray consistently, without ceasing. When, where, and how often is between you and God.

 

/2. Defining Prayer:

 

a. Prayer is the privileged function of the royal priest to approach the grace throne of the Father with thanksgiving, petition (self), and intercession (others).\

 

Prayer is commanded by God and is a part of the priesthood. All prayer is based on grace and not on works. Volition is never violated by prayer, which would place you in authority over others and over God. When you intercede for another believer you assist in their ministry.

 

Since we are all commanded to be in full time Christian service our prayer life should be consistent and according to God’s protocol and not your own false ideas which are usually related to sincerity.

 

Praying to Mary, to other so called saints, to Jesus or to the Holy Spirit goes directly against God’s procedure of protocol.

 

/b. All prayer is directed towards the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the power of the Spirit.\

 

When God’s precise procedure is not followed then prayer becomes ineffective. While many people are sincere, if they are sincerely wrong then prayer is not heard. Who are we to superimpose our own ideas about how something should be done when God has given us clear and precise direction? Yet unfortunately, this is what people do.

 

/c. Prayer comes to the Father from three sources: The believer priest, Jesus Christ (HEB 7:25), and God the Holy Spirit (ROM 8:28-29). \

 

God the Father never prays because He is the recipient of all prayer. Prayers are not direct towards Christ, because if they were it would destroy His function as Mediator. Prayers are not directed towards G/HS because if they were it would destroy His function as the power source.

 

/d. Prayer is communication with God in the intimacy as well as the respect of a child to a Father for the expression of personal needs in petition and perceived needs of others in intercession. \

 

/ROM 8:15

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit [HS] of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" \

 

It was stated that a slave was not allowed to use the word “Abba” when referring to his master. So it is most likely used here to solidify for all time what the Spirit has identified to you supernaturally, that you are an adopted son of God, not in modern terms but in Roman style adoption = you are a fellow heir with Christ so when you pray you approach boldly as such a one without a trace of fear.

 

 

/Mark 14:36

And He was saying, "Abba! Father! All things are possible for Thee; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what Thou wilt." \

 

Why bother praying this when He knows the answer? Relationship.

 

/e. All prayer was heard by the omniscience of God in eternity past, therefore the Father, the maker of the decree, has heard your prayer twice, ISA 64:24.\

 

/ISA 65:24

"It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. \

 

Effective prayer agrees with God’s will and so He is happy to make your request a part of the divine decree - a part of human history.

 

God can arrange your circumstances, He can choose the time of your birth, your parents, environment, etc., but God does not make you ask for certain things. Whatever you ask for, in the right way, with the right motivation and power, and according to His will, He has made a part of the divine decree.

 

Several times God was about to stomp out the Exodus generation in the desert and Moses interceded and God heeded the request.

 

Ex 32:9 And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people.

 

Ex 32:10 "Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them, and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation."

 

Ex 32:11 Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why doth Thine anger burn against Thy people whom Thou hast brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

 

Ex 32:12 "Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, 'With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Thy burning anger and change Thy mind about doing harm to Thy people.

 

Ex 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants to whom Thou didst swear by Thyself, and didst say to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'"

 

Ex 32:14 So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.

 

 

After what Moses had been through with these people you would think that he would have said, “It’s about time Lord, wipe them out,” but that is why effective prayer is usually accomplished by the mature. Moses has impersonal, unconditional love, which is a key factor in effective intercessory prayer.