Jeremiah 33:3, “’Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’”
Several years ago, on one of our mission trips to Mexico, I was informed upon arrival that I was to speak to a plenary session of the Annual Missionary Conference that was in session. For some time, the LORD had been infusing some thoughts into my mind –thoughts that I came to understand He had been preparing in me for my address to these missionaries.
That day, while the missionaries were at lunch, I wandered through the conference room, with the specific purpose of learning what they were currently reading. To my amazement, the books were clearly in line with what the LORD had been preparing me to say.
Years have passed, and thus I have forgotten many of the specifics of that meeting. What I do recall, however, is the basic thesis of my address. It was: “We’ve got to be something before we can do something,” and “We’ve got to become nothing before we can become something.”
What was said that day resonated well with my hearers. It now occurs to me that the same message is applicable to those who would wish to have power with God. Far too often we’ve attempted to do something for the LORD without belonging to Him as we had ought. When failure occurrs, we adjust our thinking to the belief that what we had attempted was not His will — not His will for us, or simply not His will for that time. While these are feasible conclusions, it is also more than possible that we were attempting to do a good thing in our own strength instead of in His.
During our time in Australia, the Australian Baptist carried a story of Southern Baptist missionaries working in Southeast Asia. You could almost “feel” the vibration of the missionary’s excitement as he wrote, “We have tried for so long to accomplish this; we finally just gave it over to the LORD. What we were unable to realize in 20 years, the LORD did inside of two weeks!”
The missionaries had simply come to the end of themselves; they were “shut up to faith.” Having thought they were out there to accomplish something for God, He demonstrated that they were out there to learn of Him.
This is a practical principle of basic Christian theology. What is more, it translates well into the arena of prayer. When we become what He saved us to become –spiritual children, who are totally dependent upon their Heavenly Father– He demonstrates to us and through us who He really is and what He can do. Prayer is therefore dependent upon our yieldedness to Him. The more like Christ we become, the more anxious the Father is to respond to our prayers. The more like Christ we become, the greater His responses to our prayers. For it is then that the indwelling Holy Spirit is doing the asking. And the Father has pledged to answer all of His requests.
Yes, there is reality and power in prayer. We simply must not forget the righteousness that is to characterize our lives; for that righteousness –the LORD’s righteousness– enables our prayer. It also enables the LORD’s willingness to respond.
Want answers to your prayers? Yield yourself to Him! He loves to answer you!
1 Samuel 26:23a, “…the LORD will repay each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness.”
”Just show me once how to do it, and I can do it by myself.” Did you ever say that? Well, with some people that will work; with some others, things need to be shown to them again and again. Take righteousness, for example.
Righteousness embraces honesty, justice, and righteous acts that prove to be wholly true in the lives of those who follow the LORD. Furthermore, Solomon said, “And the desire of the righteous will be granted” (Proverbs 10:24).
Hebrews 11, in the New Testament, offers us a close look at several, Old Testament personalities whose lives exemplify the righteousness that is required by the LORD for us all. A careful examination of these lives reveals the righteousness that characterize life and enabled prayer to become effective.
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
While the etymology of his name is uncertain, obedience in faith is the key to Abel’s characterization as “righteous.” Obviously, the LORD had carefully and properly instructed both Abel and his brother, Cain, regarding what and how they were to approach Him through sacrifice. Proof of Divine preparation lies in the fact that faith is man’s willful response to God’s revelation. In other words, God reveals to man what He is going to do, and man responds in accordance with what God reveals. The LORD’s consistency in this pattern throughout the Scriptures is additional support to the proposition that faith is obedience to His revealed will.
Solomon said, “A good name is to be more desired than great riches…” (Proverbs 22:1a). Abel gained that “good name” from the LORD Himself. Who else could have declared Abel “righteous” except the LORD? And that righteous declaration was the result of having lived the life of faith.
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.
Genesis 5:21-24 gives us all the Old Testament has to say about Enoch. Because he lived a life of faith toward God, the LORD raptured him into Heaven without his going through the veil of death.
“Pleasing” is the designation given to Enoch. It is significant that the word may also be translated as “acceptable.” One must be righteous to be acceptable to God. When we are deemed righteous by Him, we become effective for Him in many ways. This again explains the fortitude of prayer.
The concept of “walking” with God carries the idea of fellowship. Enoch fellowshipped with God! Think of that! The Master Designer of the Universe –a universe man has yet to fathom– allowed a mere mortal, Enoch, to fellowship with Him. In my brief lifetime, I have had the opportunity to be in the presence of and fellowship with some notable personalities. But, the fellowship of Enoch with the LORD excels us all!
Can anyone dare to believe that Enoch and God did not agree –this Pure and Holy God and this sinful, mortal man? And that agreement is the element of faith.
By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Although each of these personalities offers us a lesson in faithful living, none is clearer for our understanding of faith than that of Noah. The warning the LORD gave him was His revelation. No one knows what God has in mind until He reveals it. We are not told all that God revealed to Noah; we only know that it was “about things not yet seen.”
Yet, Noah responded to what he had heard from the LORD: “In reverence (he) prepared an ark.” Out of his respect for God, Noah certified his belief in what God had told him was coming upon the Earth. A lot of us talk about our faith. Noah demonstrated his!
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
It is not possible to include here even a small portion of all that is known about Abraham. To attempt it would be to dwarf our thesis in this small letter. It is sufficient for us to know that Abraham was previously known as Abram; that his earliest life was lived in Ur, where worship of the sun goddess occurred; and that he is known to Jews and Gentiles alike as the father of the faithful.
It was Abraham, who by faith was granted a son when both he and his wife, Sarah, were past the reproductive stage of life. It was Abraham, who faithfully brought his only son, Isaac, to the point of human sacrifice. Above all, it was Abraham, whose faith in the LORD led him to believe that were he to obey the LORD in the taking of Isaac’s life, the LORD Himself would raise Isaac from the dead. After all, were he himself and Sarah not “dead” reproductively when Isaac was physically born to them? That being so, the LORD would certainly raise Isaac from the dead, for Isaac had been divinely selected as Abraham’s son of promise and as Abraham’s progeny for all successive generations. What a colossal personality Abraham was! How greatly he challenges us to believe God!
By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised; therefore, also, there was born of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
Sarah’s inclusion in the early personalities of Hebrews 11 serves as a clear signal of how the LORD’s view of human life differs considerably from our own.
The Genesis reading of Sarah’s attitude doesn’t leave us with the thought that she was at all faithful. Having lived in the disgrace of childlessness almost her whole life, she laughed when she heard she was to bear a son! She was too old! This was just impossible. Fearful of the consequences of her sin of disbelief, she lied when she was confronted about having laughed. In fact, it had been Sarah’s idea for Abraham to take Hagar as “a second womb” in the hope of aiding the LORD in the fulfillment of His own promise. Talk about a lack of faith! Her insistence of this unprescribed union flew directly in the Face of Almighty God! Did she not believe He could fulfill His own promises? Indeed, she did not. Therein lies her gravest sin.
Yet, the LORD views Sarah as faithful and inspires the Apostle Paul to include her as such in his Letter to the Hebrews.
As strangely as this resonates in our current culture, the LORD led the Apostle Peter to commend Abraham’s obstreperous nephew as “righteous Lot” in his Second Letter to the Jewish believers of New Testament times. Thus, whatever elements of unseen faith Sarah possessed earlier, God saw them and rewarded her accordingly. She had come to regard faithfully His promise.
Are there not times when we find it hard to believe that the LORD will act in a difficult situation? In those instances we can understand Sarah. Are there not times when we believe the LORD will act, despite the cries to the contrary from others around us? In those instances we can understand a small part of God.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD (Isaiah 55:8)
Beyond these initial Old Testament personalities, listed in Hebrews 11, Paul lists others, such as Jacob, Joseph, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel. Then his lists events without naming those coupled with the events. We can, however, in many instances, make a credible guess at their names.
Apostles Paul and Peter were both believed to have been executed during the horrifying reign of Nero (A.D. 67-68). Paul was beheaded; Peter crucified, but upside down, saying himself that he was not worthy to be crucified in the same manner as his LORD.
James, the son of Zebedee, was executed by Herod Agrippa I around A.D. 44. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, is reported to have been crucified in Patrae in Achaia. Philip is believed to have died in Hierapolis. Matthew is said to have died as a martyr in Ethiopia. Thomas, whose ministry extended as Far East as India, was slain with a lance. James, the son of Alpheus (also known as Thaddeus), was thrown from the temple heights, stoned and beaten to death with a club. Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus, died by his own hand. Of Bartholomew and Simon the Canaanite, there is no recorded information regarding their deaths.
How do you feel after reading all of this? Do you still have pride in yourself? Are you still
on that self-made pedestal you built for yourself? I doubt it! We’re more likely ready than not to fall at His feet and cry, “LORD, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Love and prayers for you as you faithfully follow Him.
Genesis 15:6, “Then he (Abram) believed in the LORD, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
The Hebrew word for righteousness (tsedaqah) means rightness, justness, lawfulness. The “root (of the word) basically connotes conformity to an ethical or moral standard.”
One scholar states that the original significance of the Hebrew root, sdq, means “to be straight.” This is certainly in line with the character of Almighty God. It is upon Abram’s belief in Him that righteousness was bestowed. It is, therefore, reasonable that He should desire all of His children (all believers in Jesus Christ) to be just like Him, and for those who are to be declared “righteous.”
Another writer views righteousness from an ethical standpoint, saying, “Righteousness is the quality of relationships between individuals.” The Bible says,
The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much (James 5:16c).
This is precisely what made the prayer of Jabez effective.
And Jabez was more honorable than his brothers… (I Chronicles 4:9).
It was not that Jabez was all that he might have become; he was simply more righteous than his brothers. It’s to our advantage not to look too closely at other believers. Doing that causes us to excuse ourselves from being all that we ought to be and instead, measuring our “righteousness” by the standard we find in others.
Still, what constitutes righteousness? How does the LORD measure righteousness in each of us? One of the earliest tests is Scripture concern the brothers, Cain and Abel. Each brother was given Divine direction regarding the nature of the sacrifice he was to bring to the LORD. This is in evidence through what the LORD said in Genesis 4:7, where He reminded Cain “‘If you do well…’” How was Cain to “do well,” except that he had previously been so instructed? How would Abel have known to bring the “fat portions,” except that the LORD had so instructed him?
Three specifics come to light in this test of the two brothers: first, their activity; second, their attitude; and third, their motive.
Abel was a keeper of flocks, a shepherd; Cain was a tiller of the ground, a farmer. Although both men knew what God had directed them to bring as an offering, Cain ignored the Divine directive and brought the fruit of the work of his own hands. Abel, on the other hand, obeyed the LORD’s directive and “brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat portions.”
Upon inspection, the LORD accepted Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s.
And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard (Genesis 4:4b-5a).
Notice carefully that the LORD’s acceptance was both of Abel and of his offering –not the offering alone. Likewise, His rejection of Cain was of both the offering bearer and the offering he bore. What is involved here? Simply this: Abel brought the sacrifice the LORD had ordered. In doing this, he demonstrated a rightness in his activity. Cain, by refusing to bring the correct sacrifice, demonstrated a wrongness. The proper activity is very important. It demonstrates both obedience and subservience toward God.
Note that Cain became angry (Genesis 4:5b), and ultimately murdered his brother, Abel.
Not a good attitude at all. We must be careful in examining Cain’s motive. That’s one area that must be left to God. Yet, there must have been some self-centeredness in Cain, causing him to believe that he need not pay attention to the LORD. He was master of his own soul.
Are you and I really obedient and subservient toward God? I have included myself in this question because no one, who claims to be a Christian can avoid it. At the same time, none of us can avoid being and doing what we ought to be by looking at another person’s response to the LORD. Check your activities! Check your attitudes! Check your motives!
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the Word of Truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).
John 15:7, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.”
Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened to you.”
Luke 11:9, “And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you
shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.”
The Gospel of Matthew was written to the Jews. The Gospel of Luke was written to the Greeks. I quoted both above so you could see there was no difference. The LORD Jesus Christ died for all, so He reaches out to everyone with His Word of salvation.
The Greeks were far more explicit with language than we are with ours. They had four possible responses to their “if” questions. The “ifs” introduce what are called “conditional sentences.” The first-class is if, and it is so; the second-class is if, but it is not so; the third-class reads, if, maybe it is and maybe it’s not; and the fourth-class, if, and I wish it were so, but it is not. Differentiating these “ifs,” is accomplished from within the language; yet in the John 15:7 verse each if reveals a third-class conditional sentence: If you abide in Me (maybe you will, maybe you won’t)… If My words abide in you (maybe they will, maybe they won’t).
The second significant verb, ask (????? (aiteo), is a Greek aorist, middle, imperative. (Don’t give up on me here!) The aorist tense denotes action occurring in a point of time, decisively and with finality. The middle voice here carries the idea of personal involvement. And the imperative mood connotes a command. Thus, His Holy Spirit commandingly initiates prayer through those who are consistently living in the Lord.
What remains to be said in the verse is logically axiomatic. Still, we must never allow that truth will be automatically understood. Jesus is saying that when we abide in Him, we are in the right position for the Holy Spirit to use us as a corridor through which He communicates with the Father. Now, how is it possible for the Holy Spirit to request from the Father something that the Father cannot allow? Or, how can the Father reply negatively to what the Spirit Himself asks? The answer to both questions is the same: He cannot! To allow either would be to place the unity of the Godhead in opposition. Such is a theological and practical impossibility. “…He cannot deny Himself” (II Timothy 2:13).
The key to answered prayer, therefore, is for us to abide in Christ, moment-by-moment, that we might be obediently useful to the Spirit when He desires to address the Father through the medium of our mortal spirits. Further, it is for us to live in His Word (the Bible) daily, and soak up its treasures in our hearts. It’s not the words we use in praying, not the physical position we assume, not even how much time we take; it’s whether we are living daily in a moment-by-moment yieldedness to Christ. I cannot help but wonder whether Wesley knew this when he said, “God does nothing but in answer to prayer.”
I apologize for the technical aspect of this letter. But it is vitally necessary that we understand our LORD’s requirement of yieldedness to Him before He moves to answer our prayers. Sometimes it even takes a tragedy for us to learn this vital point. Learn it quickly!
My prayers continue for you; and I trust that yours continue for me.
Luke 11:1, “And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.’”
Years ago, when I was just commencing my ministry in a country area, I recall Sunday School classes I attended that were being taught by obviously unprepared teachers. After reading the lesson around-and-aloud in a verse-by-person method, the teacher would re-read the first verse and ask a member of the class, “Now, what does that verse mean to you?” You can only imagine how often we received a variety of responses to the meaning of a single verse. Quite frequently, when a verse seemed to defy interpretation, the class member would respond to the teacher’s directive by saying, “I believe that verse is self-explanatory.”
While I was engaged in overseas evangelism, a New Zealand pastor remarked that the adult Sunday School class in his church was the strangest he had ever encountered. Believing that I had already encountered the strangest in my earlier ministry, I inquired as to exactly what he meant. “They vote on the meaning of the Scriptures!” he exclaimed. “Whenever a difficult passage arises, and someone offers an explanation not previously agreed upon, someone reminds them that ‘we had this lesson four years ago, and we voted then that it meant…’” Notwithstanding their “votes,” I continue to believe there is a better way.
Hermeneutics is the art and science of Biblical Interpretation; and my study has led me to believe that prayer possesses a divine design just as man possesses a divine imprint.
One salient principle in hermeneutics is that there is but one interpretation; yet, there may be many applications. It is to an application that we now turn for our understanding of the mechanics of prayer.
Jesus had just witnessed Simon Peter’s testimony. In a portion of His reply, Jesus said,
“I shall give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and whatever you might bind on Earth shall have been bound in Heaven, and whatever you might loose on Earth shall have been loosed in Heaven” (Matthew 16:19, Gk tr.)
In His reply, Jesus revealed more than what is contained on the face of the statement. I have quoted it literally from the Greek New Testament in order that you might see the tenses of the verbs. Note carefully that the NASB translates the verse with
…whatever you shall bind on Earth shall be bound (future tense) in Heaven…
but the translation of the Greek text is,
…whatever you might bind on Earth shall have been bound (future perfect tense)
in Heaven…
The English future tense simply projects the action of the verb into the future. The Greek perfect tense indicates an action that is complete, but has continuing results that reach into the future. The word “might” also appears in our translation to indicate the Greek subjunctive mood of the verb “bind.” The subjunctive mood indicates potentiality. That is, Peter might bind something, or he might not. But he is able.
Here now is the crux of the situation: While Peter’s action has potential, it has yet to occur. But, when his binding occurs, it will have already occurred in Heaven. And what has been bound in Heaven will remain bound unto all forth-coming generations.
This clearly gives us understanding that what we see happen on Earth –those events have already occurred in Heaven. It is as if we were seeing it on Earth as a mirrored replay.
It is vitally important, however, to remember that there is no answer to prayer without the occurrence of prayer. We cannot, therefore, simply acquiesce in the hope that everything will work out satisfactorily. We must understand the urging of the Holy Spirit within us to exercise prayer and engage in praying.
The word prayer occurs more than 200 times in the Bible. It occupied a place of supreme importance in the lives of the patriarchs and the prophets, and was fundamental to the life of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the lives of His apostles. Such occupancy of importance –especially in the life of Christ— thus constitutes it as vital to the maintenance of our spiritual lives.
Of the multiple passages addressing the subject, none have so gripped my heart and life as that of John 15:7,
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish,
and it shall be done for you.
It seems strangely appropriate that our Lord would address this subject with His disciples during an era that was increasingly hostile toward Him and His message. Surely, that is His word for believers today: in the midst of trial and tragedy, resort swiftly to prayer.
And we do that; yet, our problem lies in the failure to understand that it’s not sufficient to go merely through the motions of prayer, however intense the hurt; rather, His teaching requires that our lives be in spiritual order before we pray. In all truth, His teaching clearly is that unless our lives know a perennial fellowship with Him, we cannot pray, the utterance of words notwithstanding.
The most important word in any sentence is the verb because the verb denotes the action of the subject. The key word that unlocks the meaning of John 15:7 is verb abide. An aorist, active, subjunctive, second person plural, it renders µ?????? (abiding) potentially available to all believers. “If you all are continuing to remain and make your home in Me…”
Abiding is not available for a privileged few; it is available for all, who are privileged to be in Christ. The subjunctive mood of the verb indicates that it is possible for every believer to be all that Christ intends him to be. Additionally, He has given us the Scriptures to this very end (cf. II Timothy 3:16-17).
Without question, in Me (?? ?µ??) constitutes the precise place of our abiding. Edersheim highlights the spiritual significance of Christ to us when he notes that Jesus’ question regarding His true identity, as recorded in Matthew 16, was issued to the disciples outside the area of the Promised Land, as had been settled by the Hebrew tribes. There, away from the Holy City, away from the temple, the priesthood, the Scriptures, Jesus asked them plainly, “Who am I to you?”
A modern context further clarifies the meaning: Away from the home church, away from the pastor, the Sunday School teacher, the literature, the hymnbooks –cut off even from the Bible— who is Jesus Christ to you? While I am studiedly unmoved from my pre-tribulation, pre-millennial position on eschatology, should the Church be required to encounter severe persecution prior to the Rapture, we may have opportunity to test the significance of who Jesus Christ is to us and whether we are truly abiding in Him!
The LORD doesn’t play games! Don’t ignore your responsibility as a believer. Be what
He saved you to be! Be faithful in all ways and at all times. And “pray without ceasing.”
I am praying for you. Please pray for me as you pray for others. God takes notice of our
