Grace Bible Church
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
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STUDY TITLE:
DOCTRINE OF PRAYER, Part 2 of 2
Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries
Study3-9-20 THE DOCTRINE OF PRAYER, Part 2 of 2, Pages 16-29
Rom 8:26-27, “And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weaknesses; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what is the thinking of the Spirit, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Our prayers often fail simply because of lack of concentration. We fail to concentrate on doctrine in the power of the Spirit which reflects our failure to concentrate in prayer in the power of this same Holy Spirit. We fail in prayer because we fail to metabolize and utilize Bible doctrine properly. Prayer is a part of Christian service, and as such, prayer must comply with the doctrinal principles of Christian service. Since every believer is in full time Christian service, he should express in prayer the concepts related to that service. Therefore, his intercession for others will be divine good rather than human good or dead works.
The principles of Christian service apply to every prayer just as much as they do to witnessing or to the fact that your job is a part of Christian service. Spiritual skills must precede production skills for the performance of divine good in prayer.
Spiritual skills include the filling of the Holy Spirit, cognition and inculcation of Bible doctrine, and the execution of the PPOG [predesigned plan of God].
Therefore, our spiritual advance through perception, metabolization, and application of doctrine is directly related to our prayer life as a part of our Christian service.
Prayer and Problem Solving.
In 2Co 12:9, our Lord tells Paul why prayer is not the solution to the problem in context (which is of course, the thorn in the flesh).
2Co 12:7-8 “And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me — to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me.”
Then notice the correct translation from the original, verse 9 “Then He assured me for my benefit, My grace has been and still is sufficient for you; for My power is put into effect [made operational, accomplished, carried out, fulfilled] in the status of weakness [grace orientation]. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
The thorn suffering was causing all things to work together for good in Paul’s life. Paul’s recognition of his human helplessness to solve the problem opened the door for the divine initiative of grace and for the problem-solving devices to do the job. The most important thing in your spiritual life is to have ten problem-solving devices deployed; for there are no solutions to the problems of life apart from these problem-solving devices. The problem-solving devices are the system of application of doctrine to your experience.
It’s interesting that prayer is not one of the problem-solving devices.
Paul prayed three times to God the Father that He would make this thorn in the flesh suffering go away. In realit
y, he was praying that his spiritual life be ruined, because the thorn in the flesh was suffering for blessing to accelerate his advance to maturity. Instead of using his problem-solving devices, Paul retreated in his spiritual life and tried to use prayer as leverage against God to get God to do Paul’s will. Paul was using prayer in blasphemy.
Prayer is not a problem-solving device. Prayer is only effective in your life, when the problem-solving devices are being used. When you have the problem-solving devices, you have the solution to everything. When you have the solution to every problem in life, you stop emphasizing the suffering and you rejoice in the solution (“I will rather boast about my weaknesses”).
The problem-solving devices must function for prayer to be effective.
Problem-solving device #1, Rebound – Psa 66:18 “If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.”
Problem-solving device #2, The Filling of the Spirit – Jud 20 “Pray at all times in the Spirit.”
Problem-solving device #3, The Faith-Rest Drill – Matt 21:22 “All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.”
Problem-solving device #4, Grace Orientation – Heb 4:16 “Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.”
Problem-solving device #5, Doctrinal Orientation – 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.”
Problem-solving device #6, A Personal Sense of Destiny, – 1Jo 3:22 “and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.”
Problem-solving device #7, Personal Love for God the Father – Phil 1:9 “In fact, I pray this, that your love [for God] may excel to the maximum”
Problem-solving device #8, Impersonal Love for all mankind – Matt 5:44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you”
Problem-solving device #9, (+H) or sharing the Happiness of God – Phil 1:4 “always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all,”
Problem-solving device #10, Occupation with Christ – Psa 116:1-2 “I love the LORD, because He hears my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.”
So, the problem-solving devices must function for prayer to be effective. When prayer is ineffective, prayer becomes a system of manipulation, of distortion, of arrogance, an instrument of legalism, instead of an instrument of power and service to the Lord.
Four Categories of Petition in Prayer.
When you offer a petition or prayer for yourself to God, there is the thing for which you ask, called the petition, and then behind that petition is your desire or motive for it. The four categories that follow show that God views both parts of your prayer as separate, and answers each part either positively or negatively.
Positive – Negative. Your petition is answered yes, but your desire behind it is answered no.
For example, you pray to make a million dollars in order for your happiness; the answer is yes, you’ll make a million dollars, but no, you will not be happy.
In 1Sa 8:5-9, 19-20, the Jews wanted to have a human king they could see (petition), so they could be like other nations (desire to be happy). God answered their petition yes, and permitted them to pick out their own king. They wanted someone who was taller, stronger and more handsome than the kings of the nations around them; by this criterion they picked Saul.
Their desire to be happy with a human king was answered no; Saul turned out terrible and the Jews suffered miserably as a result.
In Psa 106:13-15, the Jews were tired of the great divine provision of manna, the greatest health food ever. They longed for the Egyptian meat and food they used to eat. God answered their petition yes; He sent them quail. But the desire for satisfaction or “food happiness” was not answered; instead, they suffered terribly from it and thousands died.
Then there’s the Negative – Positive. The answer to the petition is no; the desire behind the petition is answered yes.
In this example the answer is no, you will not make a million dollars, but yes, you will be happy.
In Gen 17:18, Abraham prayed that Ishmael, the son of Hagar, might be his heir.
God said no to Ishmael becoming his heir, but yes to the desire behind it–to have an heir; for he eventually had Isaac.
In Gen 18:23-33, Abraham prayed that God would spare Sodom. After bargaining with God, Abraham settled with asking God to spare Sodom if there were ten believers; he was sure there were at least ten believers in that large city of perhaps 200,000 people.
He was wrong; there were only three believers. The petition to spare Sodom was answered no; the desire that Lot and his two daughters be preserved was answered yes.
In 2Co 12:7-10 Paul prayed three times that God would remove his thorn in the flesh.
God answered no to the petition, because his suffering was the blessing of providential preventative suffering, designed to strengthen his spiritual self-esteem so that he might advance to spiritual autonomy, the more stable stage where one is less prone to arrogance.
Hence his desire, to continue to grow in grace and so glorify God was answered yes. Offering this prayer three times was an abuse of prayer by Paul. Paul prayed intensely for this thorn to be removed. Paul prayed urgently for its removal, but he was wrong to use prayer because this called for the use of the problem-solving devices. If God had answered Paul’s prayer, Paul would have missed out on one of the greatest blessings of life – spiritual maturity. The Lord did not even answer Paul until after he had prayed the wrong prayer three times. Remember what the Lord does not remove by way of intense suffering, He intends for us to resolve through the ten problem-solving devices. You do not pray about adversity; you use your problem-solving devices.
Positive – Positive. Both the petition and desire are answered yes. In Jud 16:28, Samson was blinded and tied up in the temple of Dagon. “Then Samson called to the Lord and prayed saying, O Lord Jehovah, please remember me and please strengthen me just one time, O God, that with one blow I may get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.”
Both his petition, to strike the Philistines, and his desire, revenge, were answered yes. Why? Not because God approves of revenge, but because of the degeneracy of the Philistines.
Samson was the instrument that God used. He got his strength back, wrapped his arms around two pillars of the temple, and pulled the whole building down on all of them.
In 1Ki 18, Elijah built an altar, dug a trench around it, and prepared a sacrifice for the Lord. Then he instructed that water be poured on the offering and on the wood three times, so much water was poured that it filled the trench.
Elijah then prayed that God would light his offering on the altar with fire. God answered yes.
1Ki 18:38 “Then the fire of God fell down and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and also licked up the water in the trench.”
His desire was expressed in 1Ki 18:36 “O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that You are the God of Israel and that I am your servant, and I have done all these things at Your Word.” This was answered yes.
In Luk 23:42-43 is the petition of the dying thief, “Then he kept saying, ‘Jesus, remember me when You come into your kingdom.'”
This petition was answered yes. His desire was for salvation, and Jesus answered this affirmatively in verse 43, “Jesus replied to him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.'”
In John 11:41-45, the petition was for the resuscitation of Lazarus; the desire was that the bystanders who witnessed this might be saved.
Both petition and desire were answered yes.
John 11:45 “Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary saw what He had done, and they believed in Him.”
Negative – Negative. The answer is no to both the petition and the desire; in other words, God doesn’t answer either. This leads us to our next point: reasons why prayers are not answered.
Why the Believer’s Prayers are not Answered.
General reasons for failure in prayer are always related to carnality, being out of fellowship, or residence in the cosmic system. “Cosmic” comes from the Greek word “kosmos” which is translated world in the Bible, and it refers to Satan’s strategy as the ruler of this world to control believers. It is His policy for the rulership of this world. In fact, Satan is called the ruler of this kosmos in John 12:31 “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out.”
This is why John said 1Jo 2:15 “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love for the Father is not in him.”
James 4:4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
Now, Satan’s cosmic system is composed of two separate philosophies.
Cosmic one is Satan’s exploitation of believers and unbelievers through their own arrogance. This is his means of controlling the human race. Satan invented arrogance, for arrogance was his original sin.
Cosmic two is Satan’s propaganda and indoctrination college to educate and promote antagonism toward anything related to God, especially the grace of God.
Cosmic one emphasizes arrogance and abnormal preoccupation with self. Cosmic two emphasizes antagonism and intolerance toward the plan, purpose, and will of God, as well as toward all Christians executing it.
The target of cosmic one is yourself; the target of cosmic two is Bible doctrine.
In cosmic one, we destroy ourselves.
In cosmic two, we become antagonistic toward Bible doctrine.
So general reasons for failure in prayer are always related to carnality, being out of fellowship, or residence in the cosmic system.
Psa 66:18 “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
Residence in cosmic one grieves the Holy Spirit, which means your prayers cannot be answered, Eph 4:30.
In cosmic two the believer quenches the Spirit, relying on human power rather than divine power in 1Th 5:19, and again, your prayers cannot be heard. The only prayer which can be heard is rebound, which is the private confession of your sins to God; in that sense, it is a prayer.
The general reason for malfunction of prayer and unanswered prayers is always related to the believer’s rejection of Bible doctrine. Whatever your reason for rejecting doctrine, it means you have no understanding of the mechanics of prayer. Only Bible doctrine teaches the mechanics of prayer and only Bible doctrine teaches the will of God.
Your prayers must comply with the will of God and must follow the precise correct procedure for prayer. Remember that arrogant believers never get through to the throne of grace.
1Jo 3:22 tells us why some prayers are not answered and that is because believers do not fulfill what the verse says, “Furthermore, whatever we have asked, we receive from Him, because we continue to execute His mandates, and we keep on doing what is pleasing in His sight.”
Therefore, prayer is related to your fulfillment of the PPOG and the execution of the Christian way of life. Prayer becomes more and more effective as we execute His mandates.
You can have effective prayer right from the start of your spiritual life if you execute God’s commands. However, to become a great prayer warrior demands your daily intake of doctrine and the daily use of the problem-solving devices you have learned. Then you don’t depend on others to solve your problems but you handle your own problems from the doctrinal techniques you’ve been taught.
To do “what is pleasing in His sight” describes spiritual adulthood when the believer reaches the peak in his prayer life. Therefore, failure to execute His commands and to attain spiritual adulthood (“do what is pleasing in His sight”) impedes, obstructs, inhibits, and undermines all effective prayer.
Probably the least known of all reasons for unanswered prayer is malfunction in marriage or lack of domestic tranquility.
1Pe 3:7 “Likewise you husbands, live with your wives on the basis of knowledge as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman, and show her respect as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”
Note that when there is a domestic problem, the husband is not commanded to love but he is commanded to show the woman respect because she is a member of the body of Christ, so that his prayers are not hindered. From this, we can conclude that personal love for people is not a problem-solving device. Only knowledge of doctrine and resultant virtue can solve domestic problems. The woman is a weaker vessel since she is designed by God as a responder.
Being a responder explains why the woman must be under more authority than the man. So, failure in your marital life can spill over into failure in your prayer life. And failure in your prayer life simply reflects failure in your spiritual life.
However, of all the categories of sin and carnality which hinder effective prayer, arrogance is the number one cause of failure, not only in prayer, but also in the spiritual life. It is the number one reason why people are not teachable, why people are not flexible, and why people do not profit from suffering. We produce our own arrogance without any help from anyone else, for we all have an old sin nature which daily knocks at the door and says, “How about a little arrogance today?”
Job 35:12-13 “They cry out, but He [God] does not answer because of the arrogance of evil men. Surely God will not listen to a phony [empty] prayer [cry], nor will the Almighty regard it.”
Prayer is also not answered because of lust, criminality, jealousy, and false motivation, which neutralize prayer.
James 4:2-4 is addressed to believers: “You lust and do not have [what you want], so you commit murder. Also, you are jealous and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask [in prayer] and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on pleasures or lusts. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
The point is that lust and murder, jealousy and fighting are the wrong way to get what you want. And if you ask from wrong motives, you won’t get it either. Lust is a wrong motive for prayer. When some believers don’t get what they want, they commit murder in frustration, and the failure of their prayer life has resulted in criminality. Remember there are born-again believers who commit murder, like David did. And then there’s millions of born-again believers who commit murder every day…
1Jo 3:15 “Everyone who hates his fellow-believer is a murderer;”
And in James 4:2, jealousy is also a wrong motive for prayer.
If you’re jealous of your friend or loved one, your relationship will never work because you’re constantly trying to bend them to your way. And since you can’t obtain through jealousy, you fight and quarrel. Lust and jealousy as wrong motives both come from wanting things for your pleasure. So, the whole system of failure in prayer becomes failure in the PPOG [predesigned plan of God for your life].
When the client nation is under the cycles of discipline, prayer for deliverance cannot be answered, Lam 3:44.
This is because the justice of God is going to remove that nation.
Lam 3:44 “You have covered yourself with a cloud [negative volition] so that no prayer can get through.”
Malfunction of the faith-rest drill in prayer means the malfunction of effective prayer, Mark 11:24.
Mark 11:24 “I say to you, all things for which you ask and pray, believe that you shall receive them, and you shall be given them.”
With the malfunction of faith-rest drill in prayer, your life eventually malfunctions.
Prayer is an index to your spiritual life. It is something that all believers are commanded to do.
If you’re not praying correctly or fail in prayer for any reason, that means there’s some problem in your spiritual life; there’s some kink, some syndrome, some arrogance.
The problem will overflow to every aspect of your life.
Imprecatory prayers are legal and valid for other dispensations but not for the Church-age believer. Imprecatory prayers are basically found in the Psalms in which the authors call for misfortune and disaster to strike their enemies. They prayed that God would pour out His wrath and righteous judgment upon their foes.
Let’s look at some examples of imprecatory psalms.
Psa 35:1-3 “Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; Fight against those who fight against me. Take hold of buckler and shield, And rise up for my help. Draw also the spear and the battle-axe to meet those who pursue me; Say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation.'”
Psa 35:4-8 “Let those be ashamed and dishonored who seek my life; Let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me. Let them be like chaff before the wind, With the angel of the Lord driving them on. Let their way be dark and slippery, With the angel of the Lord pursuing them. For without cause they hid their net for me; Without cause they dug a pit for my soul. Let destruction come upon him unawares; And let the net which he hid catch himself; Into that very destruction let him fall.”
Psa 35:26 “Let those be ashamed and humiliated altogether who rejoice at my distress; Let those be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves over me.”
Psa 55:15 “Let death come deceitfully upon them; Let them go down alive to Sheol, For evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.”
Psa 58:6-8 “O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth; Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.
Let them flow away like water that runs off; When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts. Let them be as a snail which melts away as it goes along, Like the miscarriages of a woman which never see the sun.”
Psa 59:13 “Destroy them in wrath, destroy them, that they may be no more; That men may know that God rules in Jacob, To the ends of the earth. Selah.”
Psa 109:6-14 “Appoint a wicked man over him; And let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him come forth guilty; And let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few; Let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow. Let his children wander about and beg;
And let them seek sustenance far from their ruined homes. Let the creditor seize all that he has; And let strangers plunder the product of his labor. Let there be none to extend lovingkindness to him, Nor any to be gracious to his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off; In a following generation let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, And do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually, That He may cut off their memory from the earth;”
Psa 109:20 “Let this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord, And of those who speak evil against my soul.”
Psa 137:7-9 “Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem, who said, ‘Raze it, raze it, To its very foundation.’ O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, How blessed will be the one who repays you with the recompense with which you have repaid us. How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones against the rock.”
Psa 140:6-10 “I said to the Lord, Thou art my God; Give ear, O Lord, to the voice of my supplications. O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. Do not grant, O Lord, the desires of the wicked; Do not promote his evil device, lest they be exalted. Selah. As for the head of those who surround me, May the mischief of their lips cover them. May burning coals fall upon them; May they be cast into the fire, Into deep pits from which they cannot rise.”
We can’t pray like this! I mean you can, but the Lord will not hear your prayer!
In contrast to this spirit of retaliation, the Lord Jesus Christ taught that we should love our enemies,
Matt 5:43-48. Therefore, imprecatory prayers are not answered by God.
One of the greatest problems related to prayer is concentration. All forms of worship are a concentration test. This test can be divided into three categories.
Concentration on the teaching of doctrine. This reflects your values, your motivation, your spiritual condition, and your spiritual status quo. Bible doctrine should have number one priority.
Concentration in the communion service. The communion service is a reflection of the person and work of Christ.
Concentration in your personal and private prayers, during public prayers when others are praying, and in your petitions and intercessions. Prayer is a challenge to concentration.
The pattern of concentration in all forms of worship is established in the function of your perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine.
If you can concentrate on Bible doctrine in time of stress, adversity, or even in time of prosperity, then you can concentrate in prayer.
There is a direct relationship between concentration in Bible study under the ministry of the Holy Spirit and concentration in prayer under the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
The prayer that could not be answered–our Lord’s prayer on the Cross.
Psa 22:1 indicates that the time of this prophecy is the cross.
“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning [screaming].”
Psa 22:2 states the unanswered prayer, “O my God, I cry out by day [first three hours, 9 a.m. – 12 noon] and then by night there is no silence for Me [the continued prayer of our Lord during the darkness that surrounded the cross from 12 noon – 3 p.m. when He was being judged for our sins].”
Psa 22:3 tells the reason why that prayer could not be answered in one phrase, “You are Holy. You who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel.”
God the Father was imputing our sins to Christ and judging them from His Holiness. Therefore, He couldn’t answer the prayer for deliverance on the cross.
In Psa 22:4-6, Jesus even pointed out to the Father that He had previously delivered Israel under stringent conditions. “Our fathers trusted in You [faith-rest]; they trusted, and You delivered them [You answered their prayers]. They cried out to You in prayer and were delivered; they trusted You and were not disappointed.”
So why couldn’t our Lord’s prayer be answered? The reason is given in Psa 22:6, “But I am a worm.”
The Hebrew word for worm, TOLA, is not the word for an ordinary worm. This worm was used for red dye in the ancient world. It was crushed in a vat; the blood extracted was used to produce the crimson dye used for the robes of kings and aristocrats.
So, the answer, “I am a worm,” illustrates why His prayer could not be answered. He was being crushed for our sins, so that you and I, as royal family of God, could wear the crimson robe of the royal family forever.
“And I am not a man” means “I am no longer human.” As a Hebrew idiom, this phrase portrays the substitutionary saving work of Christ on the cross. And it says He was “scorned by men and despised by people.”
Christ was being judged for our sins. Therefore, prayer at that time from the humanity of Christ could not be answered because He was made sin for us.
Psa 22:7 says He was being ridiculed by gesture. “All who see Me mock Me; they gesture insults; they keep wagging their heads.”
This was fulfilled in Matt 27:39-40.
Psa 22:8 gives some of the verbal sarcastic abuse of the crowd, fulfilled in Matt 27:39-44. “They kept shouting, ‘He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him since He delights in Him.'”
Our Lord’s prayer was heard by all who were there, and they saw that it couldn’t be answered! But they didn’t understand the reason – because He was bearing their sins and our sins in His own body [human body] on the Cross.
“He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
The only prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ that could not be answered could not be answered because it was the way of our so-great salvation. He was being judged for our sins; He was our substitute; He was taking our place. During His time on the cross, He could only be judged; and during His judgment His prayer could not be answered. Because our Lord endured this judgment in our place, our access to God in prayer is always available for us.
The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.
