James 5:17-18 (ESV)
"Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit."
To answer the question “What IS prayer?” we need to start RIGHT at the beginning of man’s relationship with God. It’s of great importance to understand that prayer has NOT been around in the earlier stages of creation. In fact, it’s a byproduct of disobedience to God, which led to man’s physical isolation from his Creator: “Your sins are the roadblock between you and your God.
That’s why he doesn’t answer your prayers or let you see his face: “ (Isaiah 59:2(CEV).
Man was created by God to be obedient to God, to serve Him in spirit and in truth and to communicate with Him. During the earlier years of creation our Creator had a “one-on-one” relationship with the first man and woman He created. In other words God appeared to them in a physical form when He communicated with them. Much the same as humans do. (Genesis 3:8) I speculate ONE of the reasons WHY God COULD communicate THIS way with them, was because they were holy, blameless and spiritually pure. After all, they WERE created in HIS holy AND perfect image. However AFTER they disobeyed God’s instruction NOT to eat of the tree of “knowledge of good and evil,” sin entered the world and this “one-on-one” relationship with their Creator was lost forever. Eventually man drifted from God as his wickedness and sin escalated and erected a wall between him and God (Isaiah 59:2). In fact, he became estranged from his Creator.
Nevertheless the primary objective of man to worship and to seek God’s presence, were NOT erased by sin. It merely became dormant, BUT remained a function of his spiritual genepool. Although man was separated from his Creator by sin, there were STILL a few men during random periods of the Old Testament who LOVED God and worshipped Him in spirit and in truth. SUCH men were Enoch, Abraham and Moses. God favoured them by choosing to enter into a “0ne-on-one” relationship with them, as He had with their predecessors, Adam and Eve. Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent (Exodus 33:11). Now the LORD appeared to him (Abraham) by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day and he (Abraham) said, "My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by (Genesis 18:1 and 3). ‘And the Lord with His own mouth called to me, “Be brave Enoch! Don’t be frightened! Stand up in front of my face forever.” (2 Enoch 22:5-Jewish text). Of course God ALSO had a direct relationship with Noah, but NOT as in a “face-to-face” relationship. God only SPOKE to Noah who NEVER saw His face. AFTER this period God NEVER again had “one-on-one” contact with man, and communicated with them through the prophets who became His mouthpiece.
As is evident in the Old Testament man’s need to communicate with God for VARIOUS reasons, remained active. A few examples of the latter is Seth (Adam’s son who replaced Abel) who called upon the name of God, at a period when man had NO contact with God…they were COMPLETELY lost and separated from God. Our Creator was NOLONGER available to respond to them in a “face-to-face” relationship, but THOSE who loved Him and did HIS will, were enabled by faith to communicate with Him. EVEN though they could NOT see Him any longer, they BELIEVED that God WAS in their presence when they called upon His name. THIS act of faith PLEASED God and He responded favorably to their needs. There were ALSO Hannah who was unable to bear a child. She prayed that God would give her a son (1 Samuel 1:1–20). The Lord answered her prayer, and she gave birth to a son, Samuel, who became one of Israel's GREATEST prophets. ANOTHER example was Samson. In spite of his previous disobedience to the Lord, Samson prayed, and God returned Samson's strength (Judges 16:28–30) so that he could destroy Israel’s enemies. God forgave Samson BECAUSE he repented of his sins. Last but NOT least, there was Elijah. This Old Testament prophet prayed and the rain stopped. He prayed again, and the rain returned. Another time he prayed, and fire came down from heaven (James 5:17–18; 1 Kings 18:36–38).
THIS type of communication with God where He is physically absent, but spiritually present, is called prayer. A face-to-face conversation with God for that matter would most DEFINITELY not be called a prayer. Ironically enough prayer is a byproduct of disobedience. If man did NOT eat from the fruit he was forbidden to eat, we would STILL have communicated with God in a face-to-face relationship….like people do with each other.
Please allow me to ASSURE you that prayer is NOT as simple and easy as it sounds. It COULD be a VERY tricky aspect of our relationship with God. It IS for example VERY important to realize that it is NOT just ANYBODY who can pray to God. There are MOST definitely CONDITIONS attached to praying. In order for us to come into the presence of God…..that is what we do when we pray; we come into the presence of the omnipotent God, we must live a holy life and obey God’s word. In OTHER words, prayer must NOT be a tool, which we ONLY use when we NEED Him, but it must be a WAY of life……practiced EVERY day. The following is recorded in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” THIS text makes it VERY clear that God will NOT answer our prayers if we live sinful lives, which in ANY case separates us from the PRESENCE of God(Isaiah 59:2). We MUST bear the fruit of the holy spirit as recorded in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Furthermore our prayers will REMAIN unanswered if we do NOT trust the Lord with our needs and requests. We have to BELIEVE that our Father in heaven WILL provide in ALL our needs if we have FAITH in Him. WITHOUT faith we SIMPLY can NOT please God and find favour in His sight. Once again Hebrews 11:6 states it VERY clearly: “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
However, after ALL said and done, there’s ONE ingredient of prayer that almost ALWAYS override ALL the above ingredients of prayer……God’s WILL. Even if we COMPLY with the above criteria, we often MIGHT discover that our prayers go unanswered. Does it sound confusing? Don’t worry, the MORE we practice prayer and make it a way of life, the EASIER it is for the Lord to EMPOWER our perception of prayer, SOTHAT uncertainty and confusion is COMPLETELY eradicated by the spirit of God. Whatever we as children of God do, we MUST understand that God will almost ALWAYS refuse our prayers if we DON’T pray in accordance with HIS will. EVEN if we live holy lives and our faith can move MOUNTAINS. There is NO way that WE can DEMAND God to answer our prayers OUR way. God does NOT owe us ANY favour. Our good works are like filthy rags in the sight of God: “… And all our righteous deeds are like filthy garments…” (Isaiah 64:6).
The outcome of our prayers will ALWAYS be subject to God’s will, whether we ACCEPT this or not. If He ANSWERS our prayers OUR way, then IT’S BECAUSE we PLEASE Him, to SUBJECT our needs to HIS will. However if He does NOT answer our prayers OR answer it OUR way, then we did NOT ask HIS will to be done….we tried to force OUR will upon the ALMIGHTY God who KNOWS everything and SEES everything. DON’T become despondent if it seems as if our Lord does NOT answer our prayers. We WILL in due course discover that even though God OFTEN does NOT answer our prayers as OUR needs dictate, HIS answer is ALWAYS the right answer, because OUR Lord can SEE in our future, and KNOWS how OUR prayers would impact HIS plans for our lives. Our circumstances OFTEN blind us to the extent that we become selfish AND one- track- minded in our request to God. If God does NOT answer our prayers OUR way, it does NOT mean that He did NOT answer us OR that He did NOT hear us. It SIMPLY means the OUTCOME of our prayers might NOT be in accordance with HIS will and plans for our lives, OR that it could have devastating consequences.
A GOOD example of the latter is where Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. HIS circumstances were DEFINITELY critical. Knowing that the soldiers were on their way to arrest Him….. He be found guilty by the authority of HIS time, and sentenced to death. No WONDER He prayed to His Father to take the BITTER cup away from Him….to set Him FREE from THIS death sentence. Yet, even under these frightening circumstances He STILL asked that GOD’S will be done. If God DID answers our Lord’s Prayer to save Him from death, can we IMAGINE what the consequences would have been? God’s promise to Adam and Eve that He would one day send the Saviour to save the world would have been a lie. The authenticity of Isaiah’s prophecies about the birth of Jesus would have been questioned for ALL ages. God’s very EXSISTANCE would have been questioned for that matter.
However there ARE times that God gives us OVER to the desires of our hearts, WHATEVER it is. A GOOD example is where Eve ate the forbidden FRUIT in the Garden of Gethsemane .She KNEW that she should NOT eat of fruit of knowledge of good and evil, yet the desire to EAT the fruit was GREATER than God’s WILL: “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6). The CONSEQUENCES were DAVASTATING!! Man LOST his immortality, became separated from God and inherited a sinful nature.
In conclusion it’s IMPORTANT to UNDERSTAND that the outcome of our request to God in prayer should NOT be subject to OUR expectations and needs, but to the WILL of God, immaterial the consequences for us. THIS implies that it might be God’s WILL that we should die, when we pray to be saved. That we should starve when we pray for food, suffer when we pray for happiness OR be imprisoned when we pray for deliverance. WHATEVER GOD’S will is will ALWAYS be done. This is the ONLY way God can fulfill HIS plans for our lives because OUR destinies have been preordained. There’s NOTHING we can DO about this but to trust God COMPLETELY with our needs, lives and our destiny.
