
God hears and answers the prayers of His children. We are encouraged in Hebrews 4:16 to come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.. The Scripture teaches us to seek God’s face in prayer and to make our petitions and supplications known to Him.
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” 1 John 5:14 – 15.
Reading through the Bible we can see how God answered the prayers of His Saints.
God, however, cannot be activated, coaxed, manipulated, or compelled into doing anything or whatever we desire. I don’t know where some Christians got that idea or doctrine from. That certainly is not the God of the Bible – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
You can’t manipulate, command or activate God or the Holy Spirit. God is not a heathen god you appease with sacrifice or some sort of propitiation!
We can plead with God in prayer. The Bible encourages and teaches that we plead/wrestle with God in prayer (Gen. 32:26;Col. 4:12) till His will is done (1 John 5:14). This is exclusive of the belief or notion that we can make Him do for us whatever we desire.
Moses
Moses pleaded with God to be allowed to enter the promised Land, but God disobliged his request. Read Deuteronomy 3: 23 – 28.
“Then I pleaded with the Lord at that time, …. 25 I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.’
26 “ …. So the Lord said to me: ‘Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter. 27 for you shall not cross over this Jordan.”
David
David also pleaded with God in prayer and fasting for seven days on behalf of his sick son.
“David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.” 2 Samuel 12: 16 -24.
But God did not change His mind on the issue.
Jesus
The Lord Jesus pleaded with His Father three times in the Garden of Gethsemane that the cup might be taken away from Him, but He also said three times, “Nevertheless, not what l will, but Your will be done.” Luke 22:44.
Paul
Paul pleaded with God three times to take away his thorn in the flesh. God didn’t take it away but told him three tiimes, “ My grace is sufficient for you.” 2 Cor. 12:8-9.
James and John
Another example is that of the request of Christ’s beloved apostles, James and John. Jesus told them that they do not know what they were asking for.
“Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.” And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.”
So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.” (Mark 10: 35-40).
God certainly does not give us everything we want or ask for in prayer, but He certainly and always gives to us His perfect gifts, gifts that are in accordance with His perfect will for our lives.
There is a vast difference between wrestling with God (imploring/pleading with God in prayer) and thinking you could actually manipulate, cajole, compel, command, or activate God into doing whatever you want or desire through prayer. That is a strange doctrine.
Those men and women who walked with God in the Bible, how did they approach God in prayer?
They came boldly, not arrogantly, there is a difference between the two. They came boldly and with reverential awe. They came in faith in Him. They came lifting up holy hands. They came with sincere and honest hearts. They came pleading and standing on His promises.
Church, let’s get back and study the prayers of the Bible. Jesus is the same yesterday, and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). We can approach God no other way, except the way He has already laid down for us in the Scripture.