Whose Prayer will God Answer?

Joshua 5:13-14 NIV84  Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?"  14  "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord [4] have for his servant?"

It’s a historical day today for our nation, because today, for the first time, a Supreme Court Chief Justice will be on trial.  As I was watching the news, the Chief Justice began his day with a speech, and held Mass obviously for God to hear his prayer that he would win.  And undoubtedly, though not seen on television (at least I did not see it), the prosecution panel most probably offered prayers, maybe also a Mass, so that they would win.  And not just them, but many in both sides will be praying, offering Masses, pleading with God that the person they are siding with will win.  It makes you wonder – whose prayer will God answer?  Whose prayer, or sacrifice, will be more influential to God for Him to side with them.

It’s like two people praying to God for two different basketball teams in a game.  For example, someone in the La Salle side will be praying for his team to win, and another in the Ateneo side will be praying for his team to win.  Who does God side with?  Whose prayer will eventually have the strongest influence towards God?

This is what many believe prayer is.  It’s about making the right sacrifice, reciting the right prayer, or praying hard enough so that God may eventually work according to His favor.  Sadly, the picture they are painting of God is a God who can be bribed, or influenced by the number of sacrifices given to Him, so that He will side with the person more influential.  Is this the picture of God, or of prayer, that the Bible gives us concerning our Lord?

In our passage above, Joshua was leader of the Israelites, the people of God.  You would think that automatically God would side with His people as they marched to fight against the people of Jericho.  But when Joshua asked "Are you for us or for our enemies?", what was the answer of the angel:

NEITHER, he replied.  He was commander of the army of the Lord.  He was not in the side of the Israelites, nor was he in the side of the gentiles.  He was commander of the army of the Lord.  In other words, he was for the Lord.  What a reminder this must have been for Joshua!  He probably assumed that God would be on his side.  It was Joshua who had to be on God’s side for him to win the battle.

What an important truth to understand.  God does not take sides.  God does not play favorites, or practice favoritism.  God’s will is not biased or influenced by prayers or sacrifices.  God’s plan and God’s will is for His glory, honor and praise.

Isaiah 46:9-10  Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
10  I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say: My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.

So what is prayer for?  Surely it is not for God to take sides, or to side with us.  What many don’t realize is that prayer is not just about asking.  And surely it is not just about asking God to give us what we want.

Prayer is about worship.  “Our Father in heaven, holy be Your name…”

Prayer is about living in His kingdom, not the earthly kingdom we live in or our own kingdom.  “Your kingdom come…”.

Prayer is not about our will, but His.  “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.  Notice that we’re not asking God to just decide at that moment how He will answer our prayer.  In heaven, where He reigns, His will is already existent.  Prayer moves us to bow down and seek His will.

Father in heaven, holy be your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  The first part of the prayer the Lord taught us.  Notice it’s all “godward”, or leading towards God and not to ourselves.  This is what prayer is primarily for – not for us to get what we want, but for us to get more of who God is.  In fact, when it comes to asking in the Lord’s prayer all we are to ask for is our “daily bread”.  No butter, no fillings…just daily bread.

This is why prayer is more than just asking God to give us what we desire, or to get what we want.  Prayer is a lifestyle.  Prayer is a communion.  It’s an intimate moment with the Lord so that we could have more of Him.

Sadly many have shrunk prayer to be just a way of getting what we want, and God reduced to being a supernatural being who can be bribed and coerced to side with us and do according to what we ask.

A Christian prays because he seeks his Lord, desires to worship Him, seeks His kingdom and His will.  This is why a Christian doesn’t just pray to ask.  He prays to be with his Lord.

Prayer is a Christian’s life.  He prays not to get what he wants, but for him to get more of God, so that the life of the Lord, and His will, will be clear, and be seen in our life.

Yes, God answers prayer.  But the prayer He answers is one that stems from worship, one that is in line with His kingdom life, and one that seeks His will.

And we are not just to pray when we need something.  We are to live prayer…we are to live a life of prayer, fellowshipping and communing with our Lord everyday.

The Desire To Delight

Psalm 37:4  Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

A Facebook friend of mine posted this verse in his wall, and I quickly “liked” it, along with many others.  Who doesn’t like that verse?  All of us have desires in our hearts, and there is nothing else that pumps up a Christian as a verse that promises us that God will grant us our desires.  Can you imagine, the very thing, person or achievement that we desire in our hearts will be granted by the Lord, as long as we delight in Him?  What a promise!

But here is where we tend to twist Scripture to make it say what we want, rather than actually reading what the Lord is actually saying.  The moment we read Psalm 37:4 our eyes focus on HE WILL GIVE YOU THE DESIRE OF YOUR HEART!  We don’t see the first part, the pre-requisite of the granting of our desire, which is – DELIGHT YOURSELF IN THE LORD.  What we don’t realize is that our true delight is in the Lord giving us our desires, rather than He being our delight.  This is why there are so many frustrated Christians, who run after other sources of receiving the desires of their heart.  They think that it is the Lord’s responsibility to be giving us what we want, what we desire.  And when He doesn’t give them, we run to other sources. 

The psalm reminds us that a Christians delight is in the Lord.  Period.  The WordWeb dictionary defines delight as “A feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction”.  To delight in the Lord is to have the Lord Himself as the source of pleasure and satisfaction.  No one else, nothing else, in the heart of a Christian, can take the place of the Lord as the source of joy, peace, satisfaction and pleasure in this world.  A Christian delights in prayer, in reading God’s Word, in serving Him in ministry, in fellowship with other Christians – because all these bring us to a closer fellowship with our God who we delight in.

The Lord reminds us that true pleasure and satisfaction does not come from love, from romance, from riches, material things, or pleasure.  True pleasure comes from enjoying the life that comes from the Lord Himself, a life that truly satisfies.  When a Christian delights in the Lord he/she realizes that there is no other desire that should rule his/her heart except God Himself.

The thing is this – if we are truly delighting in the Lord, we will most probably forget about every other desire that we have in our heart.  We are so delighted, so satisfied, so full of the Lord that our desires will not be as important as they usually are.

So why does God promise to give us our desires, just like in Psalm 37:4?  That’s just who He is – as our Father He gives us what He knows we will enjoy, what will bring us a little bit of gladness and enjoyment.

1 Timothy 6:17  Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

God wants us to enjoy, and provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  But He does not want what He provides for our enjoyment to be what we delight in.  What God desires is that we delight in Him, that He be the very source of our pleasure and enjoyment in this life.

When a Christian truly delights in the Lord, God knows that He can provide Him with anything in this world – finances, success, a spouse, a family – and yet still delight in the true source of pleasure and enjoyment…God.

So, go ahead, delight yourself in the Lord…and just delight yourself in Him.  Let God take care of bringing your desires to pass.  Sounds like a good New Year’s prayer, doesn’t it?