After my Bible reading, I continued my daily reading of writings from a minister I respect who has written some excellent books on faith and the art and importance walking with God. Most of his writing is so full of truth to chew on, but occasionally, in my opinion, he misses the mark. In what I read this morning on the subject of prayer came one such occasion.
This man of God, and I do believe him to be such and well worth paying attention to (this being one of the cases such as what I wrote of in yesterday's Unshackled Moment Principles Before Personalities, where I reminded myself and the reader that we mustn't always be quick to take in what even the respected person teaches but must test everything for truth. I pray that people always check my writing and messages to make sure that they line up with the truth of God. Anyway, let me close this aside and get back on track.), this man of God wrote two things on the subject of prayer that would have frightened me more than my earlier nightmare had they been true.
My spirit immediately cried out withing me, thank you God that this isn't right! And I knew I needed to write the truth of the matter this morning. What is it that stirred my spirit so? He wrote that God "hears and answers the prayers only of those who walk in His way..." and that "The truth is that God always answers the prayer that accords with His will as revealed in the Scriptures, provided the one who prays is obedient and trustful. Further than this we dare not go." Praise be to God and our Lord Jesus Christ, for we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. - Hebrews 4:15-16
The simple truth is that if the statements this minister wrote on the subject of prayer we accurate, there would be no point in praying at all...for anyone. In fact, there would be no point in being a Christian at all. I understand the reasoning and feeling between statements such as I am refuting. When we are willfully living in rebellion contrary to the will of God, we cut ourselves off from the Holy Spirit, and that does indeed hinder communication. The Prodigal couldn't very well speak with his father from the pig pen. And there is in us all the spirit of the older brother when we feel we are doing it right that it wouldn't be fair that the Father respond to the pig slop slimed son as quickly and as fully as He responds to us.
But two things must be remembered on that point. First, the second we look up from our sin to the work of the Savior calling out for God, no matter how filthy we are, we are spiritually there in His sight to find the Father running toward us to clean us and take us back into relationship with Him. Secondly the righteous brother wasn't righteous, and neither are we. There is none righteous, no, not one - Romans 3:10
There is no one trustworthy or obedient to God, at least not in themselves. You are not trustworthy or obedient as you should be, neither am I, and neither is the minister who wrote that we have to be in order to have the right to petition our Daddy. There is no one who has ever walked in His way without His grace to do so, and even then, none of us do so perfectly or constantly. So where is the line? If you are 70% faithful and obedient you get to talk to God ad petition Him but 20% you are barred from bending His ear? In case it has been forgotten in my rambling, we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. - Hebrews 4:15-16
Now do not be deceived, God is not going to let us come to Him covered in slop and leave us that way. Praise God for that! When we pray, He will correct and convict and draw us to repentance when we need it. But His grace is sufficient and His love covers a multitude of sins. It isn't the perfect person that God hears but the one who earnestly seeks Him.
I know this is growing long, but let me make one more point on the subject before I close. Jesus said that if we have seen Him that we have also seen the Father and that He didn't do anything other than what the Father would have Him do. The Father and the Son share the same heart. How did Jesus respond to sinners? Well, he walked with them and talked with them and had fellowship with them. That by the way is what prayer is, talking to, listening to and having fellowship with God. Oh, and He did indeed hear their petitions. He was quick to the cries of "Son of David, have mercy on me!" He touched their lives, answered their prayers, and then, and only then, did He ever address their sin. He never once said go walk faithfully for a while then come see Me. No, it was only those who felt and believed they were righteous that He rebuked. Those that saw their sin found mercy and compassion in His eyes.
The best of us fall far short of walking righteously with God and of being trustworthy and obedient. What walk we have, what obedience we display and what makes us trustworthy in any sense of the word is a gift of His grace, nothing more, nothing less. If we think we can go to God because we have it together, we are sorely mistaken, and if we dare not go to Daddy because we are not worthy we have missed the point of all scripture and all heaven weeps. Because of Christ, and only because of Christ, we can boldly approach our Creator, and He will hear our cry.
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