Spir Dynamics 1098-1137 9/7/97; 261, 253 9/12/93; Eph 1384-7 3/24/91; Eph 677, 333-337, 52

DOCTRINE OF PRAYER

A. Introduction.

1. You cannot con God in prayer.

a. We do not use prayer to hire God to do what we want done.

b. Too many believers use prayer to get their own way, not God’s way.

c. Prayer must be compatible with God’s will and God’s way, not our will and our way.

d. Prayer must recognize who and what God is, not who and what we are.

e. Prayer is not designed to get us out of trouble but to express our helplessness, our humility, our total dependence on God rather than on human ability and power, and our recognition and orientation to His grace and His mercy toward us.

f. Prayer is not designed to manipulate God but to conform to the will of God.

g. Prayer is not what we want but what God wants for us.

2. Prayer is not designed to fulfill our desires and lusts.

a. The believer who fails in prayer is a sleepwalker through life.

b. Prayer is an expression and extension of Bible doctrine resident in the stream of consciousness of the soul. We fail in prayer because we fail to understand and utilize Bible doctrine.

c. Prayer was never designed to fulfill our lusts and desires but prayer was designed to fulfill the will, plan, and purpose of God for our lives and to give us access to heaven while still living on earth. Too many prayers are expressions of what you want, not what God wants. To express the will of God in your prayers, you have to come to know what the will of God is or how to ask for the will of God instead of your own will.

d. Because we have related prayer to our personal desires and lust pattern, we have acquired false values related both to our lives and to the prayers we present to God

e. For this reason, our Lord Jesus Christ as our High Priest makes intersession for us at the right hand of the Father, Heb 7:24-25, “On the other hand, He abides forever; consequently, He holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore, He is able to deliver completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for us.” The fact that our Lord always makes intercession for us indicates that we have not completely understood the doctrine of prayer.

f. This also explains why God the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings too deep for words, 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 [F] who searches the hearts knows what is the thinking of the Spirit, because He [HS] 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. 3. Principles of Prayer Related to our Priesthood.

a. The Church Age is the dispensation of the universal priesthood of the believer. Every believer is a priest, both male and female. 1 Pet 2:5, every believer is a holy priest. 1 Pet 2:9, every believer is a royal priest. Rev 1:6, 20:5, every believer is a part of a kingdom of priests.

b. One of our great priestly functions is prayer. When you pray for others, you enter into their ministry.

c. Two persons of the Trinity are involved in prayer for us: Jesus Christ in hypostatic union in His human nature as our High Priest remembers us in prayer, and God the Holy Spirit who prays for us with groanings too great for words.

d. The believer has the privilege of intercessory prayer. One of the greatest acts of intercession for an entire nation was made by Moses, Ex 32:9-16 and Num 14:11-12. Jesus Christ on the Cross prayed in Lk 23:34 the greatest intercessory prayers of all time, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” 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 fulltime 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.

e. The principle of prayer is based on two doctrines of Scripture: the postsalvation spiritual life, defined as harmonious rapport with God, and the integrity of God is the source of all answers to prayer on the one hand and the explanation why other prayers are not answered.

f. We fail in prayer, because in the malfunction of our spiritual life we do not understand the will and plan of God for our lives; therefore, the importance of prayer being compatible with the protocol plan of God for the Church.

g. We fail in prayer because we fail to rebound when we sin. Therefore when perpetual carnality sets in, it is inevitable that we get into such serious discipline and so many problems that we start praying to God for help and our prayers do not get to the throne of grace.

h. Only the emergency procedure of rebound as outlined in 1 Jn 1:9 can correct that situation. Without rebound there is not spiritual life.

i. Spiritual skills must precede production skills for an effective prayer life.

(1) Spiritual skills include: the filling of the Holy Spirit, cognition and inculcation of Bible doctrine, and the execution of the protocol plan of God.

(2) Spiritual growth increases the power of prayer in your life. 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.

(3) The more you learn about the will of God from Bible doctrine, the more effective your prayer life will be. The effectiveness of prayer is related, therefore, to the function of spiritual skills preceding production skills in the performance of Christian service and divine good. Production skills minus spiritual skills equal the performance of human good and dead works in prayer. The key to prayer is the attainment of the spiritual skills: the filling of the Spirit, cognition of Bible doctrine, and execution of the protocol plan of God.

B. Definition and Description.

1. Prayer is that function of the royal priesthood whereby the Church Age believer has access and privilege to present two categories of requests to God the Father.

a. Petitions—prayers for yourself.

b. Intercessory prayers—prayers for others. Your prayer for others becomes a ministry, whereas your prayer for yourself indicates either lack of understanding of the problem solving devices or the failure to properly utilize them in your royal priesthood.

2. This study deals only with the believer’s devout supplications and entreaty to God the Father and does not cover prayer to Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit, which is not authorized, or to any object of worship such as to an angel, saint, idol, cow, etc.

3. Therefore, ignoring all human traditions of religion and the false concepts of speculation which have developed in human history, this study only considers what the Bible has to say about prayer.

4. As part of equal privilege of election, the Church Age believer is a royal priest, and because this is true there has never before in history been such an emphasis on every believer entering into prayer. It is the unique function of the royal priesthood and the equal privilege and opportunity for every believer to have an effective ministry. The most effective service is invisible service such as prayer.

a. In past dispensations, there were specialized priesthoods in which certain people functioned as priests. A priest is a person representing the human race (believers) to God.

b. Any system of specialized priesthood in the Church Age is a false system. All believers in the Church Age are catholic priests.

c. You have the right to represent yourself before God the Father in the name of the Son and through the power of the Spirit. You also have the right to spiritual privacy.

5. From the royal priesthood originates prayers to God the Father as the recipient of all prayers. 6. God the Father, the recipient of prayer, receives prayer from three sources in the Church Age.

a. From God the Son, Heb 7:25.

b. From God the Holy Spirit, Rom 8:26-27. God the Holy Spirit prays for you when you need help and don’t know you need help. He also prays for people who cannot pray for themselves, i.e., for the hopeless, the helpless, the useless, e.g., believers on drugs. This is probably unique to the Church Age and related to the function of the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit on our behalf.

c. From Church Age believers as royal priests. Heb 4:16, “Let us be approaching the throne of grace with confidence that we may receive mercy and acquire grace with reference to seasonable help.”

7. Prayer is communication with God for the expression of personal needs in petition and the function of intercession for others.

8. The approach to prayer is a part of the protocol of the royal family of God and has a precisely correct procedure.

a. All prayer is offered to God the Father, not to Jesus Christ or to the Holy Spirit. Any prayer offered to Christ is automatically cancelled, since it fails to follow God’s protocol for prayer. This is illustrated by the model prayer for the disciples, Mt 6:9; Eph 1:17, 3:14; 1 Pet 1:17.

b. Prayer is addressed in the name of or through the channel of the Son, Jn 14:13-14; Heb 7:25.

c. All prayer is made through the enabling power (filling) of God the Holy Spirit, Eph 6:18.

9. Prayer is related to the omniscience of God. Isa 65:24, “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.” God hears the prayer twice: in eternity past, and at the time of the prayer. Prayers and their answers were entered into the divine decrees, so that answers, rejections, petitions, interjections, and desires are all printouts of the decrees in the foreknowledge of God. God knew and answered all your prayers in eternity past.

10. All answered prayer is part of your portfolio of invisible assets. There is a direct relationship between your prayer life and your portfolio of invisible assets. As a primary asset under our computer assets, prayer is a part of our equal privilege of election, a part of our royal priesthood. As a secondary asset, prayer is a part of our Christian production. Prayer is a ministry designed for every believer. Each Church Age believer has the privilege and the right to enter into intercessory prayer for others which is an actual ministry.

11. Therefore, prayer is one of the most powerful and effective functions in all of history. Prayer is an invisible power directed toward invisible God in relationship to our invisible assets. Prayer is most effective when used by invisible heroes, i.e., believers who have attained spiritual maturity.

12. The more you grow in grace, the greater your spiritual growth, the greater your effectiveness in your prayer life. Effectiveness is not measured in terms of your eloquence when praying in public, but on the basis of your spiritual growth when praying in private.

a. The power of prayer increases as the believer advances in the protocol plan of God for the Church Age.

b. Accurate and effective prayer is associated with the three stages of spiritual adulthood: spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, and spiritual maturity.

13. Christ’s prayer in the garden, “let this cup pass from Me,” could not be answered because the very purpose for the Hypostatic Union was to bear our sins. This was the only prayer Christ ever offered that was not answered.

C. The Prayer Mandate.

1. Prayer is mandated for all dispensations. While the mandate for prayer precedes the existence of the Church Age, as in certain Old Testament passages, the New Testament records a separate mandate related to prayer. The Old Testament mandate is found in Ps 116:1-2 and Jer 33:3, “Call upon Me and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not known.” 2. Prayer was at an all-time low just prior to the Church Age. Our Lord encouraged prayer in the interim between the First Advent and the Church Age (the fifty days between the resurrection and Pentecost). Mt 7:7-8, “Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.” Jn 15:7, “Ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you.” Since the disciples did not ask, Christ breathed on them the Holy Spirit.

3. The Church Age mandate for a consistent daily prayer life is found in 1 Thes 5:17, “Pray continually” is a mandate for both habitual and spontaneous prayer. Hence this verse can be translated, “Make it a habit of prayer.”

a. The present middle imperative from the verb PROSEUCHOMAI means “to pray.” The gnomic present refers to a state which perpetually exists— the function of prayer is true for all time, past, present, and future. The dynamic middle indicates that the subject, the believer, acts for himself with reference to himself and others, emphasizing the believer as the subject producing the action. The imperative mood is a command for all Church Age believers. b. The adverb of time ADIALEIPTOS is mistranslated “without ceasing.” It means “unceasingly; continually.” This does not mean non-stop prayer, but constant recurring prayer. There is habitual prayer at certain times and spontaneous prayer at other times.

c. The best translation is “Make it a habit of prayer.”

4. In the spiritual life you are always in a position to offer prayer. Eph 6:18, “By means of all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit [the filling of the Spirit], and with this in view, be alert in prayer for all the saints with persistance and petition.” In the spiritual life, you have alertness for when prayer is needed. This is ordering you to make prayer a habit.

5. Phil 4:6-7, “Stop worrying about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall garrison your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Thanksgiving is your capacity for appreciation and a part of the function of impersonal love. 6. You cannot divorce the faith-rest drill from prayer. Prayer demands faith, Mt 21:22. Mk 11:24, “All things for which you ask in prayer, believe that you shall receive them, and they shall be given to you.” Without the faith-rest drill, prayer doesn’t work.

7. The key to effective prayer is understanding and making application from your portfolio of invisible assets. Effective prayer is related to executing the mandates of the spiritual life. 1 Jn 3:22, “Whatever we ask, we shall continue to receive from Him, because we continue to execute His mandates and keep on doing what is pleasing in His sight.”

D. Effective prayer is related to spiritual adulthood.

1. Confidence and effectiveness in prayer exists when the believer has advanced to spiritual adulthood.

a. Confidence is a virtue directed toward God. Confidence in prayer is dependent upon knowledge of God’s will. Therefore, effectiveness of prayer must relate to cognizance of the will of God.

b. 1 Jn 5:14-15, “And this is the confidence which we have face- to-face with Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask [and He does], we know that we have the request which we have asked from Him.” This is really a prayer promise for the believer who has reached spiritual adulthood.

c. At spiritual self-esteem we have that cognitive self- confidence to make all of our prayers effective.

2. Confidence in prayer starts at the point of spiritual self-esteem, and continues with maximum effectiveness in spiritual autonomy and reaches its peak in spiritual maturity. Heb 4:16, “Therefore, let us be approaching the throne of grace with confidence, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Efficacious prayer exists only to the extent that the believer is grace oriented.

3. For the believer in spiritual childhood, effective prayer is related to the several factors. a. Prayer cannot be effective unless the believer has harmonious rapport with God. Ps 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” The function of the filling of the Holy Spirit is a prerequisite of all prayer petition and intercession, Eph 6:18.

b. The function of the faith-rest drill. Mt 21:22, “All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” Mk 11:24, “Therefore, I say to you, `All things for which you ask and pray, believe that you shall receive them, and they shall be given to you.’”

4. The most effective prayer life begins in spiritual adulthood, since the believer now has a thorough understanding of God’s will and his prayers comply with God’s will. 1 Jn 5:14, “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

5. Until the believer attains spiritual adulthood at spiritual self- esteem, his prayers will be semi-effective at best. Prayer is virtue dependent. Spiritual self-esteem is necessary for prayer effectiveness, Jer 33:3. In each stage of spiritual adulthood, the believer’s power in prayer increases sensationally. In spiritual childhood your prayers are not very effective because most of your petitions are related to arrogance, and your intercessions are only for those people you like. But all intercessory prayers must be impersonal. The great power in intercessory prayer is impersonal love. Remember also that prayer does not give you momentum; it is not a cure-all. 6. The effectiveness of prayer and the mature believer.

a. Ps 66:18-20, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But in fact, God has heard me and He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God who has not turned away my prayer or His gracious mercy from me.” This contrasts the believer in self-pity with the mature believer. Even when prayers are not going to be answered, He still heard all prayers in eternity past.

b. Ps 116:1-4, “I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications. Because He bent down and listened carefully to me, Therefore I will call to Him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me and the terrors of the grave have overpowered me; I am suffering anguish and distress. Then I kept calling on the person of the Lord: `O Lord, I beseech You, deliver my soul!’” This believer was dying and prayed for deliverance. The rest of the Psalm indicates his prayer was answered. The real power of prayer is between spiritual self-esteem (“I love the Lord”) and maturity.

7. The promise to the believer in spiritual adulthood is found in Jn 15:7, “If you abide in Me, and My doctrines abide in you, whatever you wish shall be done for you.”

a. “If you abide in Me” refers to your very own spiritual life.

b. The important phrase is “and My doctrines abide in you.” This promise is not like a blank check on which you can write any amount you want. The key to prayer is doctrine first. When doctrine is in you, then you can “ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.” Because by that time, you’ll have enough sense to know how to use the weapon of prayer effectively.

8. Every effective prayer is related to your portfolio of invisible assets, i.e., first, under the function of your royal priesthood, a primary asset, and secondly, under the function of Christian production, a secondary asset. One of the most important functions of your Christian service is your prayer life.

9. Every effective and answered prayer is a part of your very own prom chip programmed by God the Father in eternity past as a part of your portfolio of invisible assets. One of your evaluations at the Judgment Seat of Christ will be how many of your prayers were answered.

10. Rom 12:12, “Rejoicing in hope [hope 2 and 3], persevering in undeserved suffering, devoted to prayer.” One of the signs of spiritual self-esteem is your devotion to prayer in your own life. Each stage of adulthood perseveres under its corresponding category of suffering for blessing. The combination of these things makes for a unique and fantastic function of the prayer life.

E. Effective prayer is related to spiritual childhood.

1. The relationship between the effectiveness of prayer and the faith- rest drill is mentioned in many prayer promises.

a. Mt 21:22, “In everything you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Believing refers to the first stage of the faith-rest drill.

b. Jn 15:7, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall come to pass for you.”

c. Rom 12:12 emphasizes that there is great blessing for the believer who preserves in prayer. “Rejoicing in confidence, persevering in suffering, devoted to prayer.”

b. Mk 11:24, “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you ask in prayer, believe that you will receive them, and they will be given to you.” This refers to the second stage of the faith-rest drill.

2. Effective prayer begins in spiritual childhood with problem solving devices like the faith-rest drill with dynamic impact as you grow in grace. You can have effective prayer in spiritual childhood. But like everything else in spiritual childhood, it is limited and does not peak out until you reach spiritual adulthood.

3. Effective prayer is a part of our portfolio of invisible assets. Effective prayer is related to your royal priesthood, the integrity of God, and your spiritual life. An effective prayer life is an extension of your spiritual life. Three problem solving devices begun in spiritual childhood have a definite impact on the effectiveness of your prayer life: the rebound technique, the filling of the Spirit, and the faith-rest drill. These, along with your persistence in the spiritual life, determine your prayer effectiveness.

4. Prayer cannot be effective unless the believer is under the enabling power of the Spirit and consistent momentum from metabolized doctrine. Metabolized doctrine will help you to understand both the limitations of your prayer life and the fantastic opportunities of your prayer life. It will limit you in some of your petitions, but it will expand your prayer life in intercessions. With these two areas of prayer correct, you will have a fantastic prayer life and you will enjoy every minute of it!

5. Effective prayer depends upon knowing what you’re doing. 1 Jn 3:22, “Furthermore, whatever we have asked we have received from Him because we continue to execute His mandates, and we keep on doing what is pleasing in His sight [spiritual adulthood].”

6. The result of rebound in prayer is noted in Phil 4:6, “Stop worrying about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Worry is mentioned because it’s a malfunction of the faith-rest drill, as well as a sign that you’re in the cosmic system. Anything that causes malfunction in the faith- rest drill also means malfunction in your prayer life. The faith-rest drill makes your prayers effective long before you’ve learned enough doctrine to know what’s going on in the Christian life. All mental attitude sins are destructive to effective prayer life; they must be eradicated by rebound and the faith-rest drill.

7. Jude 20, “Praying by means of the Holy Spirit.” This emphasizes the importance of the power of God in prayer.

F. Why the believer’s prayers are not answered.

1. The fundamental reason why prayer is not answered is because the believer is under the control of the sin nature. In a state of sin, your prayers cannot be heard or answered. General reasons for failure in prayer are always related to carnality, being out of fellowship, or residence in the cosmic system. Ps 66:18, “If I cherish iniquity in my stream of consciousness, the Lord will not listen to me.”

a. “Cherishing iniquity” means not rebounding. Rebound is a non- protocol prayer. Rebound is a recovery procedure. Rebound does not belong to the spiritual life. Rebound must precede all divine mandates of prayer, whether the mandates are in the Old or New Testament. Rebound is a non- protocol prayer as an emergency procedure to get back into fellowship with God immediately.

b. In carnality the believer grieves (Eph 6:18) and quenches the Spirit (1 Thes 5:19) and 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.

c. What the righteousness of God approves (personal prayer on behalf of self and on behalf of others), the justice of God answers through the love of God expressed through the grace of God, when the believer has rebounded. What the righteousness of God disapproves (the believer praying in a state of sin or in perpetual carnality), the justice of God does not answer. But the love of God proves the solution and the means of effective prayer through the grace of God, Ps 66:19-20, “But in fact God has listened; He paid close attention to the voice of my prayer. Blessed God, who has not rejected my prayer nor His gracious love for me.” Between verse 18 and verse 19 is rebound.

(1) From the standpoint of the believer, the effectiveness of the believer’s prayer is living the spiritual life.

(2) From the standpoint of God, the effective of the believer’s prayer is related to the integrity of God.

(3) God is eternally blessed with the integrity and power to answer prayer. God is endued with the divine ability to answer prayer from the essence of God with emphasis on divine integrity and omnipotence.

2. Another reason for malfunction of prayer 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; only Bible doctrine teaches the will of God. Your prayers must comply with the will of God, and must follow the precisely correct protocol procedure for prayer.

3. Indifference to or rejection of Bible doctrine produces three categories of ignorance which guarantee the malfunction of your prayer life.

a. Ignorance because of indifference to doctrine.

b. Ignorance because of wrong priorities. If wrong priorities persist in your spiritual life, you’ll become a loser with no prayer life.

c. Ignorance because of the arrogance complex of sins: jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, hatred, self-pity, inordinate ambition, inordinate competition, vilification, slander, maligning, judging, creating the public lie, revenge motivation and modus operandi. Arrogant believers never get through to the throne of grace.

4. The positive side of why prayer is not answered, 1 Jn 3:22, “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.”

a. Therefore, prayer is related to your fulfillment of the protocol plan of God 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 His mandates. But 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.

b. To do “what is pleasing in His sight” describes spiritual adulthood when the believer reaches the peak in his prayer life.

c. Hence, failure to execute His mandates and to attain spiritual adulthood (“do what is pleasing in His sight”) impedes, obstructs, inhibits, and undermines all effective prayer. 5. The least known of all reasons for unanswered prayer is malfunction in marriage or lack of domestic tranquility. 1 Pet 3:7, “Likewise you husbands, live with your wives on the basis of special 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.”

a. Note that when there is a domestic problem, the husband is not commanded to love (as he is elsewhere in Scripture where no problem exists), but he is commanded to live with His wife on the basis of knowledge, that is, knowledge of pertinent doctrine. The word GNOSIS has a special use. It means “special knowledge.” There is a special knowledge required by the husband about his wife in marriage—the fact that she is a weaker vessel.

b. The woman is a weaker vessel since she is designed by God as a responder. The weakness comes from the woman becoming either a reactor to the right man or a responder to the wrong man. Being a responder explains why the woman must be under more authority than the man. The application is that an uncontrolled woman is an unhappy woman. An uncontrolled woman also becomes a troublemaker, whether she wants to or not. When the woman has nothing to which to respond her sin nature gets out of control and she reacts.

c. Personal love for people is not a problem solving device. Only knowledge of doctrine and resultant virtue can solve domestic problems.

d. Failure in your marital life spills over into failure in your prayer life. Failure in your prayer life simply reflects failure in your spiritual life.

e. Believers in marriage need to pray for each other.

f. 1 Pet 4:7-8, “The end of all things [the Rapture] has drawn near; therefore, be of sound mind and exercise self-restraint for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep on having ernest love for each other, because love covers a multitude of sins.” The least you can do is have virtue love within your own family.

6. 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 in the spiritual life. It is the number one reason why people are not teachable, why people are not malleable, 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?” Job 35:12-13, “They cry out, but He [God] does not answer because of the arrogance of evil persons. Surely God will not listen to a phony [empty] cry, nor will the Almighty regard it.”

7. Prayer is not answered because of lust, criminality, jealousy, and false motivation, which neutralize prayer. Jam 4:2-3 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.”

a. The point is that lust and murder, jealousy and fighting are the wrong way to get what you want. Ask! But then, if you ask from wrong motives, you won’t get it either.

b. Lust is a wrong motive for prayer. When you don’t get what you want, you commit murder in frustration; the failure of your prayer life has resulted in criminality.

c. Jealousy is a 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. 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.

d. The whole system of failure in prayer becomes failure in the protocol plan.

8. When the client nation is under the cycles of discipline, prayer for deliverance cannot be answered. 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.”

9. Malfunction of the faith-rest drill in prayer means the malfunction of effective prayer.

a. Mk 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 and prayer, your life eventually malfunctions. Prayer is an index to your spiritual life. Prayer 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, some problem. The problem will overflow to every aspect of your life.

b. James 5:15, “The prayer offered in faith will deliver the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.”

10. Imprecatory prayers are legal and valid for other dispensations, but not for the Church Age believer. Therefore, imprecatory prayers are not answered by God.

11. 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.

a. 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.

b. Concentration in the communion service. The communion service is a reflection of the person and work of Christ.

c. 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.

(1) The pattern of concentration in all forms of worship is established in the function of Operation Z—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.

(2) 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.

G. The Mechanics of Prayer.

1. Public prayer should be short and should avoid repetition. Mt 6:7, “And when you are praying [publicly], do not use meaningless repetition, as Gentiles do, for they assume that they will be heard for their many words.” God is not impressed with verbiage. Remember, “God does not look on the outward appearance, but on the right lobe.” You cannot impress people and God at the same time with your prayers. In public prayer, you always add the principles of impersonal love, flexibility and thoughtfulness of others. You must be thoughtful of others in prayer who are gathered with you.

2. Long prayers should be reserved for private intercession and petition. Mt 6:6, “But when you pray, go into your private room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will provide for you.”

3. There is an agenda for your private prayer.

a. Confession of sin (1 Jn 1:9), if necessary, to ensure the filling of the Spirit. Only prayer offered in the status quo of the filling of the Spirit will be heard.

b. Thanksgiving expresses the concept of worship in private prayer. Eph 5:20, “Always giving thanks to God the Father for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thes 5:18, “In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Capacity for thanksgiving comes from your personal love for God and your impersonal love for others. Capacity for thanksgiving increases as you grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is hard to stay alert when you are in a routine situation, doing the same thing over and over again. Your thanksgiving to God is a part of your personal love for God. The more you love God and the more you appreciate Him, the greater your thanksgiving, and the greater your alertness in prayer.

c. Intercession is praying for others, Eph 6:18; 1 Kg 18; James 5:16-18. This is a spiritual ministry. It requires that you have your own private prayer list.

d. Petition is praying for your own needs and situations where you are confused and have not yet learned a problem solving device for that situation. Therefore, it is prayer offered on behalf of self, as per Heb 4:16. “Approach boldly the throne of grace, that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” To approach boldly means you approach in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

4. Part of the mechanics of prayer is concentration. Concentration is a function of the filling of the Spirit, positive volition, and motivation.

H. There are special prayers.

1. The sanctification of food or saying “grace” before meals is a special prayer, 1 Tim 4:4-5. This is a mandate for all believers. “For everything created by God is good for food, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude. For it is sanctified by means of the Word of God and prayer.”

a. There may be ingredients in the food that are very harmful, but offering this special prayer will protect you.

b. Grace before meals has a two-fold purpose.

(1) The expression of gratitude to God for His logistical grace support, which includes food.

(2) Sanctification of that food to eliminate any potential, harmful effects.

2. There is prayer for those in authority over us. As citizens of a client nation to God, this is a very important function for believers. 1 Tim 2:1-2, “First of all, therefore, I request [in the sense of a command] that petitions, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made on behalf of all mankind; on behalf of kings [rulers] and all who are in authority, that we may lead an undisturbed and tranquil life in the entire spiritual life and integrity.”

a. “Petitions” can refer to urgent prayers for personal needs. Petition means earnest solicitations or entreaties. When “petition” is followed by the word “prayer,” “prayer” refers to intercession. If you have the word “intercession,” and you do not have the word “petition,” then the word “prayer” refers to petitions.

b. Verse one points out that there are certain people for whom we should express our thanksgiving to God in prayer. In addition, there is intercession on behalf of all mankind and petition for ourselves. Verse two gets specific—we are commanded to pray for governmental authority and all other authority.

c. When you reach spiritual autonomy, this prayer really becomes effective. Having impersonal love gives you the ability to forget about the personality, the idiocy, the antagonism, and to actually pray for those people with whom you do not agree, who are leading our nation the wrong way, or who are damaging our client nation. Impersonal love gives you phenomenal power for such a prayer. The confidence to offer such a prayer comes from personal love for God.

3. There is prayer for the sick, Jas 5:15.

4. There is prayer for the unsaved, Rom 10:1. Paul prayed for the salvation of unbelieving Jews. Although you cannot pray that their volition will be coerced, you can pray that they will be exposed to the Gospel and have the opportunity to believe in Jesus Christ.

5. There is prayer for your enemies. Mt 5:44, “But I say to you, love your enemies [impersonal love], and pray for those who persecute you.” This prayer reflects the phenomenal dynamics in spiritual autonomy from the confidence of spiritual self-esteem and the impersonal love of spiritual autonomy.

6. There is prayer for spiritual adulthood.

a. Phil 1:9, “And this I pray, that your virtue-love may abound still more and more in metabolized doctrine and all discernment.”

(1) Paul is praying that virtue-love may abound still more. He is asking that the application will have a wider scope. The virtue-love is already there. He is not praying that someone reach spiritual adulthood. He is praying about someone who is already in spiritual adulthood. He is praying that their application of metabolized doctrine will have a wider scope, a more effective use of virtue-love.

(2) Virtue-love is confidence from personal love for God and impersonal love toward man from spiritual autonomy. Virtue-love is not only a problem solving device used to pass momentum testing, but at the same time, it is maximum effectiveness in prayer. This is especially true for these categories of special prayers.

b. Col 1:9, “For this reason, we also [Timothy, Titus, Luke, and Paul], from the day we heard [the Epaphras report—pastor at Colossae], we have not ceased to pray for you, and to ask that you might be filled with all metabolized doctrine of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” Wisdom and spiritual understanding are characteristics of spiritual self-esteem and spiritual autonomy.

7. There is prayer for the communication and communicators of Bible doctrine; for pastor-teachers, missionaries, evangelists, 2 Thes 3:1; Heb 13:18. Col 4:2-3, “Devote yourselves to prayer; in it, keeping alert with an attitude of thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us [teachers of Bible doctrine] as well, that God may open up to us a door for the teaching of the Word [doctrine], so that we may communicate [teach] the mystery doctrine from Christ.”

8. There is the prayer of widows, that is, ladies who become single either by the death, divorce, or abandonment of their husbands. 1 Tim 5:5, “Now she who is a widow and has been left alone, and has fixed her confidence on God [hope 2 and 3], she also continues in petitions and prayers [intercession] night and day.” This special category of widows in spiritual adulthood can pray both night and day (more often than once a day) for themselves and for others. As a result of their very tranquil and uncomplicated life, they are able to be effective in continuous prayer on behalf of others.

I. Prayer and the Protocol Principle of Precisely Correct Procedure. There is no place for sloppiness in prayer. Yet, that’s exactly what we have today among believers—emotion, ignorance, stupidity, and sloppiness because we’ve ignored the Biblical principles that mandate precisely correct procedure.

1. All prayer is directed to God the Father. You never pray to God the Son or God the Holy Spirit, Mt 6:6,9; Eph 1:17, 3:14; 1 Pet 1:17. Furthermore, God the Son as our High Priest makes intercession for us at the right hand of the Father, Heb 7:25. God the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, Rom 8:26-27. If God the Son and God the Holy Spirit offer prayer to God the Father, who are we to fail in this precisely correct procedure?

2. All prayer is offered through the channel of our great high priest, in the name of the Son, Jn 14:13-14. You can begin your prayer with the approach, “Heavenly Father, I’m coming in the name of the Son;” or you can conclude your prayer with “in Christ’s name, Amen.” Whichever, you must go through channels, for this is precisely correct procedure. There is no place for sloppiness in prayer.

3. All effective prayer is offered through the filling of the Spirit or the enabling power of the Spirit, Eph 6:18. Therefore, if your prayers are not offered inside the spiritual life, their trajectory or velocity falls short of heaven.

4. Protocol demands that the believer offer all prayers to God the Father in the name of the Son and in the power of the Spirit.

5. Prayer is a part of your portfolio of invisible assets.

a. Under primary assets, prayer originates from the equal privilege of election. You are a royal priest; this gives you additional ability in prayer. There is nothing for which you cannot ask God on your own as a priest under the principles and restrictions noted, and in accordance with His will.

b. Under secondary assets, effective prayer is a part of the production of the Christian life.

c. Under your prom chip, all answered prayer is a part of your prom chip, programmed by the omniscience of God the Father in eternity past.

6. Accurate and effective prayer is one of the most powerful weapons in history. In prayer, the Christian takes the offensive against Satan in his world.

7. Prayer is not a system for controlling the lives of others. We cannot pray a prayer which violates the volition of someone else. The function of your royal priesthood is for the benefit of yourself and for the benefit of others, but it is not a system whereby you control others.

8. There is one non-protocol prayer which God hears—the function of rebound. God does not hear the prayers of the carnal Christian. Inasmuch as rebound is a recovery procedure from sin and reentry into the spiritual life, and since the mechanics of rebound demand naming our sins to God, it is obvious that acknowledging or naming our sins to God is the only prayer that God hears and answers when the believer is in a state of sin. a. There are three results of the rebound prayer:

(1) Recovery of the filling of the Spirit.

(2) Restoration to fellowship with God.

(3) Resumption of your spiritual life.

b. Rebound makes it possible to continue a life of prayer as part of your spiritual life.

c. Prayer is an extension of the spiritual life. You are not spiritual because you pray; you pray because you are spiritual. Therefore, prayer is a result of the spiritual life; the spiritual life is not a result of prayer.

J. The Dynamics of Intercessory Prayer.

1. The prayer of Elijah on Mount Carmel demonstrates the power of intercessory prayer for the nation, 1 Kg 18:42-46; Jas 5:16-18.

2. The power of prevailing prayer was exercised in the early church on behalf of Peter, who was in prison and about to be executed. Acts 12:5, “So Peter was being kept in prison, but fervent prayer was made for him to God by the church.” The result of this prayer was Peter’s dramatic deliverance. He was chained between two Roman soldiers. But with every Roman guard asleep, Peter simply walked out of the prison. All the Roman soldiers were executed for this; they were so evil that it was their time to die.

3. Prayer for unbelievers is legitimate and a part of your dynamics in intercessory prayer. Remember not to attempt to violate their volition by asking God to make them believe in Christ. Rom 10:1, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them [Jews] is for their salvation.” Do not let anyone tell you that you cannot pray for the unsaved.

4. Prayer for unknown believers, Col 1:3-12. This is a demonstration of the power of impersonal love in spiritual autonomy, because spiritual autonomy has the greatest motivation in praying for those who are enemies and for those who are unknown. This demonstrates the functional virtue of impersonal love, and therefore, the status of spiritual autonomy.

5. The true Lord’s prayer is found in Jn 17, the most phenomenal prayer ever made. The disciples’ prayer of Mt 6:9ff is a prayer only for Israel during Christ’s incarnation. It asks for the institution of His millennial reign, and cannot be fulfilled until the Second Advent. Therefore, it doesn’t apply in the Church Age.

6. The dynamics of Paul’s intercessory prayers are seen in Eph 1:15-23 and 3:14-21.

K. There are 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.

1. Positive - Negative. Your petition is answered yes, but your desire behind it is answered no. For example, you pray to make a million dollars; yes, you’ll make a million dollars, but no, you will not be happy.

a. In 1 Sam 8:5-9 and 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.

b. In Ps 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.

2. Negative - Positive. The answer to the petition is no; the desire behind the petition is answered yes. Example: no, you will not make a million dollars, but yes, you will be happy.

a. 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.

b. 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.

3. Positive - Positive. Both the petition and desire are answered yes.

a. In Judges 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 thing down on all of them.

b. In 1 Kg 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. 1 Kg 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 1 Kg 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.

c. In Lk 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.’”

d. In Jn 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. Verse 45, “Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary saw what He had done, and they believed in Him.”

4. Negative - Negative. The answer is no to both the petition and the desire; in other words, God doesn’t answer either.

a. Mt 26:36-46 is the illustration of why believer’s prayers are not answered. When Jesus went to Gethsemane the night before His death to pray, the answer to His prayer in eternity past by God the Father was “No.”

(1) The three disciples who went with the Lord were to keep praying for our Lord as He prayed to the Father in a state of tremendous grief, verse 38. These disciples failed in their intercessory prayers for our Lord.

(2) Our Lord asked that the suffering of bearing our sins on the Cross not happen, if it was possible. The protosis of this first class condition assumes that it is true that it is possible to remove the task of bearing our sins from our Lord, but the possibly does not imply the reality of the situation. “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” indicates this is a first class condition of assumption. Our Lord prayed for one hour and we only have a one phrase summary of that hour.

(3) In verse 42 our Lord faced the reality of bearing our sins on the Cross, “let Your will come to pass.”

(4) The petition, “Let this cup pass from Me” could not be answered by God the Father. Jesus Christ had to go to the Cross. This prayer was a negative-negative. There was a desire behind the petition which could not be fulfilled. The two negatives add up to a positive—our Lord went to the Cross as a substitute for us.

(5) The answer to this prayer was not in deliverance of our Lord from the Cross, but in delivering Him on the Cross by His use of the doctrine in His soul as explained in Heb 12:2. When our Lord prayed in Gethsemane, “Your will be done", He understood that His deliverance would come from the doctrine in His soul while bearing our sins and that He would not be delivered from bearing our sins.

b. In 2 Cor 12:7-10 Paul prayed three times that God would remove his thorn in the flesh. This was a prayer that could not be answered. The motivation was wrong and the prayer was wrong. “And for this reason, that I should not begin to become arrogant because of the extraordinary quality of revelations, I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel from Satan that he might torment me, that I should not begin to become arrogant. Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. Then He assured me for my benefit, `My grace has been and still is sufficient for you. For My power is made operational in a state of weakness [human incapability to solve the problem; helplessness].’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ [the operational spiritual life] may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

(1) There is a reason for everything that happens to the believer. Paul was not out of fellowship. The prayer was not answered to teach Paul the importance of handling suffering for blessing with the problem solving devices. It is not wrong to pray for people that are sick and it is not wrong for people who are sick to pray for help, but remember that prayer is not a problem solving device.

(2) Four of the thorns are mentioned in verse 10, slandering (people testing), pressure (thought testing), persecutions (system testing or injustice), troubles (terrible anguish). Whatever the function of the thorn demon, it brought Paul to a state of preventative suffering. Being in fellowship, Paul offered a prayer that could not and was not answered. Prayer was the wrong solution, therefore, it was not answered.

(3) Offering this prayer three times was an abuse of prayer by Paul. Paul prayed intensely and urgently for this thorn to be removed. Paul applied the wrong solution to the problem. Paul 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—Jeshurun status. The Lord did not even answer Paul until after he had prayed the wrong prayer three times.

(a) The pain was so intense that Paul skipped his spiritual life and went to prayer. He put prayer before the spiritual life, instead of the spiritual life before prayer. Growth is in the spiritual life, not in prayer.

(b) People often want you to pray for them when they are hurting, and it may be God’s means of promoting them.

(4) What the Lord does not remove He intends for us to resolve in some other way within the framework of our spiritual life through the function of the ten problem solving devices.

(a) Prayer is a vehicle for the use of certain problem solving devices (e.g., rebound, grace orientation). “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me,” relates the problem solving device of rebound to prayer. Prayer is a vehicle whereby grace orientation makes application to our experience. “Coming boldly to the throne of grace” means that it is the problem solving device that makes prayer effective, not prayer solving a problem. The solution comes through grace orientation, not through prayer. The faith-rest drill uses prayer, Matt 21:22, “Everything you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.”

(b) We live in an age of the greatest power that has ever been given to the ordinary believer. The power at your disposal is phenomenal, but you will never touch it without straightening out your values and functioning on a consistent basis with the spiritual skills. You do not need a miracle from God; you have far superior power to miracles. God does not need to perform miracles, when He has given us assets that were pioneered and tested by Christ in the dispensation of the hypostatic union. You have more power available to you than all of the Old Testament miracles put together. Paul was asking the Lord to remove the basis for his final promotion to Jeshurun status, and God’s answer was “No, No, No.”

(5) Paul’s thorn in the flesh suffering is the divine initiative of grace, designed for the function of grace orientation to pass the final test of Paul’s spiritual maturity. Paul’s suffering was designed to be part of the principle of Rom 8:28, “For we know that to those who love God, He causes all things to work together for good, even to those who are called on the basis of a predetermined plan.” Paul’s suffering was designed to have grace orientation and personal love for God the Father deployed and functioning on the FLOT line of his soul. If God answers Paul’s prayer and takes away the thorn in the flesh and removes the suffering, it would destroy the only offensive action left to Paul to reach the highest stage of the spiritual life.

(6) The function of the problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul take precedence over removal of the suffering and adversity involved. Suffering is your friend, not your enemy. Use your problem solving devices. Certain categories of suffering for blessing are absolutely necessary for spiritual momentum for the execution of the protocol plan of God for glorifying God. When you pass this kind of a test, the elect angels are standing and cheering you. (a) There is far greater power in the problem solving devices deployed on the FLOT line of the soul against suffering, than the power of suffering to destroy the spiritual skills with the arrogance skills. Paul is in danger of destroying his spiritual skills by entering into the arrogance skills.

(b) What God does not remove, He intends for us to endure. Not through the function of prayer, but through the problem solving devices.

(d) Remove the suffering and you remove the blessing.

(e) Take the suffering out of your life and you destroy the spiritual momentum of your life.

(f) Suffering is often designed by God as a field training exercise, preparing you for every crisis in your life.

(g) The removal of suffering is not a solution. The solution is in using the problem solving devices. God intends for us to go through suffering with flying colors.

(h) Believers who pray for miracles never understand the power and grace of God.

(7) Effective prayer is the result of spiritual growth, but never the means of spiritual growth. Paul’s greater effectiveness in prayer from Paul’s understanding and using the problem solving devices.

(a) The effectiveness of prayer demands the function of the spiritual life. Prayer is the extension of the spiritual life; it is not the means of executing the spiritual life.

(b) You are not spiritual because you prayer; you pray because you are spiritual. Prayer is not the spiritual life.

(8) Suffering is not your enemy (except when you are under divine discipline). Suffering is your friend, when it is designed by God for your blessing.

(9) Verse 9 gives us Paul’s elative conclusion. The elative conclusion combines a superlative [HEDISTA] and a comparative [MALLON] to denote superiority. The superlative denotes inclusion in God’s plan that the divine solution (My grace is sufficient) is the only solution. The comparative denotes exclusion that the human solution (take it away) is no solution.

L. The extension of the prayer that could not be answered in the garden of Gethsemane was our Lord’s prayer on the Cross.

1. Ps 22:1 indicates that the time of this prophecy is the cross. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Far from deliverance are the words of my screaming.” Our Lord said this as He was bearing our sins.

2. Ps 22:2 states the unanswered prayer. “O my God, I cry out by day [first three hours, 9 a.m.-12 noon] and 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, Mt 25:46].”

3. Ps 22:3 tells the reason why that prayer could not be answered in one phrase, “You are Holy.” God the Father was imputing our sins to Christ and judging them from His Holiness. Therefore, God the Father couldn’t answer the prayer for deliverance on the cross. Our Lord knew that there could be no answer to this prayer because of the perfect righteousness and justice of God.

4. In Ps 22:4-5, 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.”

5. So why couldn’t our Lord’s prayer be answered? The reason is given in Ps 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. 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. “Scorned by men and despised by people.” Christ was being judged for our sins, 1 Pet 2:24. Therefore, prayer at that time from the humanity of Christ could not be answered because He was made sin for us.

6. Ps 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 Mt 27:39-40.

7. Ps 22:8 gives some of the verbal sarcastic abuse of the crowd, fulfilled in Mt 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.’”

8. Our Lord’s prayer was heard by all who were there, and they saw that it could not be answered! But they didn’t understand the reason— because He was bearing their sins and our sins in His own 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.”

9. 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.

10. So instead of using prayer as a problem solving device on the Cross, our Lord used perfect happiness as His problem solving device, Heb 12:2, “Be concentrating on Jesus, the leader-hero and pattern for bringing to completion our doctrine, who because of His exhibited happiness He endured the Cross, disregarding the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

M. The Principle of Grace in Prayer.

1. In his prayer approach, the believer must be compatible with the name where prayer is received, the throne of grace.

2. Grace is the policy of the integrity of God in the imputation of blessing from the justice of God to the indwelling righteousness of God.

3. Prayer is a privilege, the function of the royal priesthood. Therefore, it is a powerful weapon in the hands of the believer.

4. Since grace is the principle of prayer, no believer can petition for himself or make intercession on the basis of human merit, ability, morality, production, service or spiritual gift. 5. Every believer approaches the throne of grace on the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ who is our great High Priest.

6. While the Father is propitiated with the work of Christ on the Cross, He is no respecter of persons. Therefore we must approach the Father from our position of fellowship.

7. Our Lord, during the First Advent, had maximum effectiveness in His prayer life.

8. The believer out of fellowship is not only weak but has no effectiveness in his prayer modus operandi.

9. God does not answer prayer because the believer is “good,” moral, sincere, benevolent, religious, concerned, altruistic, talented or possesses a pleasing personality.

10. Answer to prayer is a Divine decision. Therefore the believer’s popularity with others is never a factor in answered prayer.

11. Prayer is a weapon. You must understand how it functions, just as you should understand how any weapon functions before you use it. Prayer must be used as a weapon. Most people blaspheme when they pray because of arrogance while praying and ignorance of how to pray.

12. One prayer can change the course of history, e.g., some of Christ’s prayers, and Paul’s prayer in Ephesians.

N. Prayer And Problem Solving.

1. In 2 Cor 12:9, our Lord tells Paul why prayer is not the solution to the problem in context (the thorn in the flesh). “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 is causing all things to work together for good. Paul’s recognition of human helplessness to solve the problem opens the door for the divine initiative of grace, for the problem solving devices to do the job.

2. The most important thing in your spiritual life is to have ten problem solving devices deployed on the FLOT line of your soul; 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 experience. Prayer is not one of the problem solving devices.

3. Paul prayed three times to God the Father that He make this thorn in the flesh suffering go away. 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.

4. Prayer is not a solution to problems.

a. Prayer is not a problem solving device. Prayer is only effective in your life, when the problem solving devices are on the FLOT line of your soul. Prayer is only effective with the problem solving devices. Prayer is not answered because there are no problem solving devices on the FLOT (forward line of troops) of your soul. When you have the problem solving devices, you have the solution to everything. And 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.”)

b. Prayer is not the spiritual life, but the result of the spiritual life. You are not spiritual because you pray; you pray because you are spiritual.

c. Prayer is an extension of the spiritual life; the spiritual life is not an extension of prayer.

d. Effective prayer is the result of the execution of the spiritual life.

5. The problem solving devices must function for prayer to be effective.

a. The filling of the Spirit, Ps 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.” Jude 20, “Pray at all times in the Spirit.” Eph 6:18a, “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit.” Jn 15:7, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask what you will and I will give it to you.”

b. The faith-rest drill, Mt 21:22, “All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” Mk 11:24, “Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you ask and pray, believe that you will receive them and they will be given to you.” 1 Jn 5:14, “And this is the confidence which we have face-to-face with Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we ask from Him.”

6. When prayer is ineffective, prayer becomes a system of manipulation, a system of distortion, a system of arrogance, an instrument of legalism instead of an instrument of power and service to the Lord.

N. Several of Paul’s prayers are models of how fantastic and powerful prayer can be.

1. Eph 3:14-21.

a. Verse 14, “For this reason I kneel before the Father,”

(1) All prayer is directed toward God the Father, Mt 6:6, Eph 1:17; 1 Pet 1:17.

(2) No one is ever heard in prayer by praying to Jesus Christ or to the Holy Spirit. We are never told in Scripture to pray to the Son or the Holy Spirit.

b. Verse 15, “from whom the entire family in heaven and on earth derives its title,” Our title is royal family of God, the royal priesthood, the holy priesthood.

c. Verse 16, “that He may give to you on the basis of the riches of His glory, to become strong with power through His Spirit in your inner being,”

(1) The riches of God’s glory refer to the assets He has provided for us and are beyond description, Eph 1:18; Phil 4:19; Col 1:27.

(2) The greatest power in human history has been given to us. There is no tyranny in the power of God the Holy Spirit though there is tyranny in Christian activism.

d. Verse 17, “that Christ may be at home in your hearts [stream of consciousness] through doctrine, when you have been firmly rooted and established in virtue-love,”

e. Verse 18, “that you may utilize this divine power to grasp the idea with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth,”

(1) Width is the four spiritual mechanics:

(a) The function of the two power options.

(b) The modus operandi of the three spiritual skills.

(d) And the execution of the advance stages of the spiritual life.

(2) Length is the four spiritual objectives (two tactical objectives and two strategic objectives).

(a) Tactical—A personal sense of destiny.

(b) Tactical—Spiritual maturity.

(d) Strategic—Maximum glorification of God or Jeshurun status.

(3) Height refers to Jesus Christ in resurrection body, seated at the right

hand of God as our High Priest. He is the anchor inside the veil, Heb 6:19-20. This also refers to Eph 1:19-20. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is now available to us.

(4) Depth refers to our escrow blessings. Rom 11:33-36.

f. Verse 19, “and to come to know the love for Christ which goes beyond gnosis, that you may be filled, resulting in all the fullness from God.” All the fulness from God is Jeshurun promotion. Paul is praying that they attain Jeshurun status. If God does not promote you, you are not promoted.

g. Verse 20, “Now to Him [F] who is able to do infinitely more than all that we ask or think on the basis of the power that keeps working in us,”

h. Verse 21, “to Him [F] the glory by agency of the church and by agency of Christ Jesus with reference to all generations of the unique age of the ages [the Church Age]. Amen.” Spiritual maturity plus cognitive invincibility plus occupation with Christ deployed as a problem solving device on the FLOT line of the soul plus evidence testing equals Jeshurun maximum glorification of God. This is the glory for which Paul prays.

2. Eph 1:15-23, the prayer which Paul never finished. This prayer was answered after Paul’s death, when Ephesus became the pivot of the Roman Empire.

a. Eph 1:15, “For this reason, I Paul also, when I heard about your own personal faith in the Lord Jesus and your virtue love toward all the saints,”

(1) The personal faith in the Lord Jesus here is a reference to salvation by personal faith in Christ and the function of the faith-rest drill as a function of the spiritual life. The faith mentioned here goes beyond personal faith in Christ because of the next phrase about virtue love toward all the saints. These believers have already believed in Christ, so that this faith is a reference to the faith-rest drill.

(2) Your impersonal love toward others is important because it is a reflection of the love of God in divine integrity. Divine integrity is made up of three divine attributes of God: the righteousness, justice, and love of God. Grace is not an attribute of God, but a reflection of the entire integrity of God. Grace works with love as love works with the holiness of God. Out of divine integrity comes our very own portfolio of invisible assets with our very own spiritual life. Impersonal love gives you compatibility with the integrity of God.

b. Eph 1:16, “I do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers,”

(1) You are not spiritual because you pray; you pray because you are spiritual.

(2) Thanksgiving is always a part of prayer. Paul recognized the strategic importance of Ephesus as the holy city of the Roman Empire. Paul’s prayer recognizes both the pivot and the Jeshurun of the Church Age.

c. Eph 1:17, “in order that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a lifestyle of wisdom and revelation about Him through metabolized doctrine.” The lifestyle of wisdom is the spiritual life of learning, metabolizing, and applying Bible doctrine. (1) The lifestyle of wisdom is unusual knowledge about God that anticipates the utilization of portfolio of invisible assets in the fulfillment of the plan of God for your life. Wisdom is a characteristic of Jeshurun believers.

(2) “Revelation about Him” is God emphasis over people emphasis—your harmonious rapport with God, which is your true spiritual life.

d. Eph 1:18, “(I also pray that) the eyes of your right lobe may be enlightened [perception and metabolization of Bible doctrine], so that you may know what is the confidence of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance for the saints,”

(1) The confidence of God’s salvation is that God has made your faith in Christ efficacious for the salvation of your soul.

(2) The riches of the glory of His inheritance are the portfolio of your invisible assets for the execution of the spiritual life. They are also described in Col 1:25-27, “of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, given to me for your benefit to fulfill the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past dispensations and generations, but has now been revealed to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the confidence of glory.”

(3) Paul prays that we might have Bible doctrine circulating in our stream of consciousness that we may reach spiritual maturity and then Jeshurun status. e. Eph 1:19, “and what is the surpassing greatness of His power [omnipotence] to us who have believed, for the working of His superior power,”

(1) There are three categories of the superior power of God:

(a) The power of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is now available to every Church Age believer.

(b) The power of the filling of the Holy Spirit by which Jesus Christ in His human nature in hypostatic union executed the prototype spiritual life is now available to the believer.

(2) Never before in human history has God delegated or made available so much divine power as He has delegated or made available to every Church believer. More divine power is delegated to the ordinary believer than ever before or will be in the future in three categories: the power of God the Father which restored the human spirit of Jesus Christ to His body in the grave, the power of God the Holy Spirit which restored the human soul of our Lord to His body in the grave, the power of the infallible word of God.

(3) Ignorance of pertinent doctrine is failure to utilize this divine power to fulfill God’s will, plan, and purpose for your life.

(4) There is no substitute for the utilization of divine power in the execution of the unique spiritual life of the Church Age.

(5) Fulfillment of the divine plan demands the use of divine power for its execution. God cannot accept human power for the fulfillment of His plan or the function of the spiritual life. Failure to use divine power means accepting a cheap substitute in the function of human viewpoint self-improvement. Only the function of the two power options of the spiritual life can fulfill the protocol principle of God’s plan for the Church Age.

(6) All effective prayer recognizes and utilizes the power of God. All effective prayer results from the power of the spiritual life. Prayer which is dependent upon the power of man is rejected by God.

f. Eph 1:20, “which [power] He put into operation by means of Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies,”

(1) With the gift of divine power in the spiritual life goes responsibility in prayer, Eph 6:18-19, “By every prayer and supplication always pray on every occasion by means of the Spirit, and because of this, be on the alert with all persistance and humble entreaty for all the saints. Also pray for me when I open that pertinent doctrine may be given to me to communicate with confidence the mystery of the gospel, on behalf of which gospel I am an ambassador in chains, in order that reference to it I may speak fearlessly as I ought to speak.”

(2) The effective prayer is the result of divine power, the filling of the Spirit, in the spiritual life. Emotion will not bring any prayer answers from heaven. Because every believer is a priest and an ambassador for Christ, prayer is a part of your full time Christian service. g. Eph 1:21, “superior to every authority, both human power and authority as well as angelic power and authority, and superior to every title that can be named, not only in this age [Church Age] but also in the one destined to come [Millennium].”

h. Eph 1:22, “And He [F] has subordinated all things under His [Christ’s] feet [Operation Footstool]; furthermore, He [F] has appointed Him ruler over all things to the church,” (1) Paul does not finish this prayer but cuts the prayer off because the body of Christ is not completed until the exit-resurrection of the Church.

(2) This prayer is cut off because the Rapture has not taken place and he is saying in effect that everyone in the Church Age will have equal privilege and equal opportunity to attain Jeshurun status during the Church Age.

(3) During the Church Age there is individual completion of the spiritual life by reaching Jeshurun status but there is no corporate completion of the Church until the Rapture of the Church.

i. Eph 1:23, “which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all [Jeshurun believers] with all things.”

(1) Eph 3:19, “filled with all the fullness from God.”

(2) Heb 10:14, “He has brought to completion for all time those who are being sanctified.”

(3) Until the Rapture of the Church, there will be Jeshurun believers in every generation who will understand this prayer and fulfill it. Every time a Church Age believer reaches Jeshurun status he has fulfilled the individual completion of this prayer. Corporate completion of this prayer is the Rapture of the Church.

(a) Individual completion of this prayer is promotion to Jeshurun status.

(b) Corporate completion is the Rapture of the Church.

(d) The Eph 3:14-21 prayer of Paul is a completed prayer because it deals with the individual completion of believers attaining Jeshurun status by execution of the spiritual life. When anyone attains Jeshurun status, that prayer is completed.

(e) Eph 1:15-23 is the unfinished prayer of Paul because the Church is not completed as the body of Christ to accompany our Lord’s third royal title as the “King of kings, Lord of lords, the Bright Morning Star.” When His royal family is completed, then there will be a resurrection of His royal family only prior to the Tribulation and Millennium. The only completion during the Church Age is individual completion by execution of the spiritual life of the Church Age, attainment of Jeshurun status.

O. Prayer Related to the Sin Terminating with Death, 1 Jn 5:13-17.

1. 1 Jn 5:13, “I have written to you who believe in the person of the Son of God these things, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.”

a. No one is going to execute the spiritual life of the Church Age unless he first understands eternal security and is familiar with the thirty-nine, irrevocable absolutes we receive at salvation.

b. You have eternal life whether you know it or not the moment you believe in Jesus Christ. God the Holy Spirit creates a human spirit and God the Father imputes eternal life to that human spirit. This is regeneration or being born again.

c. The virtue of confidence toward God is a part of the principle of harmonious rapport with God. Harmonious rapport with God includes the virtue of confidence toward God. Confidence toward God begins with understanding the doctrine eternal security.

d. Confidence is always related to security, not to freedom. God has provided for us perfect security at the moment of salvation. It is the quintessence of human arrogance to think that you can somehow lose your salvation. There is no sin or evil you can commit to lose your salvation. Failure to believe in eternal security is blasphemy.

(1) People will do everything in the world to gain security, including compromise of their freedom, their honor, and their integrity. No one ever attains human security by compromise of their honor and integrity.

(2) Ignorance of the doctrine of eternal security means insecurity. Cognizance means security and confidence in God.

e. It is one thing to believe in Christ, it is quite another thing to realize that as a believer there is nothing we can do to lose our salvation. We did nothing to gain eternal life; we can do nothing to lose our eternal life.

f. Realization of the possession of eternal security through faith alone in Christ alone is the beginning of that virtue of confidence toward God, which is a part of harmonious rapport toward God, which is the spiritual life of the believer.

2. 1 Jn 5:14, “In fact, this is the confidence which we have face-to- face with Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

a. Confidence directed toward God produces courage directed toward man. Misdirected virtue destroys virtue, e.g., when believers produce human good to improve Satan’s world.

b. Courage directed toward God is presumptuous and blasphemous. Confidence toward man is naive and idiotic. Morality toward God is legalism, while worshipping man is arrogance and stupidity. These are the distortions which come when we fail to understand that no matter how hard Satan tries to produce good, his good is absolute evil. Impersonal love toward God is arrogance, while personal love toward man is weakness and distraction. Personal love toward man is not virtue itself, but virtue dependent, that is, it depends on virtue for happiness, stability, blessing, and perpetuation. Personal love as a virtue is directed toward God and becomes synonymous with worship and harmonious rapport toward God.

c. Prayer is used here as an illustration. John did this as well in 1 Jn 3:21-22, “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we keep on having confidence before God; furthermore, whatever we have asked we receive from Him, because we continue to execute His mandates and keep on doing what is pleasing in His sight before Him.”

(1) Prayer minus virtue is robbed of its power.

(2) Prayer is dependent upon virtue (harmonious rapport with God in the spiritual life) and the power of the filling of the Holy Spirit.

d. The will of God is not obscure, except to those believers who live and function outside of the spiritual life in perpetual carnality. The will of God is the execution of the spiritual life of the Church Age.

e. God heard our prayers in eternity past and answers our prayers in time.

3. 1 Jn 5:15, “And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire from Him.”

4. 1 Jn 5:16, “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not face-to- face with death, he shall ask and He [God the Father] will give life to him who does not sin face-to-face with death. There is a sin face-to-face with death; I do not say that he should ask concerning this category.”

a. You are not to pray for believers who dying the sin terminating in death. You can pray for others as long as they have not committed the sin terminating in death. The sin terminating in death is the sin of not executing the spiritual life of the Church Age. You do not pray against the will of God, for God to stop divine discipline against those believers who refuse to live the spiritual life.

b. To see a believer commit a sin face-to-face with death requires mature application of prayer plus intimate contact with the subject. This is not a matter of speculation; for this verse implies that you understand the difference between sin and the sin face-to-face with death. This also implies no gossip, no maligning, no judging, no spreading of false information about a sinning believer. You have to be a witness to the sin or sins of another believer and use the option of intercessory prayer, and petition God that someone else will recognize their own sin and rebound from their own volition. In the sin face-to-face with death, the decision of the sovereignty of God is of maximum importance; therefore, avoid praying against the will of God or tampering with the will of God.

c. The sin face-to-face with death can be a sin which is repeated many times and there is no rebound. God has never made a judgment of anyone that excludes the love of God. Therefore, God’s judgment of this person is always fair.

d. The sin terminating in death is defined as maximum divine discipline from the justice of God, resulting in painful and sometimes instant physical death. It is the highest form of disgrace that can occur.

(1) Divine discipline results from the believer using his own volition to create his own failures in life after salvation.

(2) The sin face-to-face with death is described in Ps 7:14- 16, “Behold, he shall have labor pains of vanity [warning discipline] because he has become pregnant with frustration. Therefore, he has given birth to a life of deceit [intensive discipline]. He dug a grave [the sin face-to-face with death]. He explored it [the experience of warning and intensive discipline]. Therefore, he has fallen into the ditch which he himself has constructed. His frustration will return on his own head.” The sin face-to-face with death does not come all at once, but in segments.

(3) The believer under the sentence of death can rebound and live. No other believer, apart from the condemned person, can make that decision to rebound.

R. B. Thieme, Jr. Bible Ministries 5139 West Alabama, Houston, Texas 77056 (713) 621-3740

---------------------------------------------------------------------------