GOD'S WAYS IN ANSWERING PRAYER

GOD’S WAYS IN ANSWERING PRAYER

It is evident that answers to prayer are not limited to promises, because it is written, “Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him” (1 John 3: 22), and, “If we know that he hear us, ... we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5: 15). We must first accept that “we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us ... And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit” (Romans 8: 26, 27). No Christian who is walking in the Spirit would like to get what is not the mind of the Spirit. Now if I know myself as a child of God saying Abba, Father by the Spirit of the Son, I am entitled to make known everything concerning myself unto God, who numbers the hairs of my head. Then, again, if I know that He hears me I know that I have the petitions that I desired of Him. If I am spiritually led — that is, if I have the Spirit’s mind — I ask what is according to His will, and I know that He, so to speak, gives attention to my expressed desire, and am assured that He will comply with it. Now in regard to prayer, there are two conditions of soul for a Christian — one who has the Spirit of adoption — which necessarily are above the condition of soul of those to whom the words “After this manner pray ye” were used. At that time the Spirit had not descended to indwell believers. Jesus had not risen. But the two conditions of soul after the descent of the Holy Ghost, and the ascension of Jesus, I find spoken of in the epistles — one is Philippians 4, where without any reservation I am told to make known all my requests, and having done so, I am to rest in peace. My Father knows all now, not only from His own omniscience, but He has heard all from myself. The second is in 1 John 5:14,15 “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, ... we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him”. In the first condition I know nothing of results, but the fact of my making ^[p. 272] known my anxieties to Him has been effective in garrisoning my heart and thoughts (not mind) in surpassing peace. In the second it is, If I know a something of God, namely, that He heard me, and if I know that He hears me, I know as the consequence that I have the petitions I desired of Him. But the answer may not be what I expected. I may not get exactly what I think I asked for. And here it is I believe that we remarkably fulfil that word, “We know not what we should pray for as we ought”. For instance, Paul, when in the shipwreck, might have asked the Lord to let him serve Him in His church more extensively than ever, and even if he knew that God heard him, would he, I ask, have thought that his prayer was to be answered by his being imprisoned at Rome? And yet that was how “the mind of the Spirit” was answered. As spiritual, Paul would understand it, though naturally he would have thought that extended missionary apostolic labours would be the answer. Now we know that his imprisonment led to his most extensive service to the church reaching down to this very time, seeing that it was during it he wrote the most of the epistles. Take another case. Habakkuk, in chapter 3, prays for the revival of Jerusalem. God heard him, but if you had asked the prophet what revival do you count on? doubtless he would have answered — a present one. But what says the Spirit of God? Your prayer is answered, but the revival will be in the day of glory. When we really depend on God about anything, He gives us the very best. He does not give a stone for a fish. On the contrary, He gives, if I may so, say a salmon when only a trout is asked for. I mean that He always surpasses our suggestion or conception when we depend on Him. We never had any gift from God yet which we had asked Him for, and waited on Him for, but it exceeded our own idea of it. We may mourn for quails, and they may be given to teach us our folly, but if we simply look to the Lord, and to Him only for anything, we shall know Him in either of the two ways that I have adduced.

Can you say I love the Lord because He hath heard the voice of my supplications? I think we sometimes pray ^[p. 273] but do not watch to see what God’s answer is. The knowledge of His mind is the real gain in praying. As we grow in affection to the Lord we grow in dependence on Him. This is true in every relationship; we are increasingly dependent in one way or another on those we love. The Lord promotes our love by seeking our interest, making us feel how deeply interested He is in our welfare, showing His interest for us in the minutest things.

I am very much interested in the subject of prayer — the way God answers now — often not using oneself in bringing about the thing that one most prays about and is most concerned with. His way of answering one’s prayers is often in some unexpected way, and apart from any co-operation or agency on our part. He thundered in answer to Samuel’s prayer, that was no human agency, but the thing, was done. Paul only I suppose could see the hand of God in saving all on board (Acts 27). There was nothing signal, and Paul had no hand at all in it himself. Are you content to pray and pray on and never to be used in any way in bringing about what you so much desire and righteously desire? If you are really with God about it, all you want is to see Him effecting that which will redound to the glory of Christ and clear the road for your feet.