What Prayer Can and Cannot Do

http://www.believingstudy.com/articles/33/1/What-Prayer-Can-and-Cannot-Do/Page1.html

Gary Hall

I was raised as a Roman Catholic and intended to become a priest after I left school, but the Lord had other plans for me. In 1973, at the age of 17, I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour at the headquarters of the Liverpool City Mission. This immediately caused problems regarding my family. My mother and father were against what they called my "change of religion". The situation came to a climax when I arrive home one evening from a Christian friend's house only to be met by my father on the doorstep with the words, "You don't live here anymore". So at the age of 18 I would have been homeless but for the kindness of friends. One cannot rely on the goodness of others for too long, so I decided to move into a local boarding house. What I saw and experienced there cannot be written here. Eventually, after spending time living rough and in the Salvation Army hostel, I found my own apartment. I had fallen away from the Lord for two years at this time. My thoughts went back to my childhood desire to become a Roman Catholic priest. I made enquiries and found that the only real option for me was to become a monk in the Franciscan Order. The Saturday before I was due to leave for the monastery in Guildford, Surrey, I pleaded with the Lord, asking, "Lord, is it your will that I should become a monk like St. Francis?" That evening I attended a tent meeting in a local park. A preacher from Northern Ireland, Derrick Bingham, was teaching from the book of Nehemiah. During the service the preacher turned to my direction (there were about 500 people present) and said, God does not want you to become a monk like St. Francis of Assisi." Here was my answer from the Lord. From that moment I made a complete break from the Catholic Church and have come to see it as the biggest cult that this world knows. In 1979 I joined a church, The Mission, in the neighbourhood where I was living. From the moment I walked through the door of that small building I knew that I was home. The godly lifestyle and inspired teaching of Pastor Charles Bolton (promoted to glory 12 December 2003) and his wife brought me back to my first love for Christ. The church had no young people, but I never once felt that I was out of place. These people obviously loved the Lord. In my desire to reach others with the Gospel of Jesus Christ I began to give leaflets out in Liverpool City Centre. Many a Saturday afternoon was spent witnessing to those willing to stop and listen. On one Saturday in late Autumn 1979 I was approached by a girl with an Irish accent. She asked if I was a Christian and where the church I attended was located. The next morning the same girl was found at The Mission. To cut a short story shorter, six months later on March 29 1980, we were married by Pastor Bolton at The Mission. Margaret, my wife, also comes from a Catholic background, but was soundly converted to Christ and from the errors of Rome whilst visiting relatives in New York in the summer of 1979. (You may find her personal testimony one day on these pages.) In 1986 Pastor Bolton retired from the ministry at The Mission. The leadership of the church was handed over to me. To be very honest I did not fully understand what this would entail, but the Lord has been good and has led me each step of the way. Through the Lord's power we have been used to reach many hundreds of people, though our fellowship is actually small in number. In 1988 we changed the name of the church to Living Word. I am convinced that God is about to pour out His Spirit in revival one last time before the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ (see my article on Revival on this site). This revival will not come via the charismatic movement, it will not come from Toronto or Pensacola, it will not come from the ecumenical movement or the so-called Churches Together - these movements are bankrupt of the truth and the Spirit of God. This final revival will come as a result of the true believers in Christ Jesus getting right with Him. The revival will include a return to the Authorised King James Bible. My great desire is to see people coming to know Jesus as Saviour and Lord, to see backsliders returning, and to see the church of Christ revived. Though I have many failings I love the Lord Jesus Christ with all of my heart. I am willing to serve Him wherever and whenever He sees fit. The word of God is the delight of my life for I'm still amazed after all these years just how fresh and new The Holy Bible is each day!

By Gary Hall

Published on 10/12/2007

All over the world people pray. Prayer is called for when there is a national or international disaster or when a person is abducted by a terrorist. Through prayer we are asking God to move on our behalf or for the sake of someone else; this is termed “Intercessory Prayer.” “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20). Prayer can and will, providing God's conditions are met, accomplish many wonderful things.

What Prayer Can and Cannot Do

Introduction

All over the world people pray. Prayer is called for when there is a national or international disaster or when a person is abducted by a terrorist. Through prayer we are asking God to move on our behalf or for the sake of someone else; this is termed “Intercessory Prayer.” “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20). Prayer can and will, providing God's conditions are met, accomplish many wonderful things.

What prayer can do

Prayer can strengthen our souls, “In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul” (Psalm 138:3). God is all-powerful and is able to do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think…” (Ephesians 3:20).

Prayer can be a source of stability and preservation in our lives, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore” (Psalm 121).

Prayer can impart peace. Instead of being overcome with anxiety and fear, the child of God is to pray, and prayer can bring God’s peace into a troubled life, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

Prayer gives us the opportunity for bringing all that is on our hearts before God. The Scriptures teach that He answers prayer, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:7-11) … “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). Prayer will always be answered when the believer prays in accordance with God’s will, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us” (1 John 5:14). God even knows our needs before we come to Him, “Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him … for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Matthew 6:8, 32). However, God still wants man to ask.

Prayer can result in forgiveness. Man enjoys forgiveness as he submits to God’s will instead of going after his own. The child of God, though, experiences forgiveness through prayer, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” … “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 1: 9, 2: 1-2).

The prayers of the Christian can affect the lives of others. Intercessory prayer is plainly taught, “Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints” (Romans 15:30-31 see also Ephesians 1:16-18, Philippians 1:9-11, Colossians 4:3, and 1 Timothy 2:1-3). The Bible does not teach that we can pray for the salvation of another and that God will, against that person's own freewill, save them.

What prayer cannot do

Prayer alone cannot save the lost. Nowhere is it taught or suggested that prayer saves the lost. Throughout the book of Acts we read how different disciples preached the gospel to save the lost. The apostles did not simply have regular prayer meetings in which they asked God to save a person, instead of going out to witness and preach about Christ. “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14). Some refuse to study the Scriptures to determine the Lord's will, preferring to rely on prayer alone. However, we learn God's will or desire for us from the Bible.

Prayer cannot relieve us of our responsibilities. Some seem to think that instead of doing what God has commanded, they can simply pray about it. Not so! Prayer is no substitute for preaching, restoring the backslidder, and living a holy life.

Prayer cannot impart faith. When the Philippian jailer asked how to be saved, he was told to believe. The word was then preached to him so he could develop faith (see Acts 16:30-31). Faith comes from reading, studying and listening to the word of God, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

Prayer cannot keep the Christian from trials. Difficulties serve as a source of growth, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:2-4).

Prayer cannot sanctify the sinner. Holiness of life is required but it does not result directly from prayer alone. Conformity to the word of God sanctifies, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17).

Conclusion

The point we are attempting to make is that God has ordained prayer to accomplish great things, but prayer was never designed to accomplish that which is outside of God’s will. In order to benefit from prayer, as God wants us to, we must be in the right condition and properly avail ourselves of the privilege of prayer. Too many Christians “know not what they ask” (Mark 10:38), or pray selfishly, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3). Let us search the Scriptures and learn what prayer is and what prayers God answers.

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