Colin S. Smith's Blog, page 13

A Prayer for Doing God’s Will

Our Father, we bow before You and ask that, by Your Spirit, You will bring us to the place where we are truly able to pray from the heart, ‘Your will be done.’

You know how strong our own wills are. You know how hard we find it to submit to Your way for our lives. Lord, strengthen us to desire and to do Your will.

We pray in regard to what You have kept secret (Deuteronomy 29:29). We look at our country and our world and we wonder what You are doing. In the noise of contradictory voices, advance your redeeming purpose even as You did through the clamor around the Cross.

Help us to trust You when it is hard to understand what You are doing. Help us to know and believe that You reign supreme in all things, including the things we do not understand.

Father, we pray that You will help us to grow in discernment, (Romans 12:2). Lead us on the path of wisdom and guard us from making foolish decisions. Help us to think clearly and to weigh correctly. Give us the humility that seeks and hears the wise counsel of others. Help us to be vigorous in ruling out what You forbid and ruling in what You command.

Father, we thank You that our Savior knows the intensity of our struggle when Your will conflicts with our desires. Give us strength to believe Your promises, embrace Your commands, and bear the burdens You call us to carry.

We pray that You will help us to do Your revealed will fully, gladly, and immediately. Help us to love You with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Help us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Help us to make disciples of people from every background, and to seek the good of people from every race. Save us from being unhappy Christians. Deliver us from the sinful habit of complaint. Help us to rejoice in You, to be constant in prayer, and to give thanks in all circumstances.

Save us from thinking of prayer as a means by which we can get You to do our will. Make us more like Jesus. Teach us to say, “Your will be done’ through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

 

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This prayer is adapted from the sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer, Six Things to Ask of God. You may also enjoy the article What does it mean to pray ‘Your Will Be Done’?.

What does it mean to pray ‘Your Will Be Done’?

Jesus taught His disciples to pray ‘Your will be done’ (Matthew 6:10).

What is meant by God’s will?

If you are confused about the will of God you are not alone. One reason for the confusion is that we speak of God’s will in three different ways. Distinguishing between them will help to clear the confusion and enable us to pray “Your will be done,” with greater meaning and understanding.

1. God’s Secret Will

The secret things belong to the LORD our God,
but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our
children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29)

Notice the important distinction that is made here between what is secret and what is revealed. What is revealed belongs to us and we must do it, but what is secret belongs to God, and we cannot know it.

What is God’s secret will? The Bible speaks about, “the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). Everything that happens is woven into the purpose of God. And nothing that happens is outside of His will. God works all things according to the counsel of His will.

God is sovereign, so His plans always prevail. We see this supremely at the cross. Satan stirred up the events that led to the crucifixion of Jesus. But through this, God accomplished His plan to redeem the world.

God’s will, by which He works out all things according to His purpose, is a wonderful comfort to Christian believers. Nothing in your life is outside of God’s purpose or beyond His control. Now, exactly how the events of our lives are woven into the Father’s plan, we cannot tell. These things are ‘secret’ and the secret things belong to the Lord. They are a mystery to us, and we often find ourselves asking why? Why did You allow this in my life Lord? Why did You save her and not him? What are You doing in the coronavirus? What good can possibly come from this?

These are all questions about God’s secret will and the secret things belong to the Lord.

How should we respond to God’s secret will?

We must trust God in what He has kept secret. When we see Him, what was secret will be revealed. Until then, we walk by faith and not by sight.

So here’s how you pray when you are faced with the mystery of what you don’t understand: Lord, strengthen my faith so that Your will may be done.

2. God’s Revealed Will

The secret things belong to the LORD our God,
but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our
children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29)

God’s revealed will is found in the Scriptures.

The will of God for us today is revealed in the Great Commandment: It is God’s will that we love the Lord with all our hearts and that we love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:29–31).

The will of God for us today is revealed in the Great Commission: It is God’s will that we go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).

The will of God for us today includes the Ten Commandments. God’s will is that you should not commit adultery even in your heart. God’s will is that you should be content. God’s will is that you should tell the truth. God’s will is that you should have no other gods before Him.

There is a marvelous snapshot of God’s will in 1 Thessalonians 5:15–18:

See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Now of course God’s revealed will is not limited to verses that use the words ‘God’s will.’ All that God has called us to in Scripture is His will for us.

God’s revealed will should always be our first concern, because God will hold us accountable for our response to what He has revealed (Romans 14:12).   But God will not hold us accountable for what He has kept secret.

This is good news, especially if you have been worried that you might have ‘missed God’s will’ because of a bad decision in your life.  God will not say to you on the last day, ‘you went to live in Alabama when you should have gone to Michigan.’ God has not revealed whether you should live in Alabama, Michigan, Illinois or anywhere else. But He has revealed how you should live in Alabama, Michigan, Illinois or wherever you may be. Did you pursue the great commandment and the great commission? Did you pursue a holy life?  These are the things for which we must all give an account to God.

How should we respond to God’s revealed will?

We must obey God in what He has revealed.  The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:17).

So here’s how you pray when God’s revealed will and your desires pull in different directions: ‘Lord, give me strength to obey, so that Your will may be done.’

3. God’s Discerned Will

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

There is a will of God that can be discerned. This is neither secret nor revealed, but somewhere in between.

All of us make life-changing decisions and we wrestle with life-changing questions: What college should I attend? Where should I live? Should I marry and if so, who? What work should I pursue? What money should I spend, what should I save, and what should I give? What church should I join? What responsibility should I take on my shoulders?

Every time you come to a fork in the road of your life, you will find yourself asking, “What is God’s will?” But there isn’t a verse in the Bible that answers any of these questions. It is not revealed.

On the other hand, the will of God in these things is not secret or unknowable either. What is good, acceptable and perfect can be ‘discerned.’

And notice that we discern the will of God “by testing.”  This testing involves our experience, our ability and capacity, the wisdom of others, open doors of opportunity, circumstances, the desires of our heart, etc.

We do not come to what God has revealed in Scripture and say, ‘Well let’s test this: What do other people think? Where does this fit with my experience? We open the Bible to see what God has revealed and then we rule out what God forbids and we rule in what God commands. But where God has not spoken, we must discern by testing, and so find the path of wisdom.

How should we respond to God’s discerned will?

We cannot test what God has kept secret. We must not test what God has revealed.  We should always test what God has called us to discern.

So here’s how you pray when you are faced with a major decision:

‘Lord, help me to discern, so that Your will may be done.’

Your will be done

We need to distinguish between the three spheres of God’s will because we are called to respond to each of them in a distinct and different way. God’s secret will, we cannot know, and we must respond to the mysteries of life with faith. God’s revealed will we can know for sure, and in this we must obey. God’s discerned will, we can test and by testing we can seek and find the path of wisdom.

When we pray ‘Your will be done,’ we are asking for faith in what God has kept secret, obedience in what God has revealed, and wisdom in what God has called us to discern.

 

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This article is adapted from the sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer, Six Things to Ask of God.

A Prayer for God’s Kingdom to Come

Our Father in heaven, we bow before You, our great and glorious King. This world gives no weight to You, but we draw near to You in worship.

All power and authority belongs to You and we thank You that You have chosen to establish a kingdom. In perfect justice, You could have written off the entire human race and left us to the ruin of our rebellion. But in love and mercy, You chose to bring all who believe into Your kingdom. We are so thankful, and gladly embrace You as our Lord and our King.

Father, we pray that Your reign may be seen more clearly in our lives. You have said ‘if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better to enter into the kingdom maimed than to enter into hell’ (Mark 9:47, Matthew 5:29). Forgive us for the complacency with which we have given room to sins in our lives that have no place in Your kingdom. May the truth of Your Word sanctify us today.

Father, we pray for the spread of the gospel in our world. There are people we love who, today, are outside of your kingdom.  Lord, in Your mercy, bring them in! Cause them to be born again we pray. Deliver them from the kingdom of darkness.  Bring them into the kingdom of Your dear Son Jesus Christ, and light in our hearts a passion for the spread of the gospel in this generation. Help us to do Your work while it is day before the night comes when no one can work.

Father, we pray for the day when Christ will return. We long to see Your Son, our King Jesus. Hasten the day when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15).

Come, defeat the enemies who are arrayed against You! Come, judge the world in righteousness! Come, and bring us safely into Your presence, to live under the blessing of Your rule.

Father, Your kingdom come! Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

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This prayer is adapted from the sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer, Six Things to Ask of God. To learn what it means to pray ‘Your Kingdom Come’, listen to the sermon “God’s Kingdom.”

God is Not Idle

“Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?” Habakkuk 1:3

This direct, emotion-filled question is a good candidate for the current anthem of the church. Why is so much sin going unpunished? Why is there no justice in the world? How long will our prayers go unanswered? When it feels like the whole world is falling apart, we want to know: Where are you God and why don’t you do something?

I relate to Habakkuk’s lament. He lived in a time of political turmoil. His complaint stems from the disappointment of a weary saint who witnessed violence, strife, and contention. These have been our headlines for over a year. And it seems to be getting worse. Maybe you have been complaining to God too.

We are not wrong to hate the perversion of justice. On the contrary, it can be evidence of the Holy Spirit within us when we chafe at moral corruption and the abuse of power. But we can easily make faulty assumptions in those moments. We think God has stopped working. Or worse, that He does not care enough to act.

When it seems like God tolerates too much sin for too long, even faithful Christians get discouraged and believe evil is prevailing. What are we missing?

God is at Work in Astounding Ways

“Look among the nations and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.” Habakkuk 1:5

The Lord answers Habakkuk’s cry with a gentle rebuke. He is a kind, patient Father, trying to help His child recognize the limits of his own understanding. An assurance God is working – but in ways we would have never imagined; with methods we would not approve and on timelines we do not expect.

God is sovereignly controlling entire governments for His own purposes. But like Habakkuk, we remain unconvinced, and want to cry out as he did:

“Are you not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?…
You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
the more righteous than he?” Habakkuk 1:12a-13

Bible scholar Dr. Paul Wegner wrote about this text, “This is a classic statement of the puzzle of how an all-powerful God can allow sin to continue unchecked.”

I am grateful for passages in the Bible that so fittingly capture my own thoughts at times. How often am I complaining to God about what seems to me a lack of action on His part? Or maybe, the wrong action. Or the wrong time for His action. What a gracious God to show me what great company I am in when I doubt like this. Our loving, patient Father bears with the continued accusations of His confused, exasperated children.

We would do well to remember God’s people never imagined the promised Messiah-King would arrive hundreds of years later as an infant in straw poverty to a no-name family from an insignificant town. Nor did God’s people perceive this Messiah would die after only three years of active ministry, like a common thief on a cross. But this was all part of God’s perfect plan.

Living by Faith in God’s Promises

Take note of God’s reply to Habakkuk:

“For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end – it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:3

Like children in the backseat on a long road trip (before all the distracting entertainment available on handheld devices) we want to know if we are there yet! This journey can feel so long, and our Heavenly Father can feel so distant at times. But we are called not just to wait, but to have confidence that God will accomplish all He promised to do. That requires faith. Here God warns against pride, pointing us to a humble trust in Him:

“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4

We know we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ, but how often do we remember we are to live by God’s grace through faith in Christ? The Lord contrasts the righteous person with those whose soul is puffed up. The one who relies on himself is puffed up. The one who relies on God believes He will unfold His plan, His way in His time. The one who trusts God also believes His plan, His way, and His time are good. “The kind of faith that Habakkuk describes and that the NT authors promote,” writes Dr. Paul Wegner, “is continuing trust in God and clinging to God’s promises, even in the darkest days.”

These days feel dark. Our faith wavers. But the object of our faith never does.

When I read “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong,” from Habakkuk 1:13, I can’t help but think of the lyrics from “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us,”

How great the pain of searing loss!
The Father turns His face away;
As wounds which marred the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory.

Jesus Christ bore all our sins at the cross. So much evil was laid on Him that the Father couldn’t even look at His Son. Yet this was God’s wise way and perfect time to save sinners who come to Him in repentant faith. God’s plan is still active. He is drawing people to faith in Christ and building His church day by day, persistently pursuing His sinful image bearers.

Enduring with Confidence

As I’ve pondered this Scriptures more, it occurred to me that God’s patient tolerance rarely bothers me as it relates to my sin. It is only when He is slow to anger over other people’s sin that I cry foul. The grace and forgiveness I am eager to receive is not always what I wish for the rest of the world. In that regard the Lord is teaching me compassion and humility.

But alongside that lesson, I see another promise to rejoice in that helps me endure these challenging times; Jesus promised to return to make all things right regarding sin in the world!

A day is coming when everyone’s sin will either be forgiven because they believed in Jesus Christ or punished because they did not. In every corner of the world. God is not sitting idly by as the world runs amok. His appointed time is coming – if it seems slow wait for it; it will surely come– when the wicked will be punished, and the righteous will be rewarded. Ponder that truth. Meditate on it. Justice will be served. The faithful will be rewarded.

Let these promises bolster your confidence and help you remember God is all the while at work.

 

Dr. Paul Wegner said this in his commentary on this verse for the ESV Study Bible.

Ibid.

Cleaning Up Accumulated Sin

I dug around in the fridge trying to find space for yet another tupperware container. They were stacked to the limit because I’d been shoving leftovers I had no intention of eating in there just to put off dealing with the waste another day… and another…. and another. We do the same thing with our hearts.

Sometimes when an argument is ending, we cram a little leftover hurt into the back of our heart. When a wrong isn’t something we’re ready to confess but isn’t something we can forget, it gets pushed back there, too. We sin, and then stack up excuses to keep conviction contained. 

Just like the fridge, sometimes our hearts start to stink. The leftovers go stale, the containers leak a little. What could have been dealt with in an unpleasant but quick moment accrues into a mess that takes time and effort to scrub away completely.

David’s prayer in Psalm 51 shows us how to deal with the mess in our hearts when we’ve been stashing away our sin. 

Expose Sin

Sometimes we stash our wrongs and our excuses in hope that if they are out of sight they won’t be a problem. David did this, too. One sin led to another. It started with lust for Bathsheba, turned into adultery, and morphed into murder to cover up what a mess he’d made of everything. 

When the prophet Nathan confronted David about his sins, there was no hiding the horror of it. He prayed, 

“According to your abundant mercy, 
    blot out my transgressions. 
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, 
    and cleanse me from my sin! 
For I know my transgressions, 
    and my sin is ever before me.” (Psalm 51:1c–3)

Stop Hiding the Depth of Sin

David had to call his sin what it was, and we do, too. Long-standing sins have a way of compounding. By the time they’re exposed, we’re not just apologizing for one wrong, but also for unintended consequences, patterns that have resulted, ways we’ve grown calloused, and so much more.

We see the depth of this as David says,

“Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:4–5)

We aren’t just sinners, we’re thorough sinners. We don’t just sin against others or ourselves, but against our perfect, loving God. What we deserve isn’t a shrugged “we all make mistakes,” but judgement. Repentance of deep sin recognizes this and doesn’t hide from it. 

Ask for a Thorough Cleansing

The cleansing that David asked God to do took the depth of sin into account. He didn’t request a quick once-over to tidy up his obvious errors. David knew God cares deeply about our hearts. When we’ve been compiling sin, our hearts get dirty, not just our hands. 

“Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, 
   and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart,
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; 
   wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:6–7)

David didn’t only ask God to cleanse him from specific, obvious sins committed, but to do the deeper work in his inward being. The wrongs we like to hide and harbor need thorough heart-scrubbing to be completely removed.

Seek a Renewed Heart

With compiled sins cleared out of the way and God at work deep in our hearts, we aren’t left with resentment over the consequences or shame over needing a cleaning in the first place. With David, we can pray:

“Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.” (Psalm 51:8–12)

David prayed this at a time when sacrifices were the way to be made right with God again, and he acknowledged that God desired most a broken, contrite spirit (Psalm 51:16-17). Still, he looked to God for renewal, for the work of the Holy Spirit, for salvation. 

Start and End with The Heart

We have the privilege of repenting today knowing that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The Holy Spirit lives inside us permanently when we belong to Jesus – with direct access to the very hearts we so desperately need cleansed and renewed!

If we feel our sins have accrued too much to be dealt with, or that we cannot hope for truly pure hearts, we might not know what to pray. David’s prayer leads the way, bringing us to Christ who can help us stop stashing so much away in the first place.

Start where sin does: in the heart. Expose what’s wrong, stop hiding the depth of it, ask God for a thorough cleansing. He is faithful and able to renew you. For, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

For more on Psalm 51, listen to the sermon series Changing Direction: How to Get Right When You Know You’ve Gone Wrong.

Bible Q&A: Should We Pray to Mary or to the Saints?

Question from a user of OpenTheBible.org:

“I grew up Catholic, praying the rosary, especially the Hail Mary. But the 10 Commandments clearly state, ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’ So why do Catholics pray to Mary? Or to other saints? Should we refrain from doing that?”

The simple answer to your question is “Yes, you should refrain from praying to Mary and to the saints.”

Catholics pray to Mary (or to the saints) because, like the rest of us, they recognize their need for someone to help them bring their requests to a holy God. I think we all have some sense that we cannot stand in the presence of God on our own.

The Bible says, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus… (1 Timothy 2:5). God’s Word tells us that Jesus Christ is the help we need – He is our “mediator” or go between with God. But we are never told in God’s Word that any other person, including Mary, or any of the saints, can serve as a mediator between us and God.

One of the reasons Catholics pray this way is that Roman Catholic teaching has elevated the teachings of certain leaders (including the pope’s) to have equal authority with the Word of God. So when a pope (some of whom were ungodly, especially in the Middle Ages) declared that the people could find help in prayer by praying to Mary or to the saints, it became part of Catholic dogma (or the teaching of the Catholic church), and these kinds of errors have been perpetuated over the centuries.

Whenever you place something alongside God’s Word as it’s equal, it always ends up becoming more prominent. So, in many Catholic circles, the teaching of the church has essentially eclipsed the teaching of the Bible, so that many Catholics know the teaching of the church (including praying to Mary and the saints) much better than they know the teaching of the Bible. This is unfortunate and sad, and it leads to many errors like this.

The good news is that we don’t need to pray to Mary or to the saints in order to be heard by God. Jesus made this wonderful promise: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:3). That means as a Christian believer you can pray with great confidence, knowing that your prayers will be heard by God and answered! You have Jesus’ promise.

May you pray to the Lord with great confidence, joy, and effectiveness,

Pastor Tim

 

 

Recommended Resources:

Sermon: How Mary’s Son Became Her SaviorSermon Series: Three Gifts to Transform Your Prayer Life

Bible Q & A: Should We Pray to Mary or to the Saints?

Question from a user of OpenTheBible.org:

“I grew up Catholic, praying the rosary, especially the Hail Mary. But the 10 Commandments clearly state, ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’ So why do Catholics pray to Mary? Or to other saints? Should we refrain from doing that?”

The simple answer to your question is “Yes, you should refrain from praying to Mary and to the saints.”

Catholics pray to Mary (or to the saints) because, like the rest of us, they recognize their need for someone to help them bring their requests to a holy God. I think we all have some sense that we cannot stand in the presence of God on our own.

The Bible says, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus… (1 Timothy 2:5). God’s Word tells us that Jesus Christ is the help we need – He is our “mediator” or go between with God. But we are never told in God’s Word that any other person, including Mary, or any of the saints, can serve as a mediator between us and God.

One of the reasons Catholics pray this way is that Roman Catholic teaching has elevated the teachings of certain leaders (including the pope’s) to have equal authority with the Word of God. So when a pope (some of whom were ungodly, especially in the Middle Ages) declared that the people could find help in prayer by praying to Mary or to the saints, it became part of Catholic dogma (or the teaching of the Catholic church), and these kinds of errors have been perpetuated over the centuries.

Whenever you place something alongside God’s Word as it’s equal, it always ends up becoming more prominent. So, in many Catholic circles, the teaching of the church has essentially eclipsed the teaching of the Bible, so that many Catholics know the teaching of the church (including praying to Mary and the saints) much better than they know the teaching of the Bible. This is unfortunate and sad, and it leads to many errors like this.

The good news is that we don’t need to pray to Mary or to the saints in order to be heard by God. Jesus made this wonderful promise: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:3). That means as a Christian believer you can pray with great confidence, knowing that your prayers will be heard by God and answered! You have Jesus’ promise.

May you pray to the Lord with great confidence, joy, and effectiveness,

Pastor Tim

 

 

Recommended Resources:

Sermon: How Mary’s Son Became Her SaviorSermon Series: Three Gifts to Transform Your Prayer Life

Six Reasons Why God May Not Listen to Our Prayers

If you’ve ever felt as if God isn’t listening to your prayers, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re just like every other Christian!

Job knew this experience well. So did David, a man after God’s own heart, who prayed in the Psalms, “How long, O Lord?” (Ps. 13:1)! Habakkuk the prophet also cried, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?” (Hab. 1:2). Don’t discount these frustrated cries—the dual authorship of the Scriptures means that it wasn’t only Job or David or Habakkuk penning these prayers but also the Holy Spirit Himself. God knows your frustration and gives you words to pray, and examples to follow, when you feel alone in the dark.

Why do we sometimes experience silence from God? Is God cruel? Does He just like to mess with us? Or are there other reasons and greater purposes in God’s mind that we don’t know about?

Thankfully, there are some easy answers when you feel as if God isn’t receiving our prayers.[1] Let’s look at them.

We Aren’t Christians

In chapter 1, we saw how Jesus gives us the confidence to pray and makes God accessible to sinners. One of the scariest truths found in the Bible is that many people think they have saving faith in Jesus Christ but actually don’t. Jesus warned about fake believers in Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” People like this may have grown up in church, know all the right answers to theological questions, be the first to arrive at church on Sunday, and act like Christians outwardly. But they remain unbelievers, and thus God has no obligation to listen to their prayers.

If you have no desire to know God through prayer, examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith (see 2 Cor. 13:5). The desire to pray is hardwired into the soul of the believer. Does it pain you to know you have sinned against a holy God? Do you put your trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins? If you question the veracity of your faith, trust in Jesus—He turns no one away who comes to Him in faith and repentance.

We Lack Faith

Prayer without faith isn’t prayer; it’s talking to ourselves. Don’t forget that “without faith it is impossible to please” God (Heb. 11:6). Impossible doesn’t come with qualifiers. Faithless prayer displeases God. James 1:7–8 says that the doubter “must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

When we go on autopilot during prayer and merely recite words while thinking about something else, we lack faith. When we ask God for something legitimate but are convinced that He won’t answer, we lack faith. The same is true when we pray in order to be seen by others—we put our focus on the reactions of people instead of on God.

Instead of praying this way, simply look to your heavenly Father, trust the promises of His Word, which help to stir your faith (see Rom. 10:17), and speak to Him.

We’ve Turned Our Back on God and His Word by Embracing Sin

Just as a child’s deliberate disobedience grieves his or her father, our sin grieves God (see Eph. 4:30). The psalmist wrote, “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Ps. 66:18). Our sin shapes the attitudes we have about God and our motives for praying. Living in sin is the opposite of loving God, for “the fear of the Lord is hatred of evil” (Prov. 8:13). Proverbs 28:9 says this truth in a different way: “If one turns away his ear from hearing [God’s] law, even his prayer is an abomination.”

If you find yourself treasuring sin and avoiding God’s Word, repent! And then ask Him to create in you a clean heart and a right spirit (see Ps. 51:10). Confess your sins to God, and to a trusted friend, and start praying again.

We’ve Treated Others Wrongly

If breaking the Greatest Commandment, by not loving God (see Matt. 22:36–38), can hinder your prayers (as the last point taught), it shouldn’t be a surprise that breaking the second Great Commandment, by not loving others (Matt. 22:39), can as well. This is essentially cherishing sin in your heart (see Ps. 66:18) regarding your duties toward other people.

The Bible explicitly identifies the marriage relationship as one place where this may happen. First Peter 3:7 says, “Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.” At first this seems kind of random. Why would God hinder the prayers of knucklehead husbands? The reason is that He wants to lead them to repentance so that they will better care for their wives and honor Him more in their marriages. (While this is not explicitly stated in Scripture, I think that if a wife does not fulfill her role in marriage, her prayers have the potential to be hindered as well, because she is likely treasuring sin.)

The Bible is also explicit in saying that our prayer also may be hindered when we do not offer forgiveness and reconciliation (see Matthew 5:23–24; Mark 11:25; see also 1 Tim. 2:8) or when we neglect our duty to the poor (see Prov. 21:13).

We Are Prideful

The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector found in Luke 18:9–14 contrasts two postures that we can take toward prayer. The Pharisee strutted around like a spiritual giant, flexing his spiritual muscles and praying, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get” (vv. 11–12). He approached God on the basis of his works, not God’s mercy. But God doesn’t want us to pat ourselves on the back for how good we are; He wants humble hearts from us that understand our continual need for grace. That’s what the tax collector’s prayer reflected: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (v. 13).

Jesus’s conclusion to this parable sent shock waves to those who were listening: God accepted the socially unacceptable tax collector’s prayer while rejecting the admired Pharisee’s self-righteous prayer. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (v. 14).

We Are Experiencing God’s Discipline

Knowing God as our Father means that we receive the Father’s loving discipline. Receiving God’s loving discipline might mean not hearing from Him as we’d expect. He may want to convict us of sin, test us to see what is in our hearts, or cause us to seek Him more fervently; but His firm and gracious hand always has our growth and our good in mind—even when He doesn’t answer us as we’d like him to. Realizing this allows you to say, along with H. B. Charles Jr., “God has done great things in my life through an unanswered prayer.”[2]

No Such Thing As Unanswered Prayer

There is a crucial difference between God rejecting our prayers, for the aforementioned reasons, and God not answering our prayers. I’m convinced there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer for a Christian.

God is the perfect Father, and we are His beloved children. What earthly father would reject the pleading of his child? Not a good one. And yet what earthly father always immediately answers his child’s request in exactly the way that the child wants? One who is either shortsighted, lazy, or both. But our heavenly Father is good and is not shortsighted or lazy. He always has greater purposes than simply being a genie who will grant our wishes. God always answers our prayers but often doesn’t do so in the timing we want or the ways we prefer. His answers may come as a “Yes,” or a “No,” or a “Wait.”

The waiting is the hardest part. I can usually deal with a no. But waiting for answers to life’s deepest prayers hurts. Will my loved one ever follow Christ? Will healing ever come? Will I ever get the new job that I need so badly?

Even if all we hear is crickets, having confidence in the love and sovereignty of God will provide us with fertile ground for persevering prayers.

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This is an excerpt from Kevin’s new book When Prayer Is a Struggle: A Practical Guide for Overcoming Obstacles in Prayer, a book full of gospel encouragement and practical tools for growing in prayer.

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[1] This isn’t the same as when God doesn’t answer our prayers the way we want—there are other reasons why He might choose to do that. When He doesn’t listen to us, it is likely because our sin has caused offense to Him and hindered our prayers.[2] H. B. Charles Jr., “How You Handle Answered Prayers” (sermon, Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church, Jacksonville, FL, January 20, 2016).

Three Benefits of Church Membership for College Students

Have you ever received counsel that changed the course of your life? If you have, that moment is forever sketched into your memory. My life-changing counsel came fifteen years ago from my pastor as a high school graduate preparing to leave home and begin college.

While discussing the challenges of transitioning into college, I told my pastor that I was glad one of the challenges was not finding a new church. I loved my church and was only going to be two hours away. My plan was to come home on the weekends and still be in the church I loved.

“Cary, as much as our church would love to have you here, it would benefit you more to be plugged into a church close to campus. Join a local church as you transition into college.”

I had no idea how powerful those words would be fifteen years later as I reflect on all the benefits that have come from being in a local church during my college years. Each time I read Paul’s words to speak the truth in love in Ephesians, my conversation with my pastor that day comes to mind (Ephesians 4:15). Though his statement hurt me initially, it was the most loving counsel he could have given me.

The benefits of church membership last a lifetime in any season of life. The benefits of church membership in college, however, are different in that they provide once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to impact those in a particular church that bring life-long joys to God’s people.

Join a Church for Your Sanctification

The items to be checked off of the to-do list are many as the new college year draws near. There is much to consider in registering for classes, selecting dorm room furniture, buying textbooks, etc. In the midst of all these tasks, have you considered how God wants to grow you in godliness with His people? Paul told Timothy that “bodily training is of some value, but godliness is of value in every way” (1 Timothy 4:8). The same could be said to the value of education in light of the eternal value of godliness.

One of the ways God will sanctify you in a church is by using people of all ages in your life. When the Bible speaks of God’s adopting love, it certainly reminds us of His great love for us in Christ (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6-7) but it also speaks to our being joined to His family. Being joined to a local church reminds us that his family is much larger than the college campus.

Join a Church to Disciple the Future College Student

One of the great blessings that comes from church membership during college is the opportunity to disciple future college students. Whether you are getting ready for your first or final year of college, you only live in the trenches of college life once. The challenges and temptations you experience can become overwhelming.

What would it look like if you shared with next year’s college student how God is conforming you more and more into the image of His Son amidst the struggles in college (Romans 8:29)? As John Piper notes, “As we are conformed to the image of Christ, He is made more and more the center of all things.”[1] As Christ becomes the center of your life in college, your local church can become the means that God uses to transform next year’s college student as they prepare to enter the trenches of college life. 

Join a Church for Your Future Joy

Campus ministries like Reformed University Fellowship or Baptist Collegiate Ministries are wonderful opportunities to live out your faith during college. One of the greatest benefits they offer is connecting college students so that they can sharpen each other in their pursuit of Jesus (Proverbs 27:17). While these ministries have great value on college campuses, they cannot provide the kind of lasting benefit that a church can in giving you opportunities to pour out your life for the cause of the gospel.

These causes for the gospel may include:

Visiting widows and orphans in their affliction (James 1:27)Hospital visitationLeading Bible studies for high school retreatsPraying with the dyingHelping a family with foster children

As I reflect on my church during college, I am filled with joy as God used each of these ministries to help me see my own need for Christ as I saw others wholly dependent on Him. Even today, fifteen years later, many of the people I met from these ministries call or email me unexpectedly to encourage me or pray for me during a difficult season of life.

The purpose for any Christian to join a local church is that they might be more deeply satisfied in Christ within the community of faith. Since its inception, God has used the Church to reveal His purposes to the world. As you consider a church in college, God will draw near to you by His grace as He uses His people to deepen your joy in Him—a joy that will far surpass your four years in college.

[1] John Piper shared this quote in the Look at the Book episode “Conformed to the Image of Christ”, accessed at https://www.desiringgod.org/labs/conf....

 

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A Prayer to Honor God’s Name

Our Father in heaven,

We bow before You and exalt You for who You are and for all that You have done for us in Your Son Jesus Christ. You are love, and in love, You gave Your Son for us. You are just and You made Him our substitute and allowed Him to stand in our place. You are sovereign, and by Your power You raised Him from the dead. You are gracious and by Your Spirit You drew us to Christ, made us alive in Him, and pardoned our many sins. You are faithful: for all the times we have doubted You, and for all the times we have failed You, You have kept us, and You will never let us go.

Father, we exalt Your holy name. Right now, the angels that surround You cry out, Holy Holy Holy! And gladly we join them in worship. 

Father, we grieve that this world does not know You. We grieve that millions can study the order and beauty of all that You have made, and yet give no thanks to You. We grieve because instead of praising the works of Your hands, many rage against You as if You were the source of all evil. Father, the world does not know You and we grieve that Your name is blasphemed all day long, across every continent of the world You have made.

How great is the hatred of the human heart against You. And how great is Your love that You should love a world like this and send Your Son, knowing that we would scourge Him, spit on Him, and nail Him to a cross. Lord have mercy on us! 

We are so thankful that in Your grace, You have made us Your children and that we can call You our Father. We bear Your name in this world and we tremble to think that anyone would despise You because of what they see in us. Deliver us from merely calling You Lord and not doing what You command. Let us be done with living for ourselves, and help us to live in a way that honors You.

We pray for friends and loved ones who are under great pressure, who endure distress, and who face great darkness. Grant that Your name will be honored as they trust You and love You, even in this! As Your Son glorified Your name by enduring the cross, so grant them endurance that they may reflect Your Son’s likeness.

Father, we long for Your name to be hallowed. Please move and act in this world in such a way that more and more people will treasure You above all else. And make this true of us, we pray.

Lord, hasten the day when our faith will be sight. And until that day comes, let us be done with exalting ourselves. Let us live for Your praise and for Your honor alone through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

 

 

This prayer is adapted from the sermon “God’s Name” from the series on the Lord’s Prayer, Six Things to Ask of God .

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