Why do we petition our Father for things? Part of the answer is obvious - we ask for things which we do not have access to ourselves. We recognize both our limited abilities, as well as God's infinite power. Thus we ask Him, just as a youngster would ask an older sibling or a parent for help with something they are unable to do on their own. Also, we ask our Father for things because He tells us to do so. "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." ( Philippians 4:6, KJV) It seems that our Father desires us to ask of Him what we need, even though He already knows those needs - "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. (Matt 6:26-32, KJV)" I think it's important to note at this point that a principle has been given here, and is illustrated throughout the Bible, that many times God does things through men, which He could do himself. Think about it - did God need Moses in order to set His people free? Did He need Gideon, or Joshua, or Samuel or Joseph? The answer is an emphatic NO! It appears, however, that He wishes to work His will through men. In the realm of prayer, then, it seems that though He knows our needs in advance, He desires to work through us to provide those needs.
Indeed, from the number of promises regarding petitionary prayer, it seems almost taken for granted that we will petition the Lord for our needs. These promises are found in many places throughout the scriptures, so no mistake can be made about their general meaning, though their magnitude might make some doubt their truth, for these promises seem almost too good to be true.
- Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:18-20)
- Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. (Matthew 21:18-22)
- And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. (John 16:23-24)
- Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. (I John 3:21-22)
- And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will. he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.(I John 5:14-15)
Of course, each of these monumental promises has a conditional phrase attached to it, preventing us from attempting to use God as as some sort of heavenly vending machine.
- Matthew 18 - Community - two or more believers must agree in order for the promise to be valid
- Matthew 21 - Faith - you must believe that you will receive what you're requesting
- John 16 - Use of Jesus name - we receive because of His authorization
- I John 3 - Righteousness - we must be in the right relationship with Him
- I John 5 - Alignment with God's will - we must pray in alignment with His own plan
Each conditional appears at first glance to be different, but in point of fact they all direct us to a single reality. This reality is beautifully expressed in the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of John:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Here we see the "Big Picture". John 15 speaks at length about the intimate relationship we are to have with Christ, and some of the results of that relationship. This relationship is the key to the conditional statements of the previous verses. In those we can see five conditions to be met in order for our prayers to be granted:
- Matthew 18 - Community - one Vine sustaining many branches. The life of the Vine is the life of the Branches. That same life flows through each branch, enabling the production of fruit. One a vine, do you ever see just one branch? Almost never. Where the Vine grows, branches sprout. So for two or more two agree seems to indicate that both are in the proper relationship to the Vine.
- Matthew 21 - Faith - the evidence of things unseen (Hebrews 11:1). True faith is not a psychological phenomenon, but is the gift of God, received through the Vine. If it were something that we did independently of God, it could not be called 'evidence', could it? The only way that it is possible for faith to be considered evidence of things unseen is if it is almost a type of prophecy - an inspiration given to us from God. Could we receive this gift of faith (called a spiritual gift in 1 Cor. 12:9) apart from the Vine? No, for the life of the Vine, that which connects us to it, is the Spirit. Apart from the Vine, there is no faith.
- John 16 - Use of Jesus name - The practice of proclaiming our prayer as being authorized by Christ (which is what using His name is) can only be derived from our relationship to Him. We live (or should live) in a kind of living union with Christ, in which we are given authority in the spiritual realm because we are 'in Christ'(Ephesians 2:6), and he, through the Holy Spirit, is in us. The Vine leads to the branch, the branch to the Vine. The same life is in both - they are intamately connected.
- I John 3 - Righteousness - We see what it means if one does not abide in the Vine. What can separate us from Christ? Sin. If we continue in sin, we do not know God (1 John 3). If we know Him, we will not continue to sin, but will go on to righteousness, abiding in Him, as His words abide in us.
- I John 5 - Alignment with God's will - This echos back to Matthew 18 and what we've already said about community. We MUST agree - if we do not, it is evidence that we are not in right relationship with Him - we are not abiding in Him. We, as branches, cannot go in a direction in which the Vine does no Grow while remaining attached to it. We abide in Unity, or we die in our pride and selfishness.
John 15 reveals something else as well. It reveals again the tendency for God to work through human agency - it is the branches that are seen bearing fruit. We should expect this - after all, our life is in Him. Their is a hierarchical unity seen at work here, where the Father, who obviously can work directly to fulfill His purposes, instead works through the Son, who is in the Father, and also through us, His children, whose lives are hid in Christ. Because in Him we live and move and have our being, we should expect to do the will of the Father. We do His will because His will is in us. The child emulates the Father.
Curiously, there is one area where we know God's will is not going to be done. Scripture clearly indicates that it is the Father's will that all men come to Christ and be redeemed. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."(2 Peter 3:9) "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:1-4) There are two words translated as 'willing' or 'to will' in the New Testament. The first, boulomai, means a passive desire, something like "I'd LIKE IT if that would happen." This is the word used in the first of these two verses, telling us that it is the desire of God for all men to be saved. In the second verse, however, the word is thelo, meaning an active determination. He desires men to be saved, but it is not just a passive notion, but an active goal. This is truly the Will of God. Despite this clear declaration of His desire and intent, it is equally clear that not all men will come to the place of salvation. The reason for this is what I would call the Creation Conjecture.
The Creation Conjecture can be stated in this way -
What God makes, He makes perfectly. Therefore, once complete, any change He would make to the nature of His creatures would be to make them imperfect. God, being perfect Himself, will not change His creatures in such a way as to give rise to imperfection. Imagine, if you will, that God decided to make a cube. You would suppose that it would be flawless - the very idea of a cube made physically perceptible. All its measures - sides, angles, areas - would be identical. It's edges would be so perfect as to be sharp enough to cut. Now, once this cube had been made, What could God do to improve upon it? Or, what could He do to it that would not make it less perfect? Can something every be made MORE perfect? In each case, the response must be negative. The conjecture then states that God would in fact leave it alone, that He would not change it. He makes nothing that is flawed or wanting in any way for anything. True, we do see flaws in the creation, but these are due not to God's design, but to effects of the Fall, both of Satan, and of Man, and the evil they have perpetuated upon the earth since that time.
Now, returning to the question of man and his puzzling fate, we know that man was created in the image of God. Part of that image is personhood, which we share with the Father. And part of being a person is the ability to make independent choices. We have been created with free will, and therefore, by the Creation Conjecture, God will not alter man by overruling their wills, for by doing so He would be introducing imperfection into these creature that He made TO choose. It is we, with His help, but at our wish, who must align our wills with His, by which we have life. Those who will not, will perish - they will die the eternal death, despite God's will for them.
And in this manner this article would end, were it not for the following question. We, as we align our wills with the will of the Father, may find ourselves praying for the unsaved. But if God will not override their wills, what is the point of praying for them? Some might say that we pray for them so God might do His best to save them - to which I reply that He has gone to the length of sending His Son to the cross already in pursuit of us! Do we really think He needs a cheerleader to urge Him into action on behalf of the lost?! No, there must be something more.
In the Gospel of Luke, there is an interesting parable that it may be good to review now. It's found in chapter 14, verses 15 through 24:And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
"..compel them to come in...." In analysing this parable, The Lord of the Feast is God the Father, the Feast is the Kingdom of Heaven. The Unwilling are probably the Jews, while the lowly who were invited in their place are likely the gentile nations. The Servant represents the Believers, who go in the name of the Master, inviting them to come in who will. Who, then, are the Compelled? And by whom, and how are they compelled?
The greek word translated here as 'compelled' has a violent connotation. Almost we might translate the passage as 'kidnap them', rather than 'compel them to come in' - forced against their will by the Servant to attend the feast, though to their benefit. This parable then speaks of advancing the Kingdom, not through passive measures, but through active, almost violent ones.
The next question then is how do we, as servants of our Father in heaven, force someone into the Kingdom? It's obvious you can't force them physically. You can drag a man to church every sunday for life, and yet he may never set foot inside the Kingdom. We must therefore operate within the spiritual realm. However we have not the nature, authority, nor strength to affect anyone, unmediated, in the spiritual realm. In fact to attempt to do so is to come dangerously close, if not crossing into, the practice of witchcraft, which is deadly sin. It must be God's own power at work to compel them. And yet we've already said that He will not change a man's nature, including depriving him of his ability to choose his destiny for himself - not even to save him. What then is the answer to this question?
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:12-19, KJV)
We like to think that we're independent, that we are free from ties to one another. In fact, it appears that we are irreversably interconnected through our first ancestor, Adam. This is the case physically, as well as spiritually, judging from the fact that we are effected to this day by the spiritual consequences of the sin of our first parents. Now the Christian is in an interesting position. We trace our physical and spiritual being to Adam, but we have a new life (spiritually now, and physically in a day hopefully not far away) in Christ. Is it then possible that we, by the act of aligning our wills with the will of our heavenly Father, become the agents through which an unwilling man may be turned? God created man, literally A Man with free will - He did not create many men. In this one creation, our essential nature was determined. But now some men, some part of His creation, Man, have aligned their will with His. Can He then operate on the Unwilling, because of and through the Willing? Can He change the hearts of men, because Man, at least in part, has turned to Him? Is it possible that with us lies the possability of a beachhead from which God can, within the confines He has set for Himself, invade Man, extending the will of the Righteous over the Unrighteous?
If that is the case, it remains with us then to seek to lift up the lost in prayer, claiming their hearts for the Kingdom of God. For it was through the actions of the Servant that the Unwilling were brought into the feast. It may well be that some may be lost because we, through laziness, ignorance or unwillingness, will not open the door by which God can operate on their hearts to full effect. I for one do not wish to face my Savior knowing I left many behind that I could have 'compelled' to come in, for which they would have been eternally blessed.
