Plea for Grace August 31, 2022

Supplement

I want to ensure that you have the time to read the Spurgeon sermon and search out the Scriptures on this vital topic of prayer. But I actually was thinking last night of some “what about” questions . . .

Prayer requests —

Galatians 6:2-3 ESV - 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

James 5:13-16 ESV - 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Prayer requests are not “wrong” nor are they of no use. We are meant to live in community. The apostle Paul asks for prayer in his letters. It is not a sign of weak faith to ask for prayer. It is important, however, to understand that prayer requests are not for God’s benefit. We do not go before the sovereign God of the universe with our demands for how He should act in any situation.

Matthew 6:7-8 ESV – 7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him . . .and He is a good Father who always works for our best. He cannot be manipulated by the amount of lists a request is on or the notoriety of the one making the request.

Psalm 33:9, 11 ESV – 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. … 11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
Psalm 115:3 ESV – 3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” is not “que sera, sera” — it is humble submission to a Sovereign Lord who understands the entirety of every molecule that has ever existed and ever will exist in heaven and earth.

James 4:13-17 ESV – 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”– 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV – 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

More tomorrow . . .

Prayer for the Persecuted Church–OpenDoorsUSA

Day 3: Pray for religious freedom in Bhutan, and for the
government to officially recognize Christian churches

Daily Wisdom
Psalm 119
Proverbs 31