What Happens When We Pray?

READ: Esther 4:15-17

Is divine petition through prayer and fasting powerful enough to change the course of human events or does God merely use these things to align our hearts with His unalterable will?

Consider the Parable of the Persistent Widow (Luke 18:1-8). The unjust judge does not grant her request on her first petition, but after many appeals he gives her what she asks. How much more so our Father in Heaven!

Consider also what God says to Jeremiah:

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. (Jeremiah 18:7-8)

And what Jesus says in Matthew:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)

"Why don't I get what I pray for?"

Is scripture then suggesting that God is like a magic genie, eager to grant our every wish if we will just humble ourselves in divine petition? Not exactly …

You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2b-3)

The God who requires our obedience and wills our sanctification will not be granting our sinful desires or prematurely ending the trials that strengthen our faith, but He will grant us the desires of our heart that rest within His permissive will -- if we ask.

Jeremiah 31: 31-34

Saved By God’s Grace

They say, “Nothing in life is free.” It is not clear just who “they” are, but they certainly are not in tune with our God. Grace is FREE, and all we have to do is accept it. There are no strings attached and no expectations for perfection. We are not able to earn it and it certainly is not something we deserve. None the less it is ours for the taking.

The basis for calling the second part of the Bible the New Testament is founded on this message from the Lord. He promised a New Covenant unlike the one before. In Jeremiah 31: 32 it is clear God was disappointed, yet ready to once again offer undeserved wings of freedom to His people; “It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant though I was husband to them.” In Jeremiah 31: 33 the Lord declared, “I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.”  This time He was not planning to inscribe His laws onto hard stone as he did the Ten Commandments, but instead to use the soft tissue of the heart to communicate his message of unfailing love, forgiveness, and hope.

Jesus was sent as the sacrificial Lamb to make an impact too incredible to cast aside. Then the Holy Spirit followed, entering the hearts of all, giving them and us the ability to begin anew. Jeremiah 31:34 reminds us; “For I will forgive their wickedness, and will remember their sins no more.”  

The New Testament illustrates a new chance at life, offering another opportunity to live the will of the Lord. We were saved by God’s Grace. It’s up to us to decide what we will do with that gift. Are we going to put it into the closet along side the many other unexciting or minimally useful gifts we have received, or will we wear it proudly, allowing our hearts to feel His Grace and share it with others? Accepting and giving Grace is a very powerful thing!

Listen/Read Jeremiah 31:31-34