November 7 - LD 45, Day 3: The Requirements of the Godly Prayer
by Rev. G. Van Baren
Read: Luke 18:9-14
Prayer is not a matter of
man's invention. Prayer is God’s gift to His people who are born again and
converted. God gives to them a way of access to His throne, so that they can
confidently approach Him. God expects that this gift be used by them as the
highest expression of thanksgiving to Him for the salvation that is theirs
through Jesus Christ.
It is no wonder,
therefore, that the devil would seek to divert attention from this great gift
by many ways of deception. The devil seeks to direct his followers to use
prayer too--to their "gods" or idols. The claim is then made that all
worship the same "god" but in different ways. All pray--but prayer
comes in different forms.
The devil also seeks to
lead the Christians astray with regards to prayer. He seeks to persuade us that
if we pray to "saints", they can more successfully intercede for us
with God; or, perhaps prayer to the Virgin Mary, who can approach her Son Jesus
for us, would be the best way to gain the ear of Jesus.
In prayer, the child of
God acknowledges that grace and the Holy Spirit come to him in the way of
prayer. We thankfully acknowledge that all this is the gift of God. We cannot
purchase these nor earn them. We pray for them, and in this way God also
provides.
Prayer must represent a
sincere desire for these things. It is not merely a routine exercise out of
custom or habit. The Christian prays because he desires earnestly God's grace
and guidance of the Spirit.
Nor is this prayer a
matter of a "one time" request. It might be argued that God knows we
need His grace and Spirit before we even ask. Further, we might think that if
we ask once, God would not forget that we have asked--and He would then
provide. Fact is: we must continually ask for these things (Luke 18:5). This is
not because God does not understand our request. Rather, God teaches us that we
must continually ask so that we never forget that God is the One Who provides.
Finally, we show in all
that we do, that we are thankful for the grace and Holy Spirit He provides. He
gives these not merely once, but again and again. Every day we thank Him for
these.
That's faithful prayer.
It is not that of the Pharisee who thanks God that he was “not as other
men," but as the publican who cries out, "Oh God, be merciful to me,
the sinner! (Luke 18:9-11).