Why Doesn’t Prayer Work? Because You’re a Jerk!

In general, when it comes to prayer, God listens to us about as much as we listen to Him. There are exceptions, but this seems to be the general rule if you read Scripture.

If you don’t believe me, I’d point you to the following verses: Psalm 34:15-18; Proverbs 15:29; Jeremiah 11:10-11; Ezekiel 8:18; Micah 3:4; James 5:16; 1 Timothy 2:8; 1 John 3:21-23.

The idea behind all this is remembering who exactly it is we are talking to. We, the weak ones, are talking to God, the strong one. God is not worshipped with men’s hands as though He needed anything. He doesn’t need our provision; we need His.

That relationship, the weak asking the strong, is essential to the concept of prayer. Here’s a passage I found fascinating:

When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil,Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.

–Isaiah 1:15-17

God says He will not hear their prayers. They are lifting hands to Him, but they are not holy hands; they are hands covered with blood. He tells them if they want to be heard, they better do good.

What does “do good” mean for God? Rebuke oppressors, defend the fatherless, and plead for the widow. In all these cases the people you are helping are people who are weaker.

I think what’s going on is that if you as a strong person are not helping the weak, and then you, the weak one, come to God, the strong one, that makes no sense! It’s similar to the parable of the guy who was forgiven a million dollars and wouldn’t forgive his buddy who owed him $10. He’s not understanding what’s going on.

God is watching how we treat those who are weaker than us to get an idea of whether we understand our weak dependence on Him. If we mistreat the weak, it would make no sense for Him (the strong one) to listen to us (the weak ones).

I found this particularly interesting in light of 1 Peter 3:7, which is a verse that many have attempted to explain.

Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

The wife is the weaker vessel. If you are abusing your wife or not honoring her and you are stronger, then your prayers will be hindered. God sees that you don’t understand the relationship; you don’t understand that the strong are to bear the infirmities of the weak, therefore, God will act the same toward you.

I like how this fits into the overall issue of prayer, petitioning the all-strong God. It all fits very nicely!

Now, there needs to be a little disclaimer here. There is grace! If God only listened to people who were perfect, then none of us would be listened to. Just because your prayer was answered one time doesn’t mean you must be nailing the righteousness thing. Nor does prayers not being answered mean you are living in vile sin.

It might though! It’s worth a glance, especially if your overall take on prayer is that it doesn’t work. You might want to check yourself!

God is under no obligation to listen to us. This is especially true if our lives are lived in opposition to His character and life. If we do not treat the weak well, if we have the world’s goods and see our brother in need and don’t help, then there seems to be biblical explanation for God treating you the same way.

Believers are to give. We are to bear one another’s burdens. If we act opposite of this, it shows we don’t understand God’s grace toward us and further shows we don’t understand the relationship at work in our prayers.

The Gospel and Your Behavior

I read a book titled, “What is the Gospel?” written in the early 1900’s. I was hoping this older book would be a little more serious and biblical than modern takes on the Gospel.

Boy, was I disappointed.

The author was apparently one of the early Easy Believism guys that have led to the giant mess we are in in modern Christianity. Being saved is all about faith and faith is mental assent to the facts of the Gospel.

In a chapter about how you know you are saved, the author just quoted verses talking about faith and if you believe then you are saved. He even had the nerve to quote from 1 John, which is all about the tests of your salvation. John mostly points to your behavior and never once says “you know you’re saved because you think you believe some facts about Jesus.”

In the third from the last sentence of the book the author says this:

Your behavior has nothing to do with your salvation; it is the work of Christ alone that saves, and the Word of God alone that makes us sure we are saved.

This sounds good, sounds like it’s making much of Christ and the Word, but goes too far.

To say that my behavior has nothing to do with my salvation is just goofy. Why did Jesus tell the rich young ruler to sell all he had, give to the poor, come, and follow me if behavior has nothing to do with salvation? Why does James say works has a part in justification and it’s not faith only? Why does Paul repeatedly talk about the old man being crucified, being free from sin, and serving righteousness?

Our behavior is one of the giant proofs of our salvation.

Yet easy believism pretends we have nothing to do with anything. He’s not just talking about how to be saved, he’s not just refuting the idea that you can work your way into salvation (which I agree with), he is saying the whole thing, even our assurance, has nothing to do with our behavior. The Word makes us assured of our salvation–That was his chapter about you know you’re saved because the Bible says you are saved by faith.

He eliminates you entirely. Makes obedience a non-issue. Rips the power right out of the Gospel. Makes Christ-likeness irrelevant. Makes faith into a mental exercise rather than life altering obedience to God.

It’s just sad, seeing the start of this heresy from its beginning and seeing all the people it’s completely messed up since.

We are not saved by keeping the law or being a good boy. Impossible for you to rebirth yourself as a spiritual creation or remove your sins. You need the Gospel.

The need of the Gospel is your desperate cry to God to be released from your sin, from your ways of thinking and behaving. The whole point of a person coming to the Gospel is to stop doing stupid stuff and be able to do better stuff. Behavior is a central issue to the Gospel.

We will stand before God and give an account for every deed done in the body and every idle word that comes out of our mouth. You think behavior doesn’t matter to anything? Good luck on Judgment Day.

Every time the Bible tells us what judgment is based on it always says God’s judgment is based on our works. Our works are our behavior. Your behavior matters.

It affirms my long held opinion that all heresy is an attempt to get people out of personal responsibility. To get us off the hook and allow us to sin and get away with it.

The Gospel is bigger than that. It’s not a mental game. It crucifies you and raises you up to new life. If you eliminate the new life the Gospel brings, you’ve eliminated the power of the Gospel, and do not know what the Gospel is.

What Are the Promises of God?

I hear a lot of Christians say that when struggling they “just remember the promises of God.”

Which is fine, glad they think of God’s promises. I’m always curious though, what exactly do they think those promises are?

Modern Christianity has been overtaken by the Prosperity Gospel, and I imagine most people think the promises of God are about health and wealth to one degree or another. That’s what most people seem to hint at anyway.

In the end, it doesn’t matter what you think the “promises of God” are. What matters is: what are the actual promises of God!

So I looked it up in the Bible. Novel idea, eh?

Most of the usages of “promise” in the Bible occur in the Old Testament or refer to the Old Testament. God progressively revealing His Word and plan of redemption, talks about what He’s about to do next. God is not slack concerning these promises.

Most mentions of promises in the Bible have to do with the coming of Christ and the Holy Spirit.

The promises of God largely deal with what God says He’s going to do in the future. In the OT, that referred to Messianic promises and Holy Spirit promises. Those have all been fulfilled. We are recipients in the New Testament (Ephesians 3:6) of what many of those people, including Abraham and Moses (Hebrews 11:13, 39), never got to see.

The remainder of the promises mentioned in the New Testament largely deal with eternal life and eternity.

Hebrews 10:36—eternal reward for faithful service to the Lord.

Hebrews 12:26—promise to shake the world in final judgment.

James 1:12—God promises the eternal crown of life to those who love Him.

James 2:5—those who love Him will inherit the promised kingdom.

2 Peter 3:13—a new heaven and new earth will be ours.

1 John 2:25—the promise He made to us is eternal life.

So, like, remembering the promises of God is great, but you should also know the promises are talking about the future, and largely about eternity, when life on this earth is done.

Promises are things that God promised to do in His Word but the time hasn’t come yet. It’s talking about the fulfillment of biblical prophecy to be received after life here is done.

The promises of God are not about temporal anythings. They are eternal and spiritual in nature.

To me, knowing my eternity is secure and I’ll have eternal life with my Lord and Savior is indeed a huge pick-me-up! It’s what makes me have a desire to depart.

At no point do I view God’s promises as magic mantras that bring about temporal success. They are all about later. About eternity. About spiritual blessings in heavenly places just waiting for me to get to that there heavenly place.

Lots of glib things are said about the “promises of God.” I hope we know what they are. If your use for God is largely concentrated in this life and on this planet, rather than the life that is to come on a new heaven and new earth, you’ll largely be disappointed.

His promises are grand and eternal. Don’t settle for temporal relief in place of eternal splendor.

Comfort Others as God Comforts You

Christians are not always good at comforting those in pain. Several times, ok, many times, I have shared some pain or struggle with a Christian and instead of comfort and empathy, I’ve received a lecture.

I’m supposed to have more faith, or my problems are nothing in comparison to theirs, or “just leave it with God” dismissiveness. Typically you’re told to be thankful and “blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Certainly those things may have some truth in them, but I find it very difficult to lecture in such ways when someone shares their pain with me. My typical response is, “Bummer.” And then I listen. I look for ways to help in action if there are no words.

I’m not patting myself on the back here either. I’m doing what I find comforting to me. There have been others who have comforted well and by observing them I learned how to be a better comforter myself.

1 Corinthians 1:4 says, “who [the God of all comfort] comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

A phrase in there stuck out to me, we can comfort others “with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

What if different people are comforted in different ways? Maybe the way I find comfort is not the way you do. Perhaps that’s why it takes a body of believers, many members who don’t all have the same gift, to edify the body in love.

But also, where do people get their comfort from? The world certainly doesn’t seem to get comfort from God. They get it from substance abuse, therapy, whining on Facebook, etc. If they find that to be comforting, don’t be surprised if they do that to you!

Also, I think some people feel that God comforts them by making them feel inadequate through lecturing verses. God seems silent, except for a giant book of commands. Maybe when people lecture you it’s because they feel that’s how God comforts them!

Another factor is the depth of pain a person has felt. Some have suffered more than others. As a young man I was a bad comforter. “Suck it up” was my go to mindset when people shared their problems with me.

But having a handful of close people die and various other trials, I feel I am a better comforter just because now I know more what pain is. You can’t comfort if you’ve never truly been comforted, and you can’t truly be comforted unless you’ve been hammered pretty good by bad stuff.

Paul says the Father is a “God of comfort.” From my experience within Christianity, observing how others comfort people in pain, it doesn’t seem like many have gotten their comfort from God.

Next time someone lays their problems on you, how do you respond? Is that the way you think God comforts you in your problems? It’s an interesting thought exercise.