SOME CONDITIONS OF PRAYER

SOME CONDITIONS OF PRAYER

Answers to prayer, a loving relationship with God and joy, real joy in our daily lives is what most of us are looking for. So why do we seem to be missing the very thing we say we want most of all. The other day at church Pastor Mike was sharing some thoughts on prayer. The primary idea, if I understood correctly, was the need to be in a right relationship with God in order for God to hear us. One must be saved first of all and then one must be living right. In that message the verses below came to my mind. I began to wonder how many people get frustrated wondering why it seems that God does not answer their prayers.

As Baptists we love the doctrine of grace. We are saved by grace, plus nothing, minus nothing. Works cannot save a person. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross is the only offering God will ever accept for our sin. When we truly believe that Christ died on our behalf, when we believe that he suffered and bled as our sacrifice personally, then we are saved. It is the very moment we fully trust Him and Him alone that the grace of God is extended to us and we are saved. There is nothing else we can do, there are no works God will accept as payment for our sin debt. However, even though salvation is unconditional almost everything else is conditioned upon something. And here we will see there are conditions for answered prayer, for a right relationship with God and for true joy.

One of the primary passages that came to my mind the other night was John chapters 15 and 16.

John 15:7 “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.…(v.10) 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. (v.11) These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” In the first phrase of John 15:7 we read, “If ye abide in me” as a condition. All too often believers complain of unanswered prayer while they are living in violation of this principle condition. The promise is clear and bold. Look again at that wonderful promise, “ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” if you are living godly. Anything you want, anything is yours when you abide in him, and when you live right. The problem is sin. Our lives are filled with sin. And with sin still in our hearts and on our lips we dare to approach the throne of Almighty God with our petitions. “If ye abide in me” is a clear condition requiring the believer to live in such a manner that he is seen as being ‘in’ Christ. Most of us would fail at being in the same room as God. But if our prayers are to be answered we must live like Him as much as it is possible and guard our character, our thoughts and our actions closely. We must live like Jesus Christ.

The same concept is true of the Word of God. It simply must become a daily part of our lives. Jesus said in the very next phrase concerning the requirements for answered prayer, “…and my word abides in you.” His Word must be our daily portion, our food, it must become what we hunger for every day. Not only reading it but going to the House of God and hearing the Word taught and hearing it preached. These are principles established by God. We must cloak ourselves completely in His Word.

These are the ‘works’ that open the door of answered prayer and provide us with the comfort of knowing the love of God daily. These are the keys to the mystery. Live a godly life every day and saturate you heart with His Holy Word. These will bring you into a loving relationship with Him. Living a godly life and meditating on His Word will surely bring answers to your prayers.

Why did Jesus take the time to explain this simple little concept to us? Because (v.11) He wanted us to feel His love every day and to be completely filled, filled to overflowing, with his joy. Jesus did give us one more condition John 16:24 "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." The final condition for answered prayer? We must ask according to His will. However, if we live godly and dwell daily in His Word then asking according to his will is something that will come almost naturally.

The Death of the Republican Party?

The Death of the Republican Party?

                Jonathan Capehart recently wrote in The Washington Post (08/12/15) about Donald Trump’s rise in the Republican Party as the party’s demise. I must take issue, not so much with the conclusion, the party may well be dying, but with the apparent assumptions.

                Capehart stated, “The Republican Party needs to stop talking to itself. [It has] become expert in how to provide ideological reinforcement to like-minded people, but devastatingly [it has] lost the ability to be persuasive with, or welcoming to, those who do not agree with [Republicans] on every issue.” This statement is seriously flawed because it assumes that principles based in truth are inappropriate to a diverse society. The Republican Party is dividing. However, it is dividing because many within the establishment are beginning to accept Capehart’s misguided ideology. Basically, he goes on to state that inclusion and essentially large group-hugs are the key to a successful society.

                A very large problem arises with inclusion. Looking at the world it is apparent to even the least educated among us that the differences are myriad. Can a country simply drop its boarders and invite everyone to enter? And if they do will they each be allowed to come to that country with their own laws and cultures? Will they bring their own economic systems and education systems? Capehart and others like him are living in a fantasy world. Every society in the world has a legal and economic system. And they are as varied as the life forms that populate our planet.

                Any society must have laws. Immediately upon writing the first law we also have the first disagreement. If I say people cannot do something, invariably there will be another who will disagree with my sentiment. Laws must have a foundation upon which to claim superiority. When we make a law we are saying that this idea is better than another. If we post a stop light at an intersection we are saying that controlling the flow of traffic is better than not controlling it. And there is likely someone who would even disagree with that simple idea. Imagine bringing 87 (nebulous number) different cultures into one area and not having laws. It would be disaster. And waiting to create laws until they all arrive here would be even worse.

                Inclusion is what the United States of America embraces. But not the way Capehart dreams. Coming to the United States as originally envisioned meant inclusion but also change. It was never intended that people of different cultures would establish miniature versions of their homelands here and live within this country in rebellion against it (e.g. Dearborn-istan). Coming here meant living in accordance with our laws. Our forefathers built a constitution of general laws based upon solid moral values. The many other laws they knew would grow from these they fully expected would be patterned after them. They believed in the basic concepts of right and wrong as expressed within the pages of the Bible. It was these concepts of right and wrong based upon the Word of God that were to be the basis of society. Inclusion was expected. But inclusion was intended to be adherence to our laws while maintaining cultural diversity as those laws permitted.

                The Republican Party, which I associate with, does not disdain diversity but we do insist that it remains in compliance with our laws. And that the law remain true to its roots, that every law find its basis in Biblical morality and the Divine Nature. Today society is wanting to camouflage all forms of immorality and indecency under the heading of diversity to make many of us feel out of step or old fashioned or even guilty. Modern society is embracing an archaic platform, “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). It is this departure from the foundations of our heritage which is separating the Republican Party today. It is not the reluctance to embrace multi-culturalism that splits this party, it is the tendency of so many within the party to discard truth and morality for the sake of a single vote.

                If we as a party finally surrender our values in order to win the popular vote, what will we have? Society may be expressed by diversity but it is defined by its law.