Requirements for Answered Prayer

“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what He has done for my soul.  I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.  But truly God has listened; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.  Blessed be God, because He has not rejected my prayer or removed His steadfast love from me.” –Psalm 66:16-20 (ESV). “And He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” –Luke 18:1(ESV).  “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” –James 5:16b (ESV).

November 6 marks the count-down date of the forty days of “Unite in Prayer” for America. Many prayers from many people have gone up to the  “Giver of every good and perfect gift.”  I trust that since we have become somewhat accustomed, with over a month’s emphasis of praying for God’s will to be done and for Him to give America another opportunity to live for and please Him, that we will not stop praying once we hear the results of this year’s election.  May we feel a keen responsibility to continue our earnest prayers, and at the same time a sense of commitment to seeking God’s face and asking for His guidance and blessings.  Much work lies ahead for our leaders and our citizens if we would right injustices and get America back from the brink of economic and moral degeneration.  We are all responsible for rebuilding America.  God is a “God of second chances” (which we need).

What are God’s requirements for our prayers to be answered?  The focal scriptures for today give us clues.  First is to fear God.  We recognize and acknowledge our God as Sovereign, Majestic, Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent.  He alone is worthy of reverence and honor.  Because of Who He is and what He does, we can give Him highest praise.  Then we must recognize that He will not cherish those who hold iniquity in their hearts, so we must approach Him after first repenting of our sins and cleansing our hearts.  If we are beset by resentment, anxiety and greed, or any other subtle and debilitating sin, God will not honor our prayers.  We approach Him, as the psalmist so aptly states, “with clean hands and a pure heart” (Psalm 24:4).  This cleansing should become a way of life for us, because as we pray daily we recognize our unworthiness in comparison to God’s holiness.  Only then are we in position for our prayers to be heard and for God to answer favorably.  How reassuring that God hears and answers His followers, and that His steadfast love surrounds and fills the believer!

Jesus, in teaching His disciples how to pray, gave them a parable that well illustrates what it means to “pray and not lose heart.”  Persistence in prayer was likened to the widow who kept going to the judge to plead for what she needed, and although the judge at first did not want to grant her plea, finally, because of her continual pleading, her request was granted.  Such persistence in prayer shows that we mean business with God and that we are willing to await His answer.  James writes a great truth about prayer.  We have probably memorized what he wrote from the King James Version: “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).  In these ten words are bound up all the characteristics of earnest prayer:  coming from a righteous person and being fervent (intense, ardent, zealous), then it “avails much” (brings assistance, aid, profit, gain).  My plea is that we will be as fervent in praying or America following the election as we have been in the forty days leading up to it.  Let us measure our regular, daily praying by these standards of fearing God, cleansing ourselves of iniquity, being persistent, zealous and intense in our praying.  Alfred Lord Tennyson, English poet, wrote: “More things are wrought through prayer than this world dreams of.”

Prayer:  How earnest and ardent, Lord, have been these days of uniting in prayer.  Thank You for allowing us to know that we are not alone in approaching You, and that fervent prayer is heeded and answered by You.  Thank You, Lord.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.  

“Yahweh Sabaoth” –The Lord of Hosts

“The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Selah.” –Psalm 46:7.  “When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand.  And Joshua went to him and said to him, ‘Are you for us, or for our adversaries?’  And he said, ‘No, but I am commander of the army of the Lord.  Now I have come.’  And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, ‘What does my lord say to his servant?’ And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, ‘Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.” –Joshua 5:13-15.  “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse!  The One sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.”-Revelation 19:11 (ESV).

This “I Am” of the Lord allows us to consider God in the light of the battles He wages for us.  “The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; He utters His voice, the earth melts”--so wrote the Psalmist in 46:6.  The Hebrew ‘Sabaoth’ and the Greek ‘saba’ come from a military term.  The word in relationship to Almighty God appears about 280 times as part of a significant and exalted title for God.  “Who is the King of glory?  The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory!” (Psalm 24:10) the Psalmist asks an important question and answers it himself.  When Isaiah received his call to be a prophet, the seraphim he saw in the temple were proclaiming:  “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3).  Encountering the Lord of hosts made Isaiah cry out in repentance and adulation:  “And he said, ‘Woe is me!  For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isa. 6:5).  Before Joshua led the Israelite army in the battle of Jericho, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joshua to assure him that the hosts of the Lord’s army were with him.  It just took following the Lord’s command to march around the city seven days, and as the little chorus we learned as children states, “the walls came tumbling down.”  One of the most powerful accounts of the host of the Lord’s army is the account in Revelation of the Lord Himself riding on a white horse and returning to earth to judge and to make war.  This promise is yet to be fulfilled, but signs of His coming abound in our time.

The Lord of hosts fights our battles.  It’s not a matter of whether the Lord is on our side; rather we should be on the Lord’s side.  Not what I will but what He wills.  Think of Jesus on the cross as He bore the penalty for our sin and separation from God.  He could have called a host of angels to come to His rescue (ten thousand angels could have been at His beck and call).  But He bore the cross, enduring its shame, because He was here to fulfill His purpose in coming to earth.  At that agonizing, crucial moment, Jesus did not call upon the hosts of heaven to rescue Him.  When He returns, however, it will be in victory and power, and with a mighty demonstration of what ‘Yahweh Sabaoth’ really means: the Lord of hosts!  Praise be to God!

Be Pure in Heart

“Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.-Psalm 24:3-4 (ESV). “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” –Matthew 5:8 (KJV). “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” –Luke 6:45. (ESV) “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” –Philippians 4:8 (KJV).

Today we are lambasted on every hand by that which defiles. We have to struggle to be pure in heart, to refrain from thoughts and actions that are unholy. The Psalmist asked a pointed question: Who can go up to the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place? Jerusalem was on a hill and to go to the temple was an upward climb. Oftentimes, the worshipers would ascend the hill together, praising God as they climbed. But the heart had to be purified first. The Jews often went through ceremonial cleansing with water or bearing a sacrifice of cleansing, or an animal for blood sacrifice to cleanse from sins. The Psalmist urged heart-cleansing for purity—not following false teachings or idols, not swearing. The New Testament teaches purity of heart and emphasizes wholeness of thoughts and desires. Rev. J. R. Dummelow in his commentary on purity of heart states: “A thing is pure when it contains no admixture of other substances.” Benevolence is pure if it is done without self-seeking or calling attention to the giver. Justice is pure when it is impartial. The pure in heart will be rewarded by seeing God (Mt. 5:8).

Paul, whose writings are filled with solid advice to Christians on how to live a life pleasing to God, gave us good teaching for becoming pure in heart. He said: “Think on these things.” And included in that list of what to think on: what is true, what is honest, what is just, what is pure, what is lovely, what is of good report. His list of good things to think on is inclusive—but hard to do. A wise teacher once told me that when an impure or evil thought enters your mind, quickly rid your mind of that thought and replace it by a good thought. I’ve heard this, told somewhat as a joke but containing sound advice: “When the devil knocks on my door, I ask Jesus to answer it.” The ancient Jews believed in blood sacrifice for sin and to cleanse the worshiper of impurities in his life. This is referred to in Hebrews 9:22: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remissionof sin.”(KJV). The believing heart is made pure through Jesus’ blood. His blood sacrifice does not have to be repeated; “once for all, O sinner believe it” as the old hymn states. But even with our new nature, we have to work on conforming ourselves into God’s pattern. “Think on these things” as Paul said, which lead to purity of heart. Fannie Estelle Davison wrote a beautiful poetic prayer which became the hymn, “Purer in Heart.” May her words be our prayer today: “Purer in heart, O God, Help me to be; Until Thy holy face, One day I see; Keep me from secret sin, Reign Thou my soul within; Purer in heart, Help me to be.” Amen.