Why God Isn't Listening

Tim Challies (on his excellent blog) recently cataloged six reasons from Scripture that, perhaps, God is not listening to your prayers. I especially appreciated this post because it's simply textual. No speculation. No conjecture. No pop-prayer-movement ideas. Scripture pure and simple.

Here they are:

1. Praying with selfish motives - James 4:3
2. Turning away from Scripture - Proverbs 28:9
3. Praying with an unforgiving heart - Mark 11:25
4. Ongoing family discord - 1 Peter 3:7
5. Unconfessed sin - Psalm 66:18
6. Praying with doubt - James 1:5-7

Read the whole article here.

Prayerlessnes - Lord help my unbelief

I came across a very difficult sermon on prayerlessness by Jonathan Edwards. (You can read the entire sermon online here.)

Edwards describes in incredible detail and insight how we get excited toward prayer, make a good show at private and secret prayers for some time, but then slowly begin to drift off toward prayerlessness.

The painful part in all of this is that it is a sermon on hypocrisy. Edwards is arguing from Job 27:10 that those of us who only make a brief show in prayer are nothing more than religious hypocrites. I thought this was appropriate as we've just finished a three-week series on religious hypocrisy.

If you need to have your heart stirred toward prayer, do your soul a favor and read this sermon (at least read as much as you can).

Christ in the OT Law - Part II

Exodus 28:9-12

You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree. And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders for remembrance.

The Lord told Moses that, as long as the temple stood, as long as the high priest went in to the presence of God on behalf of the people, he should bear the names of the people of God (by tribe) on his chest. Aaron would do this literally as two stones were attached to his garments, each with six of the twelve tribes etched onto the stone.

What's the point? Well it's quite simple: the people were not (and could not) come before their holy God because of their sin and rebellion. God could not (and would not) come before the people because of their sin and rebellion. Therefore, God appointed an intermediary, a go-between. This man, the high priest, would stand as a representative of each party to the other. In other words, to God, the high priest would represent the people. To the people, he would represent God.

Here, he is literally bearing their names in God's presence because it's only in and through the high priest that the Israelites approached the presence of God. They drew near to God through him, the appointed mediator.

Amazingly, though, even the high priests themselves needed a mediator. They were not qualified to truly enter the presence of God, much less to intercede on behalf of the people. For this, someone "greater than Moses" would be required, a high priest who has no need to offer sacrifice on his own behalf, but one who can sacrifice simply on behalf of the people.

Hebrews 5:5 God appointed Jesus as the final, eternal High Priest.

Hebrews 7:27 He has no need to offer sacrifices for himself. He is without sin.

Hebrews 5:7-10 He was the perfect Son of God. He learned perfect obedience. He fully satisfied and pleased God. He is qualified to be an eternal, sinless, in-fellowship-with-God representative of the people.

Hebrews 9:11-12 As our high priest, Jesus entered in, not to a building (like the temple) but into the actual, heavenly presence of God and made atonement for our sins once and for eternity with his own blood.

Hebrews 7:25 Therefore, Jesus "is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."

There it is! As the people approached God symbolically through the names of Aaron's chest, so we today are able to draw near to God through our high priest! But oh how our high priest's ministry infinitely surpasses that of Aaron, in that, far from drawing near to a symbolic box in a tent (the ark of the covenant), we enter into the heavenly tabernacle of God through our eternal Mediator, Jesus. Next time you pray or worship in Jesus' name, picture Jesus as your Aaron, standing before God's presence bearing your name in his nail-pierced hands.

P.S. Calvin makes this point in his Institutes

Praying Scripture's Prayers

Something we have most assuredly lost is praying the prayers that Scripture calls us to pray. We can have so much confidence in our prayers when we simply ask God to do the things he has promised to do, and when we ask him for the things he calls us to ask him for.

For one of our Wednesday evening prayer meetings I put together a really quick list of "Prayer Requests and Commands of the Bible". Here is that list:

• Confession of sins (Ezra 10)
• Pray for the peace of God’s people (Psalm 122)
• Thanksgiving for God’s general and specific graces (Daniel 6)
• Pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 6)
• Pray (Matthew 6)
  • For the coming Kingdom
  • For God’s revealed will to be carried out
  • For God’s name to be hallowed
  • For deliverance from evil and temptation
  • For our daily needs (like food, clothing, etc.)

• Pray for laborers to be sent into the harvest (Matthew 9)
• Pray for the grace to forgive (Mark 11)
• Pray that we do not lose heart in our struggles and trials (Luke 18)
• Pray for strength to endure tribulations now and in the end (Lu. 22)
• Pray for the presence and work of the Spirit (Acts 8)
• Pray for each other (Acts 21)
• Pray that the Spirit would help us pray when we don’t know how (Romans 8)
• Praise God for who and what he is (1 Cor. 14)
• Pray for restoration of hurt relationships in the church (2 Cor. 13)
• Pray for the defeat of evil and Satanic powers around you (Eph. 6)
• Pray for an open door for the Word to go forth (Col.1 )
• Thank God for each other (Col. 1)
• Pray that God would make us worthy of our calling (2 Thess. 1)
• Pray that the Word of God would be honored (2 Thess 3)
• Pray for unity in this church without anger (1 Tim. 2)
• Pray for those who are suffering (James 5)
• Pray for the forgiveness and cleansing of sins for others (James 5)
• Pray for those you see sinning (1 John 5)
• Pray that all may go well with us and that we continue in good health (2 John 2)