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A Study Of Prayer
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A Study Of Prayer: Chapter 6
Prayers And The Prophets Bloody Hands Cause Prayers To Go Unanswered (Isa 1:15 NIV) When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; Nations and individuals whose hands are full of blood, will not have their prayers answered. Blood on the hands can come through many sources. Unjust war, murder, abortion, failure to care for the poor and letting them starve to death, or any other sin that leads to the death of a person. Even driving drunk or under the influence of narcotics could cause your prayers to go unanswered. Landlords who fail to keep up rental properties and then a fire is caused by faulty wiring killing a person or a family, can cause the landlords prayers to go unanswered. Be sure to check your life and make sure that you are not doing anything that could cause the death of a person. If you have blood on your hands, your prayers will go unanswered until you repent and correct the problem and ask God for forgiveness for past mistakes. Remember, you do not have to actually kill someone to be guilty of sin. Reckless behavior that "could" result in an innocent person dying due to your actions is the same thing before God. One person may drive crazy with no regard for everyone for years and get away with it and another person may commit the same sin, say running a red light, and kill ten people the first time they do it. The person who has yet to kill anyone is just as guilty as the one who has because their heart is not right before the Lord, because they are not loving their neighbor as themself. They have no concern whether their neighbor dies or is crippled because of their actions. (Mat 22:37-40 KJV) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matt) 5:28 NCV) But I tell you that if anyone looks at a woman and wants to sin sexually with her, in his mind he has already done that sin with the woman. Worshipping Idols Causes Prayers To Go Unanswered
(Isa 16:12 NIV) When Moab appears at her high place, she only wears herself out; when she goes to her shrine to pray, it is to no avail. (Isa 44:12-21 NIV) The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint. The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in the form of man, of man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine. He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow. It is man's fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm; I see the fire." From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, "Save me; you are my god." They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, "Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?" He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, "Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?" "Remember these things, O Jacob, for you are my servant, O Israel. I have made you, you are my servant; O Israel, I will not forget you. (Isa 45:20 NIV) "Gather together and come; assemble, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save. When God Brings Us To Our Knees Through Distress,
We Should Pray, Even If We Can Only Whisper
(Isa 26:16 NIV) LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer. The Prophets Elijah And Elisha
(1 Ki 18:36 NIV) At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. The prophet Elijah, when he prayed for fire to come down from heaven and devour the sacrifice, had done so at the Lord’s command. Elijah was not calling down fire from heaven to perform magic tricks to entertain the people and make money. He was doing this at God’s command to turn the hearts of the people back to God. (1 Ki 18:37-39 NIV) Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD--he is God! The LORD--he is God!" The prophet Elijah has never died, yet that is. God has preserved him alive to minister during the upcoming tribulation period to once again turn the hears of the Jews and Israelites back to God, to Jesus Christ. Elijah will still have the power to call down fire from heaven, and will do so often to prove that the Lord is God. ( See THE TWO WITNESSES ) (Mal 4:5-6 NIV) "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." Elijah Becomes Depressed
Elijah, even after his great victory became depressed. The queen was trying to kill him and he thought he was the only one left who was truly serving the Lord. He prayed for God to take his life, to let him die. But, God was not through with him yet, his ministry was not completed, and still isn’t at the time of this writing in 2004. (1 Ki 19:3-4 NIV) Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." (1 Ki 19:9-10 NIV) There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." (1 Ki 19:11-12 NIV) The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. (1 Ki 19:13-14 NIV) When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." (1 Ki 19:15-17 NIV) The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. (1 Ki 19:18 NIV) Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel--all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him." Elijah was wrong. There were still 7000 people in Israel who were faithful to God. Elijah also had more work to do, anointing a future king and anointing a prophet to take his place in the near future. God rejected Elijah’s prayer to be released from this life because God had other plans for him, better plans, just as he does for us. (Jer 29:11 NIV) For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. If you ever feel like giving up and praying for death, you may do so. But, if God doesn’t take your life in answer to your prayer then you can be sure he has a better plan for you, just like he did for Elijah. Elisha Restores A Child To Life Through Prayer
A woman of Shunem received a son as a gift from the Lord for her assistance to the prophet Elisha. (2 Ki 4:8-10 NIV) One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. She said to her husband, "I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us." (2 Ki 4:11-14 NIV) One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. He said to his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite." So he called her, and she stood before him. Elisha said to him, "Tell her, 'You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?'" She replied, "I have a home among my own people." "What can be done for her?" Elisha asked. Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old." (2 Ki 4:15-17 NIV) Then Elisha said, "Call her." So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. "About this time next year," Elisha said, "you will hold a son in your arms." "No, my lord," she objected. "Don't mislead your servant, O man of God!" But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her. (2 Ki 4:18-22 NIV) The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. "My head! My head!" he said to his father. His father told a servant, "Carry him to his mother." After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out. She called her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return." (2 Ki 4:25-27 NIV) So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, "Look! There's the Shunammite! Run to meet her and ask her, 'Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?'" "Everything is all right," she said. When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me why." (2 Ki 4:28 NIV) "Did I ask you for a son, my lord?" she said. "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes'?" (2 Ki 4:32-33 NIV) When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD. (2 Ki 4:36-37 NIV) Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite." And he did. When she came, he said, "Take your son." She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out. Elisha could pray for restoration to life in this incident because he was sure that it was not God’s will for the child to die so young. The child had been a blessing from God for the woman and her husbands kindness and assistance in doing God’s work. Elisha prayed with confidence for the boy and he was restored to life by the Lord. Elisha Prays For His Servants Eyes To Be Opened
(2 Ki 6:15-18 NIV) When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked. Elisha, the prophet of the Lord, at least temporarily had the ability to see into another dimension and view the angels of the Lord who were protecting Israel. He prayed for his servant to be able to see into that dimension also and God answered his prayer. In this case more than likely the reason that God honored this unusual request was so that this event could be recorded in the bible for future generations. God wanted us to be able to know for certain that his angels protect and watch over all of his people, even though we can’t see them. It is very unusual for a human to knowingly see an angel, but it does happen on occasion. Hezekiah Prays for Deliverance From An Enemy
Army
(2 Ki 18:28-30 NIV) Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew: "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, 'The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.' (2 Ki 19:1-4 NIV) When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They told him, "This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. It may be that the LORD your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the LORD your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives." (2 Ki 19:5-7 NIV) When King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master, 'This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard--those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! I am going to put such a spirit in him that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.'" (2 Ki 19:9-13 NIV) Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: "Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, 'Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.' Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them: the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?" (2 Ki 19:14-19 NIV) Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: "O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God. "It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by men's hands. Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God." King Hezekiah, as leader of the nation of Israel, had the right to come before the Lord and ask for deliverance for his nation. King Hezekiah’s answer came through Isaiah the prophet. (2 Ki 19:20 NIV) Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. (2 Chr 32:20 NIV) King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to heaven about this. (2 Ki 19:32-34 NIV) "Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: "He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the LORD. I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant." (2 Ki 19:35-37 NIV) That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning--there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. One day, while he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king. King Hezekiah had the authority to pray for the petition he asked for, and was granted it by God in a miraculous way, at the hands of an angel. One angel slew 185,000 soldiers of the Assyrian army and they fled, never to return in king Hezekiah’s lifetime. Sometimes God Commands Us Not To Pray For Certain
People
(Isa 64:9 NIV) Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people. The prophets of the Lord often prayed for the people of Israel, that the Lord would forgive their sins, heal them, and rescue them from attacking enemy armies. But, sometimes the sins of the people became so great that the Lord instructed the prophets not even to pray for such wicked people. (Jer 7:1-3 NIV) This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: "Stand at the gate of the Lord's house and there proclaim this message: "'Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. (Jer 7:4-7 NIV) Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!" If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. (Jer 7:8-12 NIV) But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. "'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"--safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD. "'Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. (Jer 7:13-15 NIV) While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers. I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Ephraim.' (Jer 7:16 NIV) "So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. (Jer 7:17-20 NIV) Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger. But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame? "'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground, and it will burn and not be quenched. (Jer 11:14 NIV) "Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress. (Jer 14:11-12 NIV) Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague." (Jer 14:13-16 NIV) But I said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD, the prophets keep telling them, 'You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.'" Then the LORD said to me, "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds. Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the prophets who are prophesying in my name: I did not send them, yet they are saying, 'No sword or famine will touch this land.' Those same prophets will perish by sword and famine. And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them or their wives, their sons or their daughters. I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve. At times people and even nations become so hard hearted and anti God that the Lord tells his servants not to even pray for them any more. This does not mean that the prophet or preacher should refuse to pray for someone who specifically asks for it. If they ask they must have faith, or they would not be asking. This is a situation where God was not going to spare the nation from being conquered by another nation because of their combined national rejection of him. We may face that same type of situation in the United States some day if the trends continue as they are, legalizing sin such as abortion and sodomy and at the same time making it against the law to pray or display the ten commandments. If you read the old testament and wonder how a nation so blessed as Israel was at the time, could turn their hearts so far away from God, look no farther than the good old USA. We are in the process of repeating history. We have been blessed by God since our founding, and now are turning against him with a vengeance. When the Antichrists Army sets foot on our shore to conquer us, who will we pray to for rescue, if we have rejected the Lord? (Jer 29:7 NIV) Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." Although the Lord punished the Jews by permitting them to be carried off to another land by their conquerors, he told them that if they accepted their punishment he would bless the land that they were now living in. (Jer 29:12 NIV) Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. (Jer 31:9 NIV) They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel's father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son. God also promised that after seventy years he would restore them to Israel from Babylon, and he did so under the reign of Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian when the Medo-Persian empire conquered Babylon. (Jer 32:16 NIV) "After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD: Jeremiah prayed after purchasing property that the Lord had commanded him to buy. (Jer 37:3 NIV) King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: "Please pray to the LORD our God for us." Jeremiah did pray for Zedekiah and the people of Judah, but they did not heed his answer from the Lord, and they suffered for it. (Jer 42:1-3 NIV) Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, "Please hear our petition and pray to the LORD your God for this entire remnant. For as you now see, though we were once many, now only a few are left. Pray that the LORD your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do." (Jer 42:4 NIV) "I have heard you," replied Jeremiah the prophet. "I will certainly pray to the LORD your God as you have requested; I will tell you everything the LORD says and will keep nothing back from you." (Jer 42:5-6 NIV) Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the LORD your God sends you to tell us. Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the LORD our God." (Jer 42:7-8 NIV) Ten days later the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. So he called together Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest. (Jer 42:9-18 NIV) He said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition, says: 'If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieved over the disaster I have inflicted on you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands. I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.' "However, if you say, 'We will not stay in this land,' and so disobey the LORD your God, and if you say, 'No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the trumpet or be hungry for bread,' then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'If you are determined to go to Egypt and you do go to settle there, then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die. Indeed, all who are determined to go to Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, famine and plague; not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.' This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'As my anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be an object of cursing and horror, of condemnation and reproach; you will never see this place again.' It would have been better for them not to have know the Word of the Lord, then to have Jeremiah pray for them, and the Lord answer, and fail to do as he said. God has no use for fools. (A fool in the KJV bible is not an illiterate person who makes a mistake, but a hard headed person who intentionally disobeys the Lords commands, and a person who makes a vow but fails to fulfill it.) (Eccl 5:4 NIV) When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. (Jer 42:19-22 NIV) "O remnant of Judah, the LORD has told you, 'Do not go to Egypt.' Be sure of this: I warn you today that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the LORD your God and said, 'Pray to the LORD our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.' I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the LORD your God in all he sent me to tell you. So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle." (Jer 43:1-7 NIV) When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the LORD their God--everything the LORD had sent him to tell them--Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, "You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'You must not go to Egypt to settle there.' But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon." So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people disobeyed the Lord's command to stay in the land of Judah. Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers led away all the remnant of Judah who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered. They also led away all the men, women and children and the king's daughters whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah. So they entered Egypt in disobedience to the LORD and went as far as Tahpanhes. (Jer 43:8-13 NIV) In Tahpanhes the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: "While the Jews are watching, take some large stones with you and bury them in clay in the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes. Then say to them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy above them. He will come and attack Egypt, bringing death to those destined for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, and the sword to those destined for the sword. He will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt; he will burn their temples and take their gods captive. As a shepherd wraps his garment around him, so will he wrap Egypt around himself and depart from there unscathed. There in the temple of the sun in Egypt he will demolish the sacred pillars and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.'" The lesson here is that if you pray to God, and he gives you direction, be sure to take it. It would be better not to pray for guidance at all, than to ask for it, receive it, and then fail to follow it. This angers god more than complete unbelief. After Rejecting God’s Advice, Heaven Closes
To Prayer
(Lam 3:8 NIV) Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. (Lam 3:44 NIV) You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. Daniel And Prayer
(Dan 6:7 NIV) The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions' den. (Dan 6:10 NIV) Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (Dan 6:11-13 NIV) Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: "Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or man except to you, O king, would be thrown into the lions' den?" The king answered, "The decree stands--in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed." Then they said to the king, "Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day." Daniel did not let the passing of a law against prayer to the Lord prevent him from doing so. In fact, to make sure they knew he was praying to the true god he opened the windows of his house so all could see his prayers three times a day. What followed next was that Daniel was thrown into the lions den, but they did not harm him. Following this, his accusers were thrown into the den of lions, and the lions killed them. (Dan 6:16-23 NIV) So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The king said to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!" A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel's situation might not be changed. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions' den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?" Daniel answered, "O king, live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king." The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. (Dan 6:24-28 NIV) At the king's command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions' den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones. Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language throughout the land: "May you prosper greatly! "I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. "For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions." So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Daniel Never Failed To Pray For The People And
For Understanding
(Dan 9:3-4 NIV) So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, (Dan 9:17 NIV) "Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. (Dan 9:20-21 NIV) While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for his holy hill--while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. (Dan 9:23 NIV) As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision: Jonah Prayed To The Lord From Inside Of A Great
Fish
(Jonah 2:1 NIV) From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. (Jonah 2:7 NIV) "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. (Jonah 4:2 NIV) He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. The Prophet Habakkuk Was Also A Prayer Warrior.
(Hab 3:1 NIV) A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. The prophets give us good examples of how and when to pray, and above all, that when we pray and God answers, we should surely follow his will. |