Any prayer that is more than thanksgiving and praise, is just a “shopping list “, because (1) Jesus Christ has taught us how to pray ‘Our Lord’s prayer’, and (2) The Holy Spirit said through Paul in the book of Romans: Romans 8:26-27; patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and every other thing shall be added unto you. Here in this passage, Yeshua talked about our Father, the Spirit, knowing all our needs, even the hairs on our heads are numbered. And our Father that knows when a sparrow is done, a bird that does not sow but yet is provided for by the Spirit, how much less we, more important and valuable.
Who knows what is needed by themselves in a years’ time, or 5 years from today? What we may ask for today may be unnecessary or useless in a year’s time. However, the One who knows the end from the beginning, knows what is good for us, that love Him. Jesus Christ, in whose Name we pray. His Words are pure, flawless without any need for interpretation. The Holy Spirit that He promised to send after His resurrection, spoke the Truth, through Paul in the quoted Scriptures from the book of Romans. In addition to the quoted Scriptures from our Lord Yeshua, our God. Only the parables of Jesus Christ are metaphoric in nature, other aspects of His sermons are explicit and literal. Pure, flawless; such as ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with your soul and with all your mind. Secondly, love your neighbour (including your enemy) like yourself, upon these two hangs all the laws. Love transcends the laws. Through the laws, everyone falls short. However, there is no law against love. True love is described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.
However, the fundamental point in the sermons by Jesus Christ, with regards to prayers, is a key divergence for believers. First of all, if we really believe that God knows everything (in theology, that is Omniscient God), then isn’t it redundancy on our part, telling or asking God for things. When He knows what we need and what is good for us and the appropriate time to give us. This is the basis of the sermon where Jesus Christ said: seek ye first the kingdom of God, and every other thing shall be added unto you. Where He said: ‘seek, knock, and ask’, when God grants us understanding of His Words, then we understand that the ‘seek, knock, and ask’ here refers to seeking God, the Holy Spirit, and not asking for miracles, but the miracle worker Himself; Yeshua. Not asking for our flesh desires, but spirit One. We should ask God for our daily bread, after He has given us the gift of life, breathe for the day, though He provides some of us without our asking Him. God is Spirit (John 4:24) Any argument against the Omniscient attribute of God shows lack of understanding of the nature of God. Some people have been blessed with actions of faith from God, that Yeshua is indeed Omniscient. What does a man have to tell the One who knows everything; the past, the present, and the future, including eternity to come. There is only thanksgiving and praises to the Almighty Yeshua, that man has to say and do. Praise the Lord. Hosanna to Yeshua.
Prayers that go beyond thanksgiving and praises, are simply attempts to blackmail God; or insinuate that God is forgetful; or imply that we know better than God, what is good for, or needed by us; or use reverse psychology on God; or that the prayer He, God taught us, is not exhaustive or complete enough. An example is the prayer of Moses in Exodus 32:9-14; “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” But Moses sought the favour of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. However, the rest of that story was that none of that generation reached the Promised Land. Moses’ prayer only resulted in the can being kicked further down the road, the Word of God still came to pass.
Some believers point to the prayer of King Hezekiah as an example of effectiveness of prayer, however, that one is also taken out of context. The annals of the Kings; 2 Kings 20 and 21, tells the story in context, if King Hezekiah had joined his forefathers at the time God originally appointed for him, he would not have had the child Manasseh who was twelve years old when he became king, and did evil in the sight of God. Remember that God added fifteen years to the life of Hezekiah. Some point out what the Holy Spirit said through Paul in Romans 12:12; Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Well what kind of prayer? Thus, how or for what should we pray, well God taught us in Mathew 6:9-13; Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Well, some of us are looking for a good spouse, a good job, shelter, or healing or something else. This write-up is not advocating that one should not ask God for what we lack or need or desire, however, remember according to the Gospel of John 9:1–12, Jesus saw a man who had been blind since birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus replied: Neither this man nor his parents sinned … but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. God is always in control, nothing is hidden from Him, He sees everything, He knows everything, He is Wisdom, Love, Kindness, Integrity, Faithful, Magnanimous, Gentle, Caring, Righteous, Just, Forgiving, and Creator of Heaven and Earth. Our Saviour Jesus Christ.
