Different Kinds Of Prayer (Part 3)

THE DAILY WORD
By Jim Seekamp

Thursday July 30, 2009

It is widely believed that if something happened, it must have been God's will. The Bible tells us in many places that this line of thinking is wrong. A prime example is Acts 5:16-20:

Acts 5:16-20 (NIV)
16. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed. 17. Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20. "Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life."

The apostles were going about doing the work of the Lord and healing the sick when the High Priest and the Sadducees got jealous and decided to throw them in jail. God clearly did not want that to happen, as He had to send an angel to undo what the High Priest and Sadducees had done.
God wanted the apostles to be free to "tell the people the full message of this new life!" The High Priest and the Sadducees were working against God's will, so that God's will would not have been accomplished the next day without divine intervention.

Some would say that God was in control, and that's why He sent His angel to rescue the apostles from jail; because it was His will. But God has given each of us a free will, and He couldn't have been in control unless someone was praying for the apostles. In Acts 12 we see that Peter was rescued from prison because of the prayer of the church:

Acts 12:4-10 (NIV)
4. After arresting him (Peter), he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. 5. So Peter was kept in prison, BUT THE CHURCH WAS EARNESTLY PRAYING TO GOD FOR HIM. 6. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.
8. Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. 9. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

What would have happened to Peter if the church hadn't been praying for him? He would have gone to trial, and may have been in prison for the rest of his life, or even killed. Why would the church have prayed for him if they believed it to be God's will that he be in prison? They clearly did not believe it to be God's will.

The story of Saul is another example:

Acts 8:1-3 (NIV)
1. And Saul was there, giving approval to his (Stephen's) death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

Was it God's will for Paul to do that?

Acts 9:1-6 (NIV)
1. Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2. and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" 5. "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. 6. "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."

Notice that Jesus Himself ASKED Paul why he was persecuting Him! That means Paul had the choice of whether to do so or not. Jesus also told Paul that Paul was persecuting HIM PERSONALLY! Was it God's will that Paul persecute Jesus? No, according to the Bible, God desired Paul to be saved the whole time he was persecuting Jesus:

1 Timothy 2:3,4 (NIV)
3. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4. who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Jesus warned the church at Smyrna that THE DEVIL would throw some of them into prison:

Revelation 2:10 (NIV)
Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

No, it wasn't God's will that the devil have these people thrown into prison... it was not God testing them, it was the devil. The whole reason the devil was going to throw them into prison was to test them; to see if they would be faithful even to the point of death! But Jesus was encouraging them by telling them it would only be for ten days; NOT until death!

No, God is not working against Himself. He works on behalf of the church IF WE WILL PRAY TO CHANGE CIRCUMSTANCES!

PRAYER
Thank You Father for loving me and wanting good things for me. Help me to walk in faith like You desire me to, trusting You to lead me by Your Spirit. Help me to understand You better through Your Word.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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