An effective prayer could take the format of a court proceeding as an advocate presenting his case before a judge.A pastor and a friend shared about the following three ways of praying:
- Father-Son Relationship: We pray to our Father to present our needs to Him.
- Friendship: We pray for our friend's needs as a stand-in. This is intercessory.
- Judge-Plaintiff Relationship: We present our case before the Judge as an advocate.
Is there any basis for the type 3 format of prayer?
We have the Old Testament verses:
- “Come now and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow …” (Isaiah 1:18)
- “Put Me in remembrance; let us contend together; state your case, that you may be acquitted.” (Isaiah 43:25)
We find God encouraging us to reason with Him and give Him reasons for Him to forgive us. Abraham did that when he pleaded for Sodom(Genesis 18:16-33). Moses did that for his people (Numbers 14:11-20).
However, we also find:
- Pro 26:2 Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, a curse that is causeless does not alight.
So firstly, we have the good news that we are protected from any curse that does not have any valid reason to catch hold of us. We can live safely and are protected.
Secondly, we have the danger part implied in the inverse of the verse. The curse can stay if there is any valid cause. Peter warned us that the devil is like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). The devil is hunting for any cause to attack us.
While God is love, excessively by man's standard. God is also just. God will have to extend that justice to the devil too. So if the devil can find any legitimate reason such as our sin, he can attack us and block our prayers from being answered. This is also the reason why Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, has to become a man to die on the cross to pay for our sins and to arise to give us new lives.
While God is love, excessively by man's standard. God is also just. God will have to extend that justice to the devil too. So if the devil can find any legitimate reason such as our sin, he can attack us and block our prayers from being answered. This is also the reason why Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, has to become a man to die on the cross to pay for our sins and to arise to give us new lives.
In prayers for healing, unforgiveness is often a cause that blocks the healing from taking place. In the Lord's prayer, "forgive us our sins as we have forgiven others" (Matthew 6:9-13) and Paul in Eph 4:32 "forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you". Healing usually takes place after the person concerned had forgiven some particular others.
Thirdly, no matter what was the cause, as we discover it, we can plead the blood of Jesus to cover and remove it as Jesus had paid the price for our deliverance. The Lord's Prayer Petition#7 is "But deliver us from evil."
Fourthly, the difficulty lies in the cause, which may not be due to us but due to our relatives or people around us and also to our forefathers who we did not even know at all. Such are known as the generational curses which could transfer 3 to 4 generations (Exodus 20:4-6). In such cases, our elders may know, and we can also rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal to us.
Whatever, we can count on God.
- Heb 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Jesus has enabled us to confidently go to the throne of grace to receive mercy, not even plead, and to get the grace empowerment, to get our needs fulfilled.
What does such prayer look like? Below are two posts that give us the details:
Finally, after reading this, please do not be alarmed that you spend time digging into your past to find any curses or sins. You should only do the digging when you are led to or when you are finding you are not getting your answers after some long period of praying.
Lim Liat (c) 19 Feb 2019
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