From the Pen of Paul. . .

Lord, Teach Us to Pray (3)

In this final installment on this subject, we want to look at a few things that hinder our prayers and prevent them from being effective.

Selfishness is a big hindrance to our prayers. James wrote, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3). Jesus had said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened" (Matt. 7:7-8). However, we must understand that these promises are conditional; we must ask for the right things, in the right way, and from proper motives. From what James says, it is obvious that those to whom James wrote asked, but in the wrong way. The verb used here indicates that selfishness was involved in the request. Thus, we learn that where selfishness is behind our requests, our petitions are not received. God will not grant a request which is only asked to satisfy selfish wishes. The word amiss indicates that the requests were influenced by less than proper reasons. This is a general statement by James explaining why those to whom he wrote did not receive that for which they prayed. The statement "that ye may consume it upon your lusts" indicates why their petitions were considered improper. Prayer is a marvelous privilege of every faithful child of God, and should be used often; however, we must examine our motives with extreme care, for often it is hard to separate what we need from what we want for selfish reasons.

Our sins are, perhaps, the greatest hindrance to our prayers. Long ago Isaiah warned, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear" (Isa. 59:1-2). The Psalmist was aware of this fact, for he said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Psalm 66:18). If you and I are not receiving the petitions asked for, the first thing we need to do is to examine our hearts, our conduct; we must be sure that our sins are not creating a barrier that causes God to refuse to hear us. Remember that Peter said, "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil" (I Pet. 3:12). Solomon spoke of a time when, "They shall call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find Me" (Prov. 1:28). The reason for this refusal to answer their prayers is given in verses 23-25. They had "refused" when God called them, had not regarded His stretched-out hand, had set at nought all His counsel, and would have none of His reproof." Their sins stood as a barrier to their prayers; and because of them, God would not answer them when they called.

Our unwillingness to forgive is a huge hindrance to our prayers. Jesus warned, "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses" (Mark 11:25-26). In the model prayer, He had taught them, and us, to pray, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" (Matt. 6:12, 14).

Family trouble can hinder our prayers. Peter exhorted, "Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered" (I Pet. 3:7). When strife and disorder is present in the home, prayers to God are "hindered" [interrupted]. Only when peace and harmony are present can the husband and wife join efforts in united prayers to the Father.

Are you aware that even stinginess is a hindrance to prayer? Solomon wrote, "Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard" (Prov. 21:13). And, this agrees with Jesus' statement in Luke 6:38, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." Thus, when we love "in deed and in truth" and not just "in word" only, (I John 3:18) our petitions are also the beneficiaries of our liberality.

And as seen in our previous article, doubting is a hindrance to prayer. In fact, of the man who prays doubting, James says, "Let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord" (James 1:7).

Let me encourage all of us to examine our prayer life in connection with the teaching of acceptable prayer in the Scriptures. Prayer is one of our greatest blessings provided we use it correctly!
—Paul M. Wilmoth

From the Preacher's Viewpoint. . .

The Bible Came From God

"How do we know the Bible came from God? It is not enough to just say it did."

I have never asked anyone to just accept the Bible because man said it came from God. It is always good to test a thing. It is good to test the Bible with reference to its origin. In fact, the Bible encourages investigation in all matters (I Thess. 5:21).

First, the Bible claims for itself inspiration. It claims to be a book from God. Every scripture is inspired of God (II Tim. 3:16-17). God revealed His Word to the inspired men (I Cor. 2:9-13). Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (II Pet. 1:20-21). God has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness (II Pet. 1:3). There can be no doubt but that the Bible claims to be from God.

Before one denounces the Bible and says that it is nothing more than a human book, he should disprove its claims. If I claim something to be true, then it is your responsibility to prove it otherwise, if it is not true. Since the Bible claims to be from God, why doesn't someone prove it to be false in this claim? I can tell you why. There is not a person on this earth that can prove the Bible to be false. So it stands and will stand.

Second, the Bible is a book of God because it contains many things that man could not have written had he wanted to. It tells about the earth being circular some 750 years before Christ. It states that God sits upon the circle of the earth (Isa. 40:22). How did Isaiah know this? He had never sailed the seas nor been in outer space. In fact, he never was far from the land of Palestine. God revealed this to him long before man knew the earth was a round ball.

The Bible talks about the empty space in the North (Job 26:7). Of late men have been talking about there being no stars in a certain place in the northern sky. Job said this was true about 2,000 years before Christ. How did Job know this? Did he have high-powered telescopes? Of course not! Then how did he know? God revealed this to him.

The Bible speaks of the earth being held by gravity. It says that God hung the earth on nothing (Job 26:7). Men used to think that the earth was on the back of a huge turtle or on the shoulder of a strong man. Someone says how could they think this? I do not know. I do not know how men can believe evolution but they do. But how did Job know about the earth hanging on nothing? God revealed it to him.

The Bible talks about the paths of the sea (Psalm 8:8). The paths of the sea have a current flow. They have a pull in a certain direction. Men discovered these paths only recently. They sail their vessels in them for greater speed. How did the Psalmist know about these paths of the sea long before they were discovered? The God that made them told him about them.

The harmony of the Bible proves it is a book of God. About 40 men over a period of 1,500 years wrote it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They were of different backgrounds and were of different educational teaching. Some were farmers, some were vineyard keepers, some were fishermen, some were physicians, etc. But they wrote a harmonious book at different periods in time. It agrees and has no contradictions. How did this happen? No doubt, it was directed by One Author—the God of the Universe.
—Malcolm L. Hill