Who Are We Praying To?

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 (ESV)

What’s our mindset when we come to the Throne of Grace in prayer? As for myself, when this Christian walk began, my mindset was, “Please God get me outta this mess.” Then as time went along it was, “God if You get me outta this, I won’t do it again.” And as more time has passed my approach to the Throne has changed and I really try to take “me” out of the picture. I have found out that praying in the foxhole is for foxes and is no way to approach the very God that through His grace chose me and granted me mercy. I guess what I am saying, in a roundabout way, is I gotta know who I am praying to.

During our Wednesday night Bible study, Pastor John Mol went through what he called the “Five Mindsets” of Matthew 7:7-8. However, he first takes us through Romans 8:13-17 to set the mood. “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). It won’t be some mystical inner voice that tells you are His but it will be by the fruit He produces in you (Gal 5:22-23) and by the power He provides you for spiritual service (Acts 1:8). If the Holy Spirit is in us then Christ is in us. He dwells in our hearts by faith. Grace in our soul is its new nature; the soul is alive to God, and has begun its holy happiness (That’s Matt Henry with the term “holy happiness”) which shall endure forever.

With that set here are the “Five Mindsets”….

1. “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” (Psalm 66:18) Pastor John pretty much summed this up like this, “If you’re gonna knock, you better not be cherishing iniquity/sin.” YHVH does not hear sinners who still delight in their sin.

2. “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”(James 1:6-8) We can’t be people with a double heart; we just don’t have the ability to maintain two souls.

3. “And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us.” (1 John 5:14) Because we do not yet in effect obtain that which we hope for, John wants us to understand that prayer with faith is the key. That nothing is asked but that which is agreeable to the will of God: so you gotta come to the Throne of Grace bold, surrendered and confident!!

4. “And He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”(Luke 18:1) In “The Parable of the Persistent Widow” Jesus illustrates that men ought not to lose heart when it comes to prayer. The widow’s persistent request for justice against an adversary to an unjust judge may be the base of the point but it’s what is said in the following verses that gives us an assurance that YHVH will hear us each time we approach the Throne.

5. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”(Hebrews 10:22) The first things that were available to the Levitical priests during the days of The Tabernacle was The Bronze Altar and Laver. The Altar was used to atone and The Laver was used to wash. Had this not been done and the heart of The High Priest not right, the bells on his robe would stop ringing and the rope tied to his ankle pulled to drag his dead body from the Holy of Holies. Praise YHVH that the Veil is torn!!

So I encourage you that when you pray do not do it from the foxhole perspective. (Let the fox have his privacy) Come boldly, surrendered and confident; make your request known and allow the peace of YHVH that surpasses all understanding, keep you firm in His grip!! Amen? – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is a weekly Freedom Fighter blogger

Daily Bible Reading: Judges 1-2

Think About This: “All answers to prayer are but the intervention of the providence of God in the affairs of men.”—E.M. Bounds

Verses to Memorize: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7