Prayer—The idea of God’s sovereignty raises several questions concerning the nature of prayer. God has delegated jurisdiction over most things to man. This does not limit his right to intervene but He has chosen to refrain from intervening unless invited. When we prayer it is an invitation to God to be involved in the situation. The more fervent and persistent our prayer, the greater the power and the more pervasive His intervention.
The need for prayer demonstrates one of the differences between good and evil, between God and Satan. God goes where He is invited. Satan goes where ever he has the power to go. God enters into those areas of my life into which He is invited. (Parts of my life) Even though God brings pressure from the outside, He does not force salvation on any individual. Satan and demons will enter where ever they see the door left open.
Our prayers are not to tell God what to do but to invite him to override our rights of dominion and authority and to set aside the natural outcome. We do not determine by our prayers to what end he will work. When He intervenes it will always be to bring about the final outcome that is most in conformity with His character.
(Romans 8) And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the to the will of God. He works all things together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. We have already suggested that good is identical with God’s character. In this passage when we do not know how to pray, the Holy Spirit looks at our heart. He sees if we indeed love God. He sees if we indeed desire to glorify God. If that is our hearts desire, the Spirit takes our prayers and intercedes with God to bring about what we would pray if we knew the mind and character of God fully. He takes our words and makes our requests to conform with what God knows to be best to bring about that which is good.
I may pray truthfully without hesitation or worry of being “wrong” if in my heart it is my desire to reproduce God’s character in me and the world around. No matter what I say, the Spirit will look and see my heart’s true desire. He will take my heart’s true desire to the Father and intercede not from my foolish understanding but from my heart’s desire. My part is to love God and follow my calling to be conformed to image (character) of His Son. My prayers are not to tell God what to do, they are the invitation to God to intervene. God answers that prayer making even the natural bad things that happen to be used for good. That good is that I will indeed be made to conform more closely to the image of Christ.
(Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9 is an invitation for God to act, not instructions on what he wanted God to do. The whole prayer is based upon God’ character being revealed. Confession, petition based on promises or who God is)
(James 1 We are to rejoice in adversity because it will bring us closer into conformity with the character of God. When we are besieged and uncertain, we are to prayer for wisdom. Wisdom is seeing things from God’s perspective. God promises that He will give that perspective if and only if we have faith. Faith means knowing what God desires and acting in harmony with that knowledge. So if we have the desire of our heart to be conformed to His character, He will show us how this adversity is being used to bring that about. If however, we are double-minded, we desire something other than being conformed to His character such as physical pleasure, long-life, etc.
So the question of why good God allows bad things to happen will never be accepted by those who do not have as their desire to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Even if they understand the intellectual explanation, they will not accept the Character of God as being more important than physical well being. To these He promises no wisdom because we would never accept His wisdom so why bother giving it.
