Going Old School on Prayer “Who” pt 1

When I begin to disciple a new member in Christ, I make sure we have a good foundation. This includes three concepts that I have learned are absolutely necessary for further Christian maturity. The first of these is directly linked to our discussion on prayer today: We pray to an Almighty God, and our understanding of what it means to present ourselves to the King of Kings cannot be over emphasized. Having a proper perspective on God is the Cornerstone of the foundation of your Christian life, and your prayer life. We are looking at knowing about God, knowing God will come through your prayer life. To understand the completeness of whom we call God, I will go through three aspects of our faith in our Creator.

And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. Exodus 19:6

When we say that God is Holy, what exactly do we mean? Being holy, or to have holiness, is something set apart to, or for, a deity (WordNet-Online). However, in the ancient world of pagans, the idea of a deity was not always, or completely, holy. When Moses is told by God to remove his sandals, for the ground he was walking on was holy, it shows a deity that can make a place holy simply by being associated with it (Ex 3:5). This was a new concept, one that was not readily understood by those outside of God’s chosen people at the time. I fear it is not well understood today either. To truly understand the Holiness of God, it may help to think of a Supreme Being with “Powerful Purity”. There is no evil, wrongdoing, or falsehood in God. He cannot bare those things, not out of a weakness, bet rather out of His holiness. Like a human severely allergic to peanuts, God’s reaction to sin is deep within who He is. This is why, after the fall of Adam, God was unable to accept man as he is. People will frequently say, “But God is God, he can do anything!” A True statement is, “God is Holy, and as such, can only do what is in His nature. He can neither do, nor accept anything outside of His Holiness.” It is this very reason that God sent Jesus, His Only Begotten Son, to earth. As full God and full man, Jesus took upon Himself all of man’s sins and died on the cross. When we meditate on the Passion of Christ, and we look upon His beaten and broken body, it is nothing compared to what He must have felt to have the sin of the entire world; past, present and future on Him. The “Powerful Purity” has taken on the unbearable, stifling weight, the horrible, filthy stench and the outright carnal depravity of sin, so that we might live. We who believe on Him, and accept His sacrifice, may enter into the Father’s glory, purified by His Blood.

Until Christ, only the priests could enter God’s presence, and God prescribed that in detail to Moses. With Christ’s death and resurrection, we can now enter the throne room if, and only if, we accept the gift of God, Christ as our Savior. Entering His throne room takes us to number two. God is Sovereign.

Both believers and nonbelievers alike ask, “If God is holy and sovereign, why is there evil and why is there a hell?” These questions lead us to the third and final aspect of God’s character that we need to understand before we can mature and kneel in thoughtful prayer to a God we can trust.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

These verses, along with the most repeated, “God is Love.” 1John 4:8b, is what most people want to stop at and believe this is God, all inclusive. This is why I started with the facts that God is Holy and Sovereign. We must begin to understand what God’s Love is, as opposed to other types of love. Not all love is the same! Love can be separated, most easily by the terms Eros and Agape. Eros is the human love of a man to a woman. This is the romantic love, the idea of the sensual. Many relationships never pass this phase and when crisis comes, the love passes away. When we look at Agape, it is a spiritual, selfless love. Probably the greatest treaty on Agape love does not come from Shakespeare, Shelly, or Byron, but from the apostle Paul. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes:

· Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

This kind of love comes from God. Using this verse and those above, let us try to answer the two questions posed at the end of the last section. First, we want to know, how a God of Love can allow evil in the world? Before we begin, let us define evil. Evil is to be wicked, morally bad, wrong, depraved, harmful, injurious, and malevolent. To sin, on the other hand, is to transgress, or violate the Word of God. I want to define these to up front, since they will be of such importance in our discussion.

Let us look then at how sin entered the world. Many are familiar with the story of Adam and Eve, and the Garden of Eden. God’s Word tells us that He made a perfect place for the first man and woman to live in. No predatory animal instincts, no toiling for their food, no real responsibilities at all. They had one rule; do not eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Adam, while responsible for Eve, leaves her alone for enough time so that a serpent has the opportunity to coax Eve into eating that particular fruit. Now comes the ultimate question; When is it ok to disobey God? This is the first time we see disobeying God, sin, and the consequence, in this case allowing evil to enter the world. Adam should never have let Eve alone for such a period that Satan was able to have his way with her. When Eve gave Adam the fruit to eat, he ate it, no questions asked. Thereafter, they hide their nakedness from God (the consequence of eating the fruit), but they finally come out to Him, and Adam sells Eve down the river. How quickly evil makes itself known! This is not an example of agape love, but does give an example of sin, which a holy God cannot abide. This action allows God, in His Sovereignty, to give a punishment to mankind. There is not a soul who has been born, save our Lord Jesus Christ, which would have done differently than Adam and Eve. We are allowed to have free will, not so we sin on purpose, but so that we can choose to return to God by our desire. God does not want robots, souls that obey Him because there is no other choice, but because we want to be in His presence. So, evil came into the world because we have free will and chose not to obey God. All of us are born with that original sin, that desire to do what we want, not what God ordains. It is a joyful occasion when one person chooses to give his or her life to Christ, the angels rejoice!

Let us turn our attention to Hell. The first resident of this eternal prison is one of the greatest angels in all of creation. Lucifer, also know as the son of the morning for he was such a bright and high level angel, is one of the oldest angels. Lucifer decided that he could be God. Satan, more of a job title for Lucifer, was able to get one third of the heavenly host to rebel against the One, True God. He was defeated, and as Jesus says through Luke, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” God could have just made Satan no longer exist. He could just make all evil people, all people who sin against Him, to just vanish from any existence. So why doesn’t He? Because in God’s Love does not allow for the destruction of His own creations. The body fades away from this world, but the soul lives on. The Lord allows us to live with Him or without Him, as we chose. Those who chose to love God and follow His commandments will live with Him in Paradise, those who do not want to follow God, will not have to live with Him, and will live in hell. In His omniscience, the Lord knows who will chose to follow and who will not. He calls to us that we might come to Him and serve Him. This can be difficult to understand at times, but the main point is, those who want to have a loving relationship with their Creator, can have it in abundance. His Love is sufficient for all our needs. Think what can happen when the Creator of all things loves you. It is written that the Lord knows the number of hairs on your head. We are told time and again in the bible that God wants the best for us and will answer our prayers. This is the God of Love. Not one who will accept anything, who ignores His own Holiness and Sovereignty, but one who wants a relationship with His people.

We have seen that God is Holy, Sovereign and Love. This is highly important to know before we can pray to God. We must be able to know about Him upfront. If we were to limit our initial knowledge of God, we could have an incorrect view of what His expectations are. We could lead others away from Him, by giving an improper understanding. A proper view of God will lead to a maturing in the faith. It will help us to understand Scripture, with the help of the Holy Spirit, with greater awareness. If we start with a healthy fear of the Lord, we are on our way to Wisdom, which is knowledge of God with experience of Him. We will approach God in prayer, as we would approach a True King of Kings.

Next up, in part II, we will need to have a correct view of ourselves in our understanding of the “who” in prayer. Because it takes two to have communication, and we are half way there.