Dale Partridge - Real Christianity #104： Does Prayer Change God's Mind？

00:00:00.000 Welcome to this episode of Real Christianity. My name is Dale Partridge, where each week

00:00:13.120 I offer 15-20 minute answers to tough theological and pastoral questions. This is a 100% listener

00:00:20.600 supported audio ministry of relearn.org. And for those who don't know, our mission

00:00:26.400 at relearn.org is to educate and equip ordinary Christians to plant biblical, confessional,

00:00:32.640 and missional house churches. For more information, just visit relearn.org forward slash house.

00:00:39.700 All right, so got an important question for you guys today. When we pray, are we persuading God?

00:00:48.440 Like, do our prayers change God's will? And what does the Bible teach about prayer? And how do our

00:00:55.680 prayers affect God's response? Guys, these are important questions. We're going to unpack these

00:01:02.700 in just a moment, but before we begin, I want to make just two short announcements. Number one is

00:01:08.240 if you are interested in planting a biblical house church, let's just say that you're somebody that

00:01:17.280 has some basic ministry experience. You know the Word of God. Maybe you are a pastor or

00:01:25.560 have thought about being a pastor, or maybe you feel a calling of being a pastor, you've

00:01:29.340 led some Bible studies in the past, but you feel like the Lord might be leading you to

00:01:33.920 plant and establish a house church in your home with five to seven families that are

00:01:40.500 gathering weekly on Sunday to worship the Lord in order, in alignment with historical

00:01:46.900 evangelical Christianity.

00:01:48.900 If you want to learn more about how to do that, you just feel unequipped or not prepared

00:01:54.200 or insecure about what it takes to actually pastor and understand the ecclesiological structure of

00:02:02.380 a church, consider checking out stjustins.org. And this is our companion ministry for relearn.org.

00:02:10.160 It is a one-year training program on the basics of understanding biblical house church. We go

00:02:19.000 through ecclesiology, we go through hermeneutics and biblical theology and preaching and the

00:02:23.980 qualifications of elders and church government and biblical counseling and discipleship and worship.

00:02:29.540 And we talk about these things. And I would say it's a pretty rigorous program. We have a handful

00:02:37.000 of other PhD faculty that are going to be teaching alongside me. And it's just a great program.

00:02:46.740 And we have limited space, but if you're interested in checking it out or learning more or

00:02:50.500 registering for a program maybe later, just again, check it out, stjustins.org to learn more about

00:02:58.040 that. Next thing I wanted to mention real quick is if you maybe aren't that far in the journey,

00:03:03.980 but you are interested in exploring more about House Church and what that looks like,

00:03:10.580 we have lots of resources at relearn.org. You can read all the different articles that we have,

00:03:15.400 and we have people that are writing and offering great content for you there. We also have great

00:03:20.920 PDFs that you can download, the Basics of Biblical House Church. We offer a book called

00:03:25.560 House Church that talks about the doctrines, convictions, and liturgy of a biblical house

00:03:30.220 church. Lots of resources for you to start the discussion in your home with a few families

00:03:35.780 about what it takes to gather biblically, but also intimately inside of a house.

00:03:41.880 Hopefully that's helpful. Let's go to this episode's question. It comes from Alistair

00:03:48.340 in Oxford, England. That is a very English name. I like it. He says,

00:03:53.340 I have recently come to understand a more biblical view of the sovereignty of God.

00:03:59.860 I also know that man cannot change or influence God's will. Isaiah 14, 27 says,

00:04:07.680 For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand has stretched out,

00:04:14.540 and who will turn it back? Proverbs 19.21 says, Many are the plans in the mind of a man,

00:04:20.960 but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. He says, If we cannot change God's mind

00:04:27.960 or will, then what's the purpose of prayer? Okay, this is a great question, Alistair,

00:04:34.040 and a lot of people don't get this far in their theological thinking. But we know that Jesus says

00:04:41.760 that the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart,

00:04:45.340 with all your soul, and with all your mind. And so we're going to dive into some mental

00:04:49.240 understanding of prayer. And so this is actually a common question for those who are new to the

00:04:57.920 biblical doctrine of God's sovereignty. Basically, and if I'm hearing you correctly, Alistair,

00:05:02.840 you're asking if God is sovereign and works all things according to his will, Ephesians 1.11,

00:05:09.000 you can check that out, and is truly omniscient, meaning that he knows all things, 1 John 3.20.

00:05:16.960 And if Matthew 6.8 is true, which reads, for your father knows what you need before you even ask him.

00:05:29.060 If all these things are true, why should we pray?

00:05:31.340 And if we choose to pray, how could our prayers have any influence in God's sovereign plan in

00:05:40.600 the world? So this is really important stuff here. So before I answer that, I think I just

00:05:47.140 would be helpful to briefly define prayer. About a year ago, during one of my seminary classes,

00:05:54.780 I had to read a fascinating book titled Calling on the Name of the Lord,

00:05:59.280 A Biblical Theology of Prayer. It's by Gary Millar and D.A. Carson. For those who don't know,

00:06:07.700 prayer, the act of prayer, was birthed early in the Bible. In Genesis 4, 25 and 26, we read a

00:06:14.560 passage that says, And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth.

00:06:21.480 for she said, quote, God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain

00:06:29.080 killed him. Verse 26, to Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time,

00:06:38.500 people began to call upon the name of the Lord. Okay, so the question we need to ask is,

00:06:46.460 why did people begin calling upon the name of the Lord? Well, in Genesis 3.15, just a chapter

00:06:53.860 earlier, God told Eve that through her, she would bear a son who would overcome the effects of the

00:07:01.180 serpent and restore them back to God. This promise is called the protovangelium. It's two Greek words

00:07:08.320 meaning proto for first and evangelion for good news. So it's the first good news if you want to

00:07:14.220 get into the theological vernacular there. Anyways, Eve's sons, Cain and Abel, were gone,

00:07:22.960 right? Abel was killed by Cain and Cain was banished. So no son was there to fulfill that

00:07:29.020 promise that God gave to Eve. So it's likely that Eve thought when she was pregnant with Seth

00:07:36.160 that Seth would be the promised serpent crusher that God spoke of. But after it became evident

00:07:43.820 that Seth was infected with sin, just like her and Adam were, they likely looked to Enosh, right?

00:07:51.620 Seth's son. But again, he was a sinner just like them. And so what do they do? Well, that's where 0.93

00:08:00.400 you get the verse that says, they began calling upon the name of the Lord. And this is important

00:08:07.080 because here we get a biblical definition of prayer. Prayer is calling upon God to fulfill

00:08:15.340 his promises or to fulfill what he said he would do. And this is actually the theme that's carried

00:08:22.960 throughout the scriptures. It's only later in the Bible that God introduces and approves the prayer

00:08:30.600 of petition and supplication. But even those types of prayers are still to occur in alignment

00:08:37.800 and I would say in submission to God's will. And this is why we have verses like 1 John 5.14 that

00:08:45.880 says, and this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according

00:08:51.960 to his will, he hears us. Or James 4.2-3 says, you do not have because you do not ask. And you ask

00:09:00.200 and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. And so there's a way

00:09:05.840 to ask to be within God's will. Now, again, I don't want to rabbit trail here off of your

00:09:10.640 question, Alistair. I want to get to the root of the question, but I do want you to all know

00:09:18.540 that according to the Bible, prayer is calling upon God to do what his word promises he will do.

00:09:28.000 So I'm going to say that again.

00:09:29.620 Prayer, according to the Bible, is calling upon God to do what his word promises he will do.

00:09:36.020 And this is why praying that God would approve your credit card application so that you can buy that new jet ski for the summer is an unbiblical prayer.

00:09:49.200 God's word speaks against debt, and it never promises to provide material comfort to his children in that way.

00:09:56.740 But when you pray for, say, courage in a time of persecution or that the Lord would make a way for you to feed your family, these are valid because the scriptures speak to both courage and to meeting the basic human needs of the saints.

00:10:10.940 But, you know, prayer that's within God's will because, you know, it's revealed in God's word typically has to do with a request of timing.

00:10:21.560 So it's not about what, it's really about when.

00:10:24.880 You know, you might pray that God brings justice to the situation quickly, right?

00:10:31.340 We know that God is a God of justice.

00:10:33.280 You know, we know that justice will come.

00:10:37.180 We know that vengeance is his, but we are basically petitioning that he brings it now,

00:10:45.480 but at the same time submitted to the timing of his perfect will.

00:10:50.540 But again, we could rabbit trail there pretty easily.

00:10:54.160 So let's get to the core of the question.

00:10:55.560 Does prayer change God's mind?

00:10:57.880 I like what R.C. Sproul once said.

00:11:01.680 He says, does prayer change God's mind?

00:11:05.640 No.

00:11:06.520 But does prayer change things?

00:11:09.000 Yes.

00:11:10.240 So prayer is much like preaching and evangelizing.

00:11:14.500 Does preaching and evangelizing save people?

00:11:18.700 No.

00:11:19.580 Uh, God saves people. Humans can preach all day, but only God can generate spiritual rebirth and

00:11:27.260 give a person a new heart. We can't give people new hearts. Um, if we could, every parent on the

00:11:33.140 planet would give their children saved hearts, but we can't, we can't do that. Um, God has to do

00:11:40.160 that. And this is actually why Paul says in first Corinthians three, five through seven, uh, what

00:11:45.580 then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned

00:11:52.040 to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So neither him or neither he who

00:12:01.280 plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the increase. Basically, preaching

00:12:09.420 and evangelism are the means by which God uses to accomplish his ends, which is salvation.

00:12:17.840 Okay, I want you to pay attention to this idea here for a second. Preaching and evangelism

00:12:22.760 are the means by which God uses to accomplish his ends in salvation. So prayer falls into the same

00:12:31.460 theological paradigm. And let me explain. If God willed my three-year-old son to stand on a five-foot

00:12:40.420 tall box, he would also have to will that Veronica or myself would lift him up and place him on that

00:12:49.040 box. Essentially, God doesn't just predestine or will the ends, but he also predestines and

00:12:58.220 wills, the means. So we would have to be a part of that accomplishment. He would use us to pick

00:13:04.980 our son up and put him on the box. That's kind of a weird explanation, but I'm hoping that's

00:13:12.140 helpful for you guys. So God, in a beautiful way, has integrated our prayers into his providence.

00:13:20.300 So for example, when you pray for a woman and her child to be safe on a certain night,

00:13:25.860 And let's say God clearly answers that prayer. He not only willed that woman and child's safety,

00:13:34.280 but also your prayer for that child's safety or that woman and that child's safety. Now you might

00:13:41.540 be thinking, well, if God's will is going to pass regardless, then why should I pray? Well, there's

00:13:50.660 three reasons that I'll give you. There's probably many more. But the first is basically

00:13:56.100 what we just discussed. God, in his grace, has allowed us to participate in his providence

00:14:04.140 through prayer. And that in itself is just a blessing. So we need to recognize that. Second

00:14:11.000 is that God commands that we pray. And there's well over a hundred times in the scriptures

00:14:18.360 and the New Testament alone that are talking about just the command to pray. You know,

00:14:24.120 Philippians 4, 6, don't be anxious for anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication

00:14:28.140 with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, pray without

00:14:33.060 seizing. James 5, 16, therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you

00:14:37.460 may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. So yes, number

00:14:46.240 Number one is that we get to participate in the providence of God by being the means to

00:14:51.020 accomplish God's ends.

00:14:52.620 Second is that it's a command of scripture.

00:14:54.660 So it's a matter of obedience.

00:14:56.620 Third, prayer is the means by which God has made us, or I should say made for us to commune

00:15:05.920 with him.

00:15:07.220 It's a relational element, right?

00:15:09.220 If the Lord is spiritual food, then prayer is the fork and knife by which we consume him, okay?

00:15:20.680 That's a weird thing to say, too, but I thought it was good when I wrote it.

00:15:25.100 And, you know, it's the means by which our relationship is nurtured, okay?

00:15:29.720 It's the means.

00:15:31.200 Prayer is this spiritual discipline by which our relationship is nurtured.

00:15:37.040 um the the you know um the wonder of early 20th century theologian jerry bridges he once said

00:15:45.120 prayer is the most tangible expression of trust in god john bunyan said something great he said

00:15:53.540 prayer opens the heart to god and it's the means by which the soul though empty is filled with god

00:16:02.620 So prayer, basically, Alistair, is a multidimensional spiritual discipline.

00:16:09.300 And at the core, it's calling upon God to fulfill what he promised to do through his word.

00:16:15.800 And our prayers don't change God's mind, but they are the means by which God uses to fulfill his will in the world.

00:16:26.880 Just like preaching is the means to bring about salvation.

00:16:30.540 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

00:16:33.020 We need a preacher to hear it, but we are not the ones that do it.

00:16:36.400 We're the ones that water.

00:16:37.440 We're not the ones that bring the increase.

00:16:39.100 The same thing with prayer is that we're a part of this journey.

00:16:42.320 God's integrated our prayers into his providence that we are a part of God's will.

00:16:48.640 He didn't just will that the thing happened, that the prayer was answered, but he also

00:16:52.600 willed that we would pray for that too.

00:16:54.640 And so there's a beautiful, massive, big God theology required to understand this.

00:17:02.360 And so again, our prayers don't change God's mind, but they're the means by which God uses

00:17:06.780 to fulfill his will in the world.

00:17:10.040 And lastly, prayer is a command and the vehicle by which we commune with God.

00:17:16.760 It's an important aspect that we have to be in relationship with God.

00:17:22.640 Now, I know this is a heavy, heavy question, so I want to give you guys a couple of resources

00:17:27.100 that you can find on the post page for this episode. You can just go to relearn.org. This

00:17:33.520 is episode 104 titled, Does Prayer Change God's Mind? And so a couple of things. One, you can get

00:17:43.260 the book, Calling Upon the Name of the Lord by Gary Millar. Another great resource, another great

00:17:50.200 book. It's probably one of the greatest books written on this topic. It's titled Evangelism

00:17:55.600 and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer. And I really recommend picking up a copy of that or

00:18:01.620 listening to it via audio. It's a heady book, but it explains this concept of means and ends

00:18:08.740 and how we are used in God's sovereignty as the means to accomplish the ends in evangelism,

00:18:16.060 in preaching and in prayer. So that'll be a helpful tool for you. And again, those are

00:18:20.560 available at relearn.org. Just search for episode 104 titled, Does God or Does Prayer Change God's

00:18:27.660 Mind? Hopefully that was helpful for you, Alistair. Guys, if you're a regular listener to the show,

00:18:32.060 thank you. And if you guys would be so kind to just grab your phone right now and just

00:18:36.880 go to the iTunes app or the podcast app on your phone and just tap the stars and rate the show.

00:18:43.320 for us. Those ratings, they really do help the exposure of the show. Many people find

00:18:49.000 Real Christianity and this podcast and our ministry because people have left reviews.

00:18:53.920 You don't even need to write anything, but if you do write something, I will read it.

00:18:57.520 So thank you guys for joining us today on this episode of Real Christianity. My name is

00:19:01.120 Dale Partridge, and we will see you next week.

00:19:06.280 Thank you for listening to this episode of Real Christianity. If you're a regular listener to

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00:19:14.620 simply visit relearn.org forward slash donate again that's relearn.org forward slash donate

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00:19:25.320 you can download our free pdf ebook titled the basics of biblical house church by visiting

00:19:30.360 relearn.org forward slash house lastly do you have a theological question you would like answered

00:19:36.220 on the show, submit your question at relearn.org forward slash question. Thanks for joining us on

00:19:42.020 this episode of Real Christianity. We'll see you next Wednesday.

Dale Partridge - July 29, 2020

Real Christianity #104： Does Prayer Change God's Mind？

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