The Goodness of God (Chapter Six)

Chapter Six

Error Five: We Must Never Pray "If It Be Thy Will."

We can only pray without an "if' when we are quite sure that our will must be God's will, because God's will is fully our will.[1] - Charles H. Spurgeon

An error just as dangerous as the one mentioned in our previous lesson is that of believing that we should never pray to ascertain the will of God. Some (not all) Charismatic and Word of Faith teachers teach that we should never pray “if it be thy will concerning anything.

It is so hard for Christians to stay balanced. We have a tendency to go to one extreme or the other. Just as we should not end every prayer with “if it be thy will,” neither should we forget that sometimes we must pray in this manner when there is no clear and direct guidance from God on the subject that we are praying about.

As we read the Bible we understand that God will only answer prayer that is prayed in line with His will:

"And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his WILL, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." (1 John 5:14-15)

The word "will" in this passage of scripture comes from the Greek word thelema which means "purpose, decree, desire, pleasure, will."{2} In our praying, we are to put God's desires ahead of our own. As we pray according to His desires and purposes, we are guaranteed to not only be heard but to also receive that which we have asked for.

Knowing God's will primarily comes from spending time in His Word and in prayer. The Word of God is the revealed will of God. This is the primary way to know God's will concerning any subject. There are principles that cover everything we will ever need from God’s Word, but the Bible does not tell you every detail of God’s will for your personal life. There are some things you will only get from God as you pray and seek Him.

In Okinawa I minister primarily to the men and women of the United States armed forces who are assigned here. They are here for anywhere from two to four years. Afterwards, they must be reassigned. Now many of these Christian men and women have certain places that they desire to be assigned to when they leave here. Some may want to leave here and go to Hawaii for example. Yet, there is no promise in the Bible that specifically states that "God will send brother or sister so and so to Hawaii."

Another example is the call to ministry. There is no passage of scripture that states "God has called Troy Edwards into a writing and teaching ministry." I personally love teaching the message of faith and answered prayer. I like showing people how to get their prayers answered by praying according to God's Word. Yet how can we pray for something effectively that is not specified in God's Word? That's when we pray to ascertain the will of God, or some may pray, “Lord I will go to ______ if it is your will for me.”

Believer's must realize that there is more than one way to pray. In school there is more than one type of MATH. We have geometry, algebra, trigonometry, calculus, etc. All of these different types of math have different rules for solving specific problems. Though both are math, you just don't use the same rules in Algebra to solve a calculus problem. In prayer we also have different ways of praying and we must follow the rules of the type of prayer that we are praying..

What do we do with a desire to be assigned to Hawaii or a calling into the ministry? These are things that must first be submitted to God in order for us to receive an answer. I cannot just tell God, "Oh Lord, I want to teach and preach all over the world. I want to be a famous evangelist. Please help me," and expect God to just call you into the ministry.

This is when you must consecrate yourself to God. This is when you must put your ambitions and desires aside and find out what are God's ambitions and desires for you. Instead of asking God, "Lord send me to Hawaii," we must ask, "Lord, where is it that you want me to go?" Jesus prayer in the garden of Gethsemane gives us a pattern for this:

"And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:41-42).

This is the prayer of consecration. Jesus was putting His desires aside and putting His Father's desires first. He wanted to do His Fathers will even if the Father's will did not line up with His will. I am so glad He did, aren't you? Suppose Jesus had just rebelled against His Father's will? You and I would have no hope of eternal life. We would be destined for hell, not to mention a life of misery and sorrow while here on earth.

When you put your desires ahead of God's, you are not only hurting yourself but you are hurting those whom God could have used you to help had you been obedient. We must follow Jesus example and put God's will ahead of ours.

A wise man once said if you want to know what something is, first find out what it is not. Let us see what the prayer that Jesus prayed is NOT.

We must remember however that Jesus was praying a prayer of consecration. He was not petitioning God in the sense that we would pray the prayer of faith. Too many problems have been caused by people taking this example of Jesus and praying "if it be thy will" when certain things are already revealed in the will of God. When corrected, they will say, "but this is the way Jesus prayed!" Then they wonder why their prayers are not being answered.

DO NOT pray if it be thy will concerning HEALING. God's will for your healing has already been revealed in His Word:

"And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, IF THOU WILT, THOU CANST MAKE ME CLEAN, and Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I WILL, BE THOU CLEAN. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was clean." (Mark 1:40-42).

This man did not have a Bible as we do. He did not have the multitude of teachers to show him what belonged to him under the Abrahamic covenant. Until Jesus came along, all that was being taught was plain legalism. He had nothing to base his faith on when he came to Jesus with his pettition. Yet the will of God concerning this man's healing is revealed in Jesus' two words: I will.

This passage of Scripture was recorded for us so that we can see what God's will is for everyone who is under covenant with Him. God has no favorites. Some people try to teach the SOVEREIGNTY of God concerning divine healing. They teach that God chooses to heal some and not others. Do not receive this fatalistic teaching. E.M. Bound, a man whyo has written numerous books on prayer has made this statement that I am in full agreement with:

Answers to prayer are the only surety that we have prayed aright. What marvelous power there is in prayer! What untold miracles it works in this world! What untold benefits to men does it secure to those who pray! Why is it that the average prayer by the million goes a begging for an answer?

The millions of unanswered prayers are not to be solved by the mystery of God's will. We are not the sport of his sovereign power. He is not playing at "make-believe" in his marvelous promises to answer prayer. The whole explanation is found in our wrong praying. "We ask and receive not because we ask amiss." If all unanswered prayers were dumped into the ocean, they would come very near filling it. Child of God, can you pray? Are your prayers answered? If not, why not? Answered prayer is the proof of your real praying.[3]

There are many passages of scriptures that prove that it is God's will for all His children to walk in divine health. We do not pray the prayer of consecration when it comes to healing. We just ask God to do it according to His Word and then we believe that we receive.

DO NOT tell God "If it be thy will, please provide me with enough money to feed my wife and children." or "Please give me a job if it be thy will." His will is already revealed in His Word in that area. You must search the Bible and find the promises that reveal this and then claim them.

DO NOT pray, "God, if it be thy will, do something about the devil. He's tearing my life apart." God has done all that He is ever going to do about the devil through the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has given you authority over the devil. YOU can and you MUST do something about the devil yourself. Otherwise he will continue to tear your life apart.

God's Word reveals His will concerning marriage, sanctification, holiness, witnessing, deliverance, salvation of loved ones, etc. To pray "if it be thy will" concerning any area that is revealed in His Word is praying in unbelief. This kind of prayer has no guarantee of an answer.

On the other hand, too many Christians hear myself and others preached what has been labeled the called, "Word of Faith" message go to the far extreme and apply faith principles where consecration principles should be applied. Now we understand that all praying, regardless of what kind must be done in faith. However, we have to be careful not to claim something from God when His will has not been revealed on that subject.

Once I was teaching a series on how to get prayers answered. Afterwards I was approached by a lovely Christian woman. She got confused during the study because I was showing them Scriptures which told

us that we can ask anything from God and receive it. In other words, I was teaching the prayer of petition. She and he husband were about to be reassigned and she had been asking the Lord to send them where it was His will for them to go. After hearing listening to me teach she thought that maybe she was wrong.

I told her she was not but that she was correct in the way that she prayed. I explained to her that I was only teaching on a specific type of prayer. She was praying a different kind but she was praying correctly.

This brought her relief. She then began to relate to me an incident that happened with another Christian couple that she was close friends with.

This couple who was in the military were waiting for reassignment. They wanted to go to a specific area but did not ask God's will concerning it. They just began to "confess it" and thank God for it. This young lady tried to correct them according to what she knew but they would not listen to her. To make her long story short they received a different assignment then the one they desired.

So many so called Christians make their own plans and then expect God to bless them. Unfortunately, many ministers do this too. We find it too hard to seek the Lord for our every move. Man is too self sufficient when we should be God dependent. God will not bless selfish plans. We are to submit our plans to Him and leave ourselves open for a yes or no.

James had something to say to those who liked making their own plans apart from God's will:

"Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, IF THE LORD WILL, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such boasting is evil." (James 4:13-16).

Many Christians have taken this passage of scripture to say, "You know, we're not guaranteed tomorrow." That's not true. If we are living in line with God's will then we are promised long life and good days upon the earth (Ex. 23:25-26; Ps. 91:16; 92:12-15; Eph. 6:1-3; 1 Pet. 3:8-12). This is included with the blessings of prosperity and health.

This passage of scripture is to be applied to those who are not in line with God's will. They go around bragging about doing this and that and do not include God in their plans. They don't bother to seek God. They just brag on themselves. Many today call it a "confession of faith." Much of what we call "faith confessions" is nothing but a bunch of arrogant boasting. God says this is a sin. If your confession is not based on God's Word or the calling He has revealed to you then you are bragging and you are in sin. You need to repent.

James told these people that their plans were in vain. They were not living in God's perfect will for there lives and therefore were not even guaranteed to see tomorrow. We cannot claim the promises of long life, prosperity, and health if we will not submit ourselves to the will of God. James told these people in the same chapter some verses before that their arrogance was the reason that they were not getting their prayers answered:

"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. (James 4:3).

God will answer prayer when we consecrate ourselves to Him and His will. He is not in the business of blessing us just to consume upon our “lusts”. As we have discussed in previous chapters He will bless us with good things, but He does not want these good things to enslave us.

When it all comes down to it we must remember when to pray "If it be thy will" and when not to. Both will bring blessings when prayed correctly. If God's will for you is not distinctively revealed in His Word (What church to go to? Should I become a missionary to Africa? Am I called to the ministry? Ect.) then God promises to reveal it to you once you have consecrated yourself as Jesus did: "not my will, but thine be done."

Some years ago when I was in the military I was not sure whether to continue with my military career or leave and stay in Okinawa as a missionary. It would have been the easiest thing for me to stay in. The job situation in the United States was beginning to look hopeless and Okinawa did not look any better. In fact the job situation here looked worse.

I talked to others who had once been in the military and said that the Lord told them to get out and stay in Okinawa. Their situations were not the least bit encouraging. Many of them were struggling financially and could not land any good jobs.

I had a family to feed and the Air Force was doing that for me. The Air Force provided me housing, food allowance, and enough money to spare. All I had to do was report to work and do my job. I thought about how hard it was to give up all of that. I was well on my way to signing my reenlistment paperwork.

But then I really became impressed in my spirit to seek the Lord and ask Him to reveal His will in this decision. I promised Him that I would submit to His will for me. Some time later during a praise and worship service at our church God began to speak to both my wife and I. He told me that He wanted me out.

"But Lord," I told Him, "I have failed you so many times." He lovingly told me, "Son, I will keep you if you want to be kept." Afterwards I turned to my wife and told her "Honey, I'm leaving the military." She told me, "I knew that already."

Once we received this Word then I started praying about having a job to feed my family until I was able to build my ministry to a point that I could go full time. I needed a place that was adequate for my wife and children. We were living in military quarters at that time.

God did that and much, much more. Just before it was time for me to leave the military they began to have a "drawdown" of the services. They were offering substantial amounts of money to those who would voluntary leave the military. I of course signed up for the program. This money helped us to get on our feet and buy the things that we needed. If you have never been in the military here in Okinawa then you may never realize how dependent one can be on the government to provide the necessities and luxuries of life.

God blessed us with the exact house we prayed for and lower the rent we asked for. He blessed me with a very good job in a position that is normally not given when first starting out. God blessed my family and I overly and abundantly. He has not stopped yet providing our needs. He will bless all of His children in the same manner if they will just consecrate themselves to Him.

I could tell many more stories like this if space permitted. I can say that God will take care of those who submit their will to His. A word of caution: Being in God's will does not mean that everything will automatically fall in place for you. Satan will still attack. You will still experience trials and tribulations. Yet if you are in God's perfect will these things can be overcome.

We experienced our share while we knew that we were in God's perfect will, yet we prayed them through and God worked them out. As you learn to consecrate your will to God you will be the victor over every obstacle that stands in the way of the task He has given you.

Always desire to pray in line with the will of God, whether it is the will revealed from the Bible or His will as He speaks to your heart by the Holy Spirit.

E-mail: victoryword@yahoo.com

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