DAY 3: God Works Through The Prayers Of His People

Jesus tempted by the devil.

So complete and final was Adam's authority over the earth that he, not just God, had the ability to give it away to another! Listen to the words of Satan in Luke 4:6, 7 as he tempted Jesus: "I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours."

The part about the domain being handed over to him was true and Jesus knew it. He even called Satan "the ruler of this world" three times in the Gospels (see John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11).


So complete and final was God's decision to do things on earth through human beings that it cost God the Incarnation to regain what Adam gave away. He had to become a part of the human race. Without question, humans were forever to be God's link to authority and activity on the earth.

Here we have, I believe, the reason for the necessity of prayer. God chose, from the time of the Creation, to work on the earth through humans, not independent of them. He always has and always will, even at the cost of becoming one. Though God is sovereign and all-powerful, Scripture clearly tells us that He limited Himself, concerning the affairs of earth, to working through human beings.

Is this not the story woven throughout the Scriptures:

· God and humans, for better or worse, doing it together?
· God needing faithful men and women?
· God needing a race through whom to work?
· God needing prophets?
· God needing judges?
· God needing a human Messiah?
· God needing human hands to heal, human voices to speak and human feet to go?

Doesn't He need us to ask for His kingdom to come, His will to be done (see Matthew 6:10)? Surely He wouldn't want us to waste our time asking for something that was going to happen anyway, would He?

Didn't He tell us to ask for our daily bread? (See Matthew 6:11.) And yet, He knows our needs before we even ask.

Didn't He tell us to ask that laborers be sent into the harvest? (See Matthew 9:38.) But, doesn't the Lord of the harvest want that more than we do?

Didn't Paul say, "Pray for us that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified" (2 Thes. 3:1)? Wasn't God already planning to do this?

Are not these things God's will? Why, then, am I supposed to ask Him for something He already wants to do if it's not that my asking somehow releases Him to do it?

Shalom,

Rev. Obadiah Swen

Pastor, Bethel World Outreach Church - Virginia