Commentary on "The Promise of Prayer"

CAREL AND NICOLE STEVENSON

 

Day 4: Tuesday, March 6, 2012 - "The Prayer of Faith"

 

Overview

Today’s study begins by quoting Hebrews 11:6 then asking how this text informs the reader about the requirements of prayer. The author states that prayer is about,

1. opening ourselves to God
2. exercising our faith to strengthen it, making it real and practical
3. dying to self daily
4. reconnecting with God

The author then sends the reader to Daniel 9:3 where Daniel describes seeking God through prayers, and Zechariah 8:21 where Zechariah is given a prophesy about the godless seeking God by inquiring of the Jews.

 

Observations

Today’s study is full of scripture taken out of context to teach that prayer is a means for believers to seek and get right with God so they can grow in their faith and reconnect with the Father. On the surface these words may sound correct. However, when they are seen in the light of Adventist theology, which is held together by the Great Controversy, it becomes easy to find the error in the authors points.

One of the craftiest elements of Seventh-day Adventism is their use of Christian language taken from scripture that they attach different and unbiblical meanings to. Meanings that can only be deciphered by the Great Controversy. While the casual Christian observer may be concerned about the scripture taken out of context, they have little else to hang their concerns on without understanding the Adventist world view. The teachings of Ellen White use scripture to make unbiblical conclusions about our standing before God, and our responsibility in the fulfillment of our Salvation. Lets begin unveiling this practice by looking together at the first passage the author uses to make her point about prayer.

 

Hebrews 11:6

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.”

The author asks what this passages teaches us about what is required for prayer. Before continuing I encourage you to read chapters 10-12 on your own to place this one sentence in it’s correct context. The context of the book of Hebrews is about who Jesus is, what He has done, and what this means for us as born again believers who stand in the righteousness of Christ before a Holy God through faith in the eternal sacrifice of our LORD under the eternal new covenant of grace. Hebrews 11:6 is not about requirements for prayer. The context here is that in order to please God we must be in right standing before Him, and that is only possibly through faith.

Let’s look at a couple other passages of scripture to help explain this further; John 3: 5-7, Ezekiel 36: 25-27, Ephesians 1:13-14, 1 Peter 1:3a and Roman’s 8.

 

John 3:5-7

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.’

When Nicodemus did not understand the words of Jesus, our Lord admonished him because he was a teacher of Israel who knew the scriptures. He should have known that a time was coming when God would give His people a new spirit because he would have known Ezekiel.

 

Ezekiel 36:25-27

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes

When we are born again God gives a new spirit and He puts His Spirit within us. Humans are spirit beings which are born dead to God in Adam and must be brought to life in Jesus. So how does this happen?

 

Ephesians 1:13-14

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

 

1 Peter 1:3a

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope…”

So, once we place our faith in the gospel of our salvation we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and placed in Christ who is our resurrection life. God causes us to be born again through our placing our faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ whereby we count His sacrifice as sufficient for our salvation.

 

Romans 8:9-10

“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness..”

 

Romans 8:8

“.. and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Now, let’s return to the context of Hebrews. This passage is not instructive for an “effective prayer life” but rather it is a part of a beautiful “conversation” describing what it is to be right before God and that it is only in this righteousness by faith that we are able to please our Father, just as Romans 8:8 describes.

It is clear that the author of today’s study took this one sentence in the letter to the Hebrews out of context to express that prayer without enough faith is not pleasing to God. Why make such a point? When considering the theological framework of Seventh-day Adventism we can unveil the purpose behind the use of this passage in such a way. According to the Great Controversy, Christians are to use prayer as a kind of incantation that will shore up power from God for them to refrain from breaking the 10 commandments and sinning against God. All too often the average lay person becomes frustrated that their prayers are not effective in their keeping from breaking God’s law. The common response is that they do not have enough faith as they pray.

Lets look at the Authors claim that prayer is a way of opening ourselves up to God. Again, understanding the Great Controversy paradigm helps bring the authors intentions to light. Seventh-day Adventists do not believe that humans are spirit beings. Therefore, the act of being born again is about a daily conscious decision to obey God’s law. Again, this is done through “effective” prayer which many Christians might understand as a form of incantation. While the Christian might read the authors statement above and agree, they would likely understand it in the sense that prayer is a way of opening “the lines of communication” with God. They will not understand that the author is referring to an ideology that treats the Holy Spirit as a power source rather than a person, which comes in different measures and leaves when we are not obeying God’s law. To open ones self to this power source we must “die daily” (choose to uphold God’s law daily) and ask the Holy Spirit to help us keep God’s law. Our connection to God, according to the Adventist framework, is based on our momentary obedience. Which is why prayer is described as a re-connection. There is no understanding that once we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, He never leaves us. Adventism teaches that the Holy Spirit is grieved and leaves us when we break the 10 commandments.

Seventh-day Adventism simply does not teach the gospel of scripture. Without understanding the nature of man and the rebirth they do not understand their relationship to God as Christians. Scripture tells our story clearly. We were born spiritually dead, and Jesus brought us to spiritual life in Him.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” Ephesians 2:1-5

“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Col. 1:13-14

Before we were born from above and adopted as God’s children we were spiritually dead. When we pray a prayer of repentance and place our faith in Jesus Christ, our very nature is changed. We become a new creation in Christ Jesus when He gives us Spiritual life. As we saw in Ephesians we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and it is God who keeps us alive.

In today’s lesson the author writes that prayer is, “a way to remind yourself that you are not your own, that you have been bought with a price and that left to yourself you would crumble and die in a world full of powers and forces that could in an instant, trample you into the dirt.” No-- our prayer does not keep us alive. As we saw in scripture, God keeps us alive. Before we are born again, prayer is how we come to repentance. After we are born again, it is how we communicate with God. Jesus is our eternal sacrifice and He covers our sin once for all, past, present, and future, which is why Hebrews teaches us that we can come before the throne of God boldly (without fear).

To drive home the point that we are to seek God continually in prayer, the author chooses to share two more texts Daniel 9:3 and Zechariah 8:21.

Daniel 9:3 describes Daniel praying for his people. This passage is a descriptive event that occurred under the old covenant way of relating to God. It is not a prescriptive teaching for the prayer life of the new covenant born again believer. In the old testament God’s people did not have the indwelling Holy Spirit. The detail that Daniel put on sackloth and ashes is an important detail here. Daniel was repenting for his nation. Sackloth was a rough material which irritated the flesh of man reminding him of his sinfulness, ashes represented the fact that we are merely dust before a Holy God. Daniel was repenting and seeking God. The believer too must repent and seek God in order to experience adoption as sons, however, while we live a continual life of repentance before God, there is no longer a seeking after Him in the way that man did under the old covenant. God is faithful and keeps His promises, “…I will never leave you nor forsake you,” Hebrews 13:5b.

Before we say anything about the passage in Zecharaiah, lets look at the verses surrounding the one the author shares

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will also go.” So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.’ Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’

Again, this passage is descriptive of a prophesy that tells of a time when people will travel to the Jews in order to seek favor with the God of Israel. This is not a prescriptive passage concerning prayer life for the born again believer!

While the author and I can agree that prayer is not meant to be rote or static, we understand the purpose of prayer quite differently simply because the Great Controversy motif completely alters the gospel of scripture and can only be supported by scripture when the Bible is taken out of context and manipulated by man.

 

Summary Points

1. Prayer is how we repent and come to God in faith in order to receive adoption as sons.
2. Once we are born again, prayer is how we communicate with God and pray in His will according to His word.
3. While Adventist doctrine may teach an entire lesson, or preach an entire sermon without quoting Ellen G. White, all of their words are defined by their Great Controversy world view.

 

GO TO DAY 5

 

Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised March 3, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Camp Verde, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

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