Why Still Pray?

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I now really doubt prayer---prayer as the modern church describes it to be and how people do it today. Prayer's meaning has been adulterated (or abused) for ages so that people lose sense of what it really is, often used like Aladdin's lamp, rubbing the lamp so the genie can be released and fulfill our wishes. Many times, it is a performance or a recital, said poetically, sincerely and firmly, but a mere performace, nonetheless. Done for men to hear and like. 

Image above from Pondering Principles.

It's often useless. You hear a lot of good words but really get nothing at all. Or else, you get what you never asked for. And smart pastors explain this away by saying the prayer probably isn't God's will so He gave us something "better" (and how I wish this were true). Or, if God closes a window he opens a huge door or gate. It's like a kid asking for candy but the dentist says it's bad for his teeth. So the kid's given cucumber, instead. 

But God isn't just some dentist. He can give you the candy minus the tooth decay. Nothing is impossible to Him. That's the idea with prayer--we ask Him for anything, even the impossible, and expect exactly to get that. We don't pray just to later justify why God didn't give us what we asked for. We ask, believe, claim and actually get it. That's what Jesus taught.

"If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." [John 14.14]

And here's another powerful assurance.

“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." [Mark 11.22-24]

...does not doubt in his heart but believes that 
what he says will happen. 

The solution is not to get rid of sweets altogether. Forfeit kids of candies? That's cruel. It should be balanced eating of sweets and knowing how to clean the teeth properly after eating. So, the answer is yes to the question should kids be allowed to eat sweets or candies. Everything in moderation and balance. 

In the Spirit realms, moderation means asking God for the impossible, not to abuse his goodness or test if He's really going to do it. Balance means we dare not go beyond Jesus' teachings. And not believing his radical teachings on prayer but watering them down with our "sound" theology means going beyond, getting out or falling short of Jesus' teachings. 

I often ask God why he has never answered my major, urgent prayers and yet he gives me what I never asked for. I've been asking him to prosper my blogs and e-books, for instance, so I can derive my major income source from them. This way, I won't depend on people for my income but straight from God alone, through my blogs and e-books. But he tells me that people's hearts are revealed with their giving. Let it be so now, he says, until the time is right. 

I'm tired of having my income derived from tithes alone or handouts from "supporters." I would like to say together with Apostle Paul that my own hands feed me through the grace of God alone---and never rely on anyone for provisions. It's lots better that way because nowadays, your "supporters" and "givers" in church can suddenly get smart and try to control you and the church, just because they give you money and have "invested so much" in your ministry. 

Many pastors, in fact, have become enslaved by their "supporters" and "givers" and turned away from God without realizing it. It's these supporters calling the shots in church, not God anymore.

In the Acts church system which I model my ministry after, I don't have this problem. There is no "membership" and people do not get elected to positions because there aren't any. There's no church board or board of this and that or any of that garbage. If the Lord is really calling them to minister, I let them, without giving them leadership positions. People approach and urge me to be discipled. They don't pay me salaries or anything. They tithe or give support on their own volition. Nonetheless, I still want to earn on my own as Paul did.

Some moneyed supporters can suddenly get wild ideas and begin to think they're "paying" you a salary (and you're their employee), instead of thinking that giving tithes and offerings is really an act of returning to God what belongs to him---and which is merely partial giving. Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of the Law for us and levelled up giving tithes to giving up everything we have to God to give to the poor.

In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. [Luke 14.33]

And another powerful passage for true disciples:

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys." [Luke 12.32-33]

So far, my disciples understand this well. They know I am not their employed pastor who they can control, maniputlate or order around, and returning their tithes to God doesn't mean they're "givers" or supporters. When you have returned something to the Owner, it does not make you a supporter. This is why Jesus challenges us to give up everything to become real disciples supporting his ministries. And giving up should be done with a willing, cheerful heart. 

What's the Connection Between Our Giving and God's Answers to Prayers?

Why do I discuss this at length? Because God's answers to so many prayers are channeled through the resources that we totally surrender to HIM. True disciples give up all their possessions to God. And from that, God answers the prayers of the poor. When total surrender of material possessions happen, it's God's supernatrual miracle to the needy. Why are so many prayers asking for material blessings seem to remain unanswered? Because majority of church people disobey Jesus. They claim to be disciples but have never given up anything to God. Often, they even withhold their tithes. 

Church denominations and mega churches should all give up everything they have, sell them and give to the poor. They should sell their properties and use the money to help the needy financially (not to build more church structures and reach more people, not for the Gospel, but for church membership). When this happens (in the last days, the Holy Spirit will move God's true churches to do this), it means a great miracle has happened to the church through the supernatural prodding of the Spirit. And this will cause the true Gospel of Jesus Christ to spread. A lot of prayers will be answered. 

But as it is, I can't understand prayer anymore---how it is done today in church. We claim to pray for the brethren because we love them, yet we do not give up everything we have for them. We have miused the phrase, "The Lord will provide" to avoid responsibility. He can very well provide without our resources. He can produce money out of nothing without adversely affecting the economy, without causing inflation or upsetting the fiat money system of the world. 

But we miss God's Kingdom prosperity system if we think God will provide supernaturally without his people giving up everything they have and give to the poor. God's answers to prayers do not work like that. And if we think God will provide without church people giving up everything they have, I better not pray with the church.

I Still Don't Understand Prayer

Prayer is such a deep mystery, and yet it should be as simple as natural breathing. Even before a word is released from my mouth, the Lord knows it completely in its entire and accurate context. Sometimes I ask God in my subconscious as I am absorbed with mundane things, and he hears me. Answers come supernaturally. So I figured, why then should I pray anymore? Often, I just have to moan and groan and the Spirit of God takes it from there and transposes it according to God's will. Fact, there are lots of times when all I need is to glance at the Lord and he sees it all. Prayer is exciting and yet I don't understand it.

But some prayers remain unanswered for years. Why should I pray when God has not been answering? Shouldn't I just drop everything and let him do as he pleases? Anyway, nothing can stop him from doing what he wants. Not even Moses' pleading and interceding for his contemporary Israelites stopped God from killing them all in the desert eventually. And Jesus did pray that God forgive his crucifiers---his killers---because they didn't know what they were doing. But the Father didn't answer him yes. The murderers all had to be accountable for their crime against Jesus, unless they repented and surrendered their lives fully to Christ. World history tells us Herod gave no sign that he repented of any sin.

I understand it all, and yet I don't. But then, yes, I do.

These great people in the bible mostly didn't get their prayers answered but they continued to talk with God anyway. They continued to walk with him.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.

Then, why still pray when there's a chance you will never get any answer?

But then God assures us, who ever asks receives. The Syro-Phoenician woman who, in God's time table, wasn't supposed to get a miracle but did get it because of her radical faith and prayer. Jesus tells us if we believe we have received it, it shall be ours.

Moreover, Jesus gives us a hint. For a time (we don't know how long) God will "keep putting off" the prayers of the faithful. For whatever reason, he alone knows. It's for various reasons for each individual. It may be for a while or even for a lifetime. But he will surely answer---and in Christ it's always a yes. In Christ, there is no such thing as no for an answer.

And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? [Luke 18. 7]

Thus, even without any answer or a glimpse of hope, I keep talking to him day and night. Sometimes when it gets tiring, I don't mention it at all. We talk about other things instead, and that gives me satisfaction---like what dopamine neurotransmitters do to give us a sense of well being. It's so important to have sweet-nothing talks with God as sweets in the natural world are what trigger the brain to release dopamine. It's something like that in the spirit when we have sweet times with God instead of dwelling on problems. Spiritual dopamines are released. See?

Habakkuk puts it this way:

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. [3.18]

Thus, this is what prayer really is---it's not really "asking God" for something, though asking can be part of it. It's not a way of getting from God what you want, although on a carnal level this is what prayer is for most Christians who think they understand what prayer is all about. Prayer is being with God, and this may or may not involve talking with him. Just being with God in silence involves conversations no earthly being can understand. Best of all, just surrendering everything to God, resting in his presence and goodness, is prayer enough that often needs no uttering of any earthly words.

So, why still pray? Why still pray as the heathens do?