Does Prayer Change the Mind of God?
My wife and I took a trip to Alaska on one occasion where I preached a series of meetings on Kenai Peninsula. I was overwhelmed with the splendor of the scenery and immediately began praying that God would open the door for me to go to Alaska as a pastor. I mentioned it to my wife and found out later that she was praying that no doors would open–she knew it would mean leaving children at home in college, etc. Her prayers must have been of greater effect than mine because no doors opened.
Is the objective of our prayers to get God to change His mind or to reshape His thinking according to ours? Obviously it is not. Just from a rational point of view, look at the confusion it would create–people praying against each other based on self-centered desires.
Praying the prayer of faith is really a rather quick and simple thing. It takes just a moment of agreement with God. Finding the mind of God so we can pray the prayer of faith is much more complex and time consuming. That is where the real warfare of prayer is centered. There are often many deep and complex issues that must be addressed in order for us to find the mind of God.
Our desires must be subjugated to enable us to know His. Because of the emotional and rational complexity of our desires it is difficult for us to see through their fog to the light of God’s leadership. We are prone to be petulant and demanding toward God, thinking we are bringing Him up to date. How foolish it is to think there is the slightest detail of existence of which He has not always been aware. Isaiah taught us that God knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). It is very difficult to lay aside our personal demands and expectations to receive from Him the light needed to pray the prayer of faith.
Sometimes our prayers are couched in an atmosphere of unbelief making them unanswerable. Although we may be sincerely seeking the mind of God in a particular issue, our overall thought process may be one of unbelief. For example, we may be desperately asking God for a money to meet a certain need. However, overshadowing that prayer may be actions and attitudes of rebellion and unbelief wherein we are unwilling to trust Him in the bigger picture. We cannot pick and choose the issues that we are willing to pray over without addressing the whole of our rebelliousness and unbelief.
It is the responsibility of leadership to know more, to see further and sooner than those we lead. If that is true of us in our very minor roles in the overall perspective of eternity and the universe, how much more should it be of God? In order to qualify for being God there must be absolutely no infinitesimal speck of knowledge He has not always known. Additionally, He loves us with an everlasting love and is committed to our very best–while at the same time bringing us in line with His larger purposes. To know the mind of God it is imperative that we rest every single issue of life with Him, knowing His love and His greater perspective.
Praying is not to change the mind of God but rather to find it. His intentions for us are always good. Like a good Father, though, He must exercise those prerogatives of Fatherhood for the greatest good of His children. Maturity in our spiritual walk comes as we learn to walk in the bigger picture of faith and obedience–not just on a crisis level–in our relationship with Him. In every relationship, every prayer, every need He is working to conform us to His will while at the same time working for our greatest good.
Jeff
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Jefferson H. and Norma R. Floyd, CO-directors
Jubilee International, Inc.
P. O. Box 3202
Carmel, IN 46082
Copyright August 2001 by Jefferson H. Floyd. All rights reserved.
