By Faith Enterprises

"Human Destiny" is Settled NOT by the Will of Man, But by the Will of God

Tip! “Supplication” is the very soul of prayer in the way of pleading for some one thing, very much needed, and the need intensely felt.

"If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us" (1 John 5:14).

Throughout this blog it has been my primary intention to exalt God the Creator of the heavens and earth and to lower us as His creature or someone that has been created. The general tendency now days, is to magnify people and dishonor and degrade God. On every hand I have found that, when spiritual things are being discussed, the human side and factor is pressed and stressed, and the Divine side, if not altogether ignored, is banished or pushed to the background. This holds true in much of the modern teaching about prayer. In the great majority of the books written and in the sermons preached on prayer the human element fills the scene almost entirely. It is the conditions which we must meet, the promises we must "claim," the things we must do in order to get our requests granted; and God's claims, God's rights, God's glory is completely disregarded.

As a fair example of what is being given out today we need to look at a brief editorial which appeared recently in one of the leading religious weeklies entitled "Prayer, or Fate?"

"God in His Sovereignty has ordained that human destinies may be changed and molded by the will of man. This is at the heart of the truth that prayer changes things, meaning that God changes things when men pray. Someone has strikingly expressed it this way: 'There are certain things that will happen in a man's life whether he prays or not. There are other things that will happen if he prays; and will not happen if he does not pray.' A Christian worker was impressed by these sentences as he entered a business office and he prayed that the Lord would open the way to speak to some one about Christ, reflecting that things would be changed because he prayed. Then his mind turned to other things and the prayer was forgotten. The opportunity came to speak to the business man upon whom he was calling, but he did not grasp it, and was on his way out when he remembered his prayer of a half hour before, and God's answer. He promptly returned and had a talk with the business man, who, though a church-member, had never in his life been asked whether he was saved. Let us give ourselves to prayer, and open the way for God to change things. Let us beware lest we become virtual fatalists by failing to exercise our God-given wills in praying."

Tip! Seeking God's will for our life – This type of prayer requires us to really open up our spirit and seek to hear what God is saying to us. We need to come humbly before him, asking him to use us as a tool for his work – and praying for guidance and wisdom as we seek to follow where his is leading us.

The above illustrates what is being taught today on the subject of prayer, but what is so deplorable is that scarcely a voice is lifted in protest to such a misleading statement. To say that "human destinies may be changed and molded by the will of man" is in line with a lie and that is the only proper term I can find for it. To say that "God has ordained that human destinies may be changed and molded by the will of man" is absolutely untrue.

"Human destiny" is settled not by the will of man, but by the will of God. That which determines human destiny is whether or not a man has been born again, for it is written, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." And as to whose will, whether God's or man's, is responsible for the new birth is settled, unequivocally, by John 1:13-"Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but OF GOD." To say that "human destiny" may be changed by the will of man is to make the creature's will supreme, and that is, virtually, to dethrone God. But what do the Scriptures say? Let the Holy Book answer this for us: "The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory" (1 Sam 2:6-8).

Let's look back to the Editorial here that is under review, next we are told, "This is at the heart of the truth that prayer changes things, meaning that God changes things when men pray." Almost everywhere I go today I always seem to come across a bumper-sticker bearing the inscription "Prayer Changes Things." As to what these words are designed to signify is evident from the current literature on prayer - we are to persuade God to change His purpose. Concerning His purpose, I will say more on this in the next article.

Tip! The Holy Spirit is the spirit of all grace and of each grace as well. Purity, power, holiness, faith, love, joy and all grace are brought into being and perfected by Him. Do we grow in grace in particular? Are we to be perfect in all graces? Then we must seek the Holy Spirit by prayer.

Again, the Editor tells us, "Some one has strikingly expressed it this way: 'There are certain things that will happen in a man's life whether he prays or not. There are other things that will happen if he prays, and will not happen if he does not pray.'" Those things happen whether a man prays or not is exemplified daily in the lives of the non-Christian, most of who never pray at all. That 'other things will happen if he prays' is in need of qualification. Because if a believer prays in faith and asks for those things which are according to God's will he will most certainly obtain that for which he has asked. Again, that other things will happen if he prays is also true in respect to the subjective benefits derived from prayer: God will become more real to him and His promises more precious. That other things 'will not happen if he does not pray' is true so far as his own life is concerned-a prayer-less life means a life lived out of communion with God and all that is involved by that. But to affirm that God will not and cannot bring to pass His eternal purpose unless we pray is utterly erroneous, for the same God who has decreed the end has also decreed that His end will be reached through His appointed means, and one of these is prayer. The God who has determined to grant a blessing also gives a spirit of supplication which first seeks the blessing.

The example cited in the above Editorial of the Christian worker and the business man is a very unhappy one to say the least, for according to the terms of the illustration the Christian worker's prayer was not answered by God at all, inasmuch as, apparently, the way was not opened to speak to the business man about his soul. But on leaving the office and recalling his prayer the Christian worker (perhaps in the energy of the flesh) determined to answer the prayer for himself, and instead of leaving the Lord to "open the way" for him, took matters into his own hand.

I have A Free Ebook For you from me called "Where Are You At?" or to download it Click Here