Charles Stanley - My Assurance: God Is in Control - Part 3
Does our prayer influence God? If I pray long enough and strongly enough and intensely enough, could I possibly change God's mind to get Him to do something that I really want Him to do? And in fact, if God knows everything, has all power, and has chosen to do certain things, and His policy is to please Himself, what difference does it make whether I pray or not? In fact, does it make any difference whether we go to Him in prayer, bringing our petitions and our desires? If He already knows what He's going to do, how He's going to do it, when He's going to do it, what difference does it make whether we pray or not?
Well, that's what I want to talk about in this message. And this is the third message in our series entitled "My Assurance: God is in Control". And I want you to turn to that hundred and third Psalm that we have read several times because, in this passage, He states that He is indeed the sovereign ruler over all this universe and over all mankind. So if that be true, then the whole issue is: What part does our prayer play in God's big scheme of things and His plan for our life, the lives of others in His great kingdom, if He indeed is in control?
So, He says in this nineteenth verse of the hundred and third Psalm, "The LORD has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all. Bless the LORD, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word! Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, you who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the LORD, all you works of His, in all the places of His dominion; bless the LORD, O my soul"! And His sovereignty rules over all. If His sovereignty rules over all, then what difference does it make whether I pray or not? Well, that's what I want to talk about here.
And so, I want you to follow along, and what I want to do is just to deal with some of these issues that come up in our thinking when we get on our knees, and maybe things aren't just transpiring as quickly as we think they ought to. Well, listen, anytime you start praying, I guarantee you, Satan's not sleep. Because the one thing He wants to do in your life is to get you, cause you, stimulate you, intimidate you in some fashion to get you to doubt God, to doubt this awesome God who has saved you and loves you and wants the best for you.
So, when I think about these things, I think about this, first of all, and that is that God impresses upon our heart to pray for those things that He wants to do in our life. That is, God is, listen, that's the way He operates. That's one of His principles: to impress upon your heart and mine to pray for those things that He desires to do in our life. Now, when I think about that, I think about this, and that is there are some things that you and I may pray about that are God's purposes and plans that all the praying in the world is not gonna change what He's going to do. And remember that 'cause I'm coming back to something.
In other words, all the praying in the world is not gonna change what God has purposed to do, that is, what God has divinely purposed to achieve and accomplish in this world, whether it's in your life or someone else's life. You know what, His purpose will be done, His will. There are some things that absolutely no prayer, no amount of prayer is going to change about God because He is sovereignly in control. And therefore, He is not subject to my prayers, to that point. And so when we think about how that works, I think, for example, let's say that here's a person.
And I've heard people say this, and I've heard women say sometime, "Well, I've prayed for my husband for years and years and years and he's such a good man. He's a good father and he's a good husband. He doesn't go to church, he hasn't been saved. But you know, somehow, I do believe that in some way, in some fashion, God is going to save him. Now, I'm just praying for God to save him anyway". Well, let me tell you something. God has certain policies and God has certain principles that no amount of praying in all the world's gonna change.
Listen, if somebody rejects the Lord Jesus Christ, refuses to acknowledge Him as Savior, refuses to acknowledge what He did at the cross in order to be saved, I'm here to tell you a million people could pray a million years and that person's not gonna be saved until they come to it in God's way, and that is dependence upon the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the shedding of His blood, the atonement of His blood, for the salvation of their soul. That's the only way they're gonna be saved. So, you and I are not gonna change any, listen, divine principle that God has set in motion. It is absolutely unchangeable.
So, we ask the question: Well, if God knows all these things and He's purposed to do all this, then why would God burden you to pray for something that God is going to do anyway? Because listen, there are some things God's gonna do anyway whether we pray or not. And so, why would He impress us to pray about certain things even though He knows He's going to do it? Well, I think there are several reasons. Number one, God wants to involve you and me in on the work that He's going to do. It's very important in the eyes of God that you and I do not just sit around, say, "Okay, God, we are just gonna leave it to God. Just leave it all to God. Let go and let God".
You know people say, "Well, just let go and let God". Depends on how much you let go. Because listen, God chooses to involve every single one of us in the work of the kingdom. He chooses to involve us in what He's up to in our life. So, there's not any verse of scripture anywhere that says I am no longer responsible for my life or anyone else's life. Since God is sovereign and He's in control of all things and He says that He's working all things according to His good pleasure, I have no responsibility, just let God do it His way. There's not a single verse in the scripture that even comes anywhere close to implying such an erroneous idea. But rather, it is different. God wants to involve us, He wants to include us.
This is why, for example, He would challenge you and burden you to pray for someone, why? Because He's got something in mind by involving you in that. So one of the primary reasons He motivates us to pray, and prayer is a very important, even though He's in sovereign control, is that He wants to get us involved in His miracles, in His will, in His way and His plans and His purposes. Secondly, He knows that when you and I pray and He answers our prayer, what does it do but our faith begins to grow and sometimes it skyrockets in some situations and circumstances, when we prayed for a very long time and God answers our prayer over something extremely difficult or it looks impossible.
God answers our prayer, and what happens? It strengthens our faith, builds our faith. A third reason He wants us to pray is because He wants us to live with a sense of dependence upon Him. God doesn't want us living with this sense of, "Well, I can handle it". Or, "God, You take care of 'em. I'm gonna leave all that to You, God". You can have that kind of attitude and not be dependent upon God. That's just sort of being a separatist in your relationship to Him. God wants us to sense our dependence upon Him. The more dependent I am upon Him, the more I'm gonna be on my face before Him. The more, listen, the more I'm on my face before Him, something else is gonna happen.
Not only am I going to be sensitive to my dependence upon Him, but I am going to grow in this intimate, loving relationship which He desires for your life and my life above every other single thing. In other words, He can get somebody else to do every single thing you and I do but the one thing He can't get somebody to do in your place and my place is to love Him, be devoted to Him, and to grow into an intimate, loving relationship with Him. And so, one of the reasons He motivates us to pray and desires that we pray is because He wants to draw us to Himself, draw us to Himself. And another reason is this. He wants to bring us into agreement with His will and His purposes and His plans.
You see, the more in agreement you and I are with what God is up to, the more excited we're gonna be about getting involved in what He's up to. And likewise, the more involved we're gonna be with Him personally. And the more we're gonna want to know Him, the more we're gonna love Him, and the more we're gonna want to serve Him. God has some very specific reasons in mind to motivate us to pray, to call us to pray, even though He knows what He's going to do, when He's gonna do it and how He's gonna do it. So therefore, when a person says, "Well I, you know, personally, I don't see any reason to pray if God's gonna do it anyway".
Because, you see, God has some very specific reasons. And if you'll think about this. If His reason is to involve me in it, to build my faith, to teach me dependence, to grow me into this intimate relationship and to get me into agreement with Him, listen, so that the more in agreement I am with the will of God, the more God is able to do in your life and my life. Prayer is the heart, listen, prayer is the heart of the believer's walk. Prayer is, listen, it's the soul of the believer's relationship. It is an intimate relationship that is based on doing what? Speaking with Him and listening to Him and bringing our petitions, and backing off and watching God do it His way in His time. That's what the Christian life's all about. It is a relationship. It is an intimate relationship.
So, our prayers make an impact, yes. But it will not ultimately affect God's ultimate plan and purpose. Some things we pray for we get, some things we pray for we don't get, some things we don't pray for we do get. God is in absolute control of every single issue here. Now, when I think about that, I think аbout: Is that consistent with the sovereignty of God? Yes, it is. Because He's in absolute control, He's gonna show us what to pray. In other words, if you and I are walking in His will, he's going to burden you as to what to pray for and what not to pray for. And here's what I've discovered. If I begin to pray for something's not God's will, I lose interest.
Next thing I know, I just, that's just gone by the way and I'm not even asking Him about it anymore, why? Because He knows I want to know His will, I want to do what's right. I wanna make the right decision. If it's not His will, you just lose interest. And you see, you can tell if you're honest. If you're really honest and you're praying for something and something that you particularly want, and you're not getting anywhere, maybe you oughta stop and say, "God, is this Your will or is it not"? And listen, God doesn't, He doesn't like to leave us in mystery. "Ugh, not gonna tell you, you figure this out for yourself"!
That's not the way God is. God, listen, He wants us to know His will. He wants us to know His ways. He wants us to know His plan and His purpose. And therefore, He will just sorta take the interest away. Won't have any more interest in that issue, and we just move on. Is it important to pray? If it's not important to pray, the Apostle Paul would never have made this statement: "Pray without ceasing". It is a lifestyle for the child of God. Now, one other question that I want to deal with, and that's just simply this. And that is: Can prayer change God's mind? Can prayer change God's mind?
Well, say, "Well, I know some people who must think it will because there are people who believe that if you're praying and nothing happens, then you fast. And if I fast long enough, I'm finally gonna get God's attention. He's gonna be forced to do what I ask Him to do because, look, God, I haven't eaten anything in twenty days". You know what, if you don't eat anything for six months, not gonna make any difference with Him if it's not His will. Fasting, listen, fasting doesn't impact God to force Him to do something that's against His will. All the praying in the world's not gonna force God to do something's not against, that's against His will.
And so, somebody says, "Well, wait a minute now, I know a couple of verses in the Bible that says God changed His mind". Well, that's what I want to talk about. So, what I'd like to do is I'd like to give you three passages that state very specifically God does not change His mind, then I want to give you two that imply that He does. So, let's start with First Samuel chapter fifteen. Go back there for a moment. First Samuel chapter fifteen. Now, here is Samuel talking to Saul because of his disobedience, what God's gonna do... and listen to what he says.
Verse twenty-eight, "So Samuel said to him, 'The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. And also the Glory of Israel,'" speaking of God the Father, "'will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.'" Turn to Psalm one ten, Psalm one ten, and look, if you will, in verse four. Psalm one ten verse four. He says, "The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind". Jeremiah chapter four. Go on over to Jeremiah chapter four and look, if you will, in this twenty-eighth verse. Verse twenty-seven says, "For thus says the LORD, 'The whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not execute a complete destruction. For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be dark, because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I will not change My mind, nor will I turn from it.'"
Now, think about this for a moment. Well, before we do that, let's find a couple of passages. Turn, if you will, to, let's see, turn to Exodus chapter thirty-two and look in verse twelve. Exodus chapter thirty-two, verse twelve. Let me give you a little idea of what's happening. Moses has been up on the mount receiving the Ten Commandments. While he's gone, here's what they said. They said, "Where is Moses our leader"? "He's gone". "Aaron, make us a god that'll lead us to the Promised Land".
Can you imagine anybody being so absolutely, totally empty of any serious thinking. "Make us a god". So they make a golden calf. And that golden calf's gonna lead them to the Promised Land. You see, we don't have any earthly idea where those people were in their thinking because you and I have a Bible. They didn't have that. They had nothing written. They just had to take the word of Moses, their leader. So, they build this calf. So, he comes down, he sees it, and of course you remember he threw the Ten Commandments down and shattered them all over the place. Well, look what happens in his conversation with God.
In verse eight of this thirty-second chapter, he says, "'They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed it,' he said, 'And this that...' said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!' And the LORD said to Moses, 'I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people.'" He says that, used that same word about three or four times.
"'Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them, and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.' Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, 'O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Thy people whom You have brought forth from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, "With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth"? Turn from Thy burning anger,'" talking to God now, "'Turn from Thy burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel,'" Jacob, "'Thy servants to whom Thou didst swear by Thyself, and didst say to them, "I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever".' So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people".
Now, did God change His mind? Now, think about this for a moment. If God is omniscient, He doesn't need to change His mind, because that means He knows everything past, present, and future. When He looks at time and everything, He looks at it just like that, sees it all. So therefore, for Him to change His mind would mean that He either discovered something new or had a different feeling about something. But you see, the truth is He knew exactly what He was going to do.
The implication here also, as Moses said, "Have You forgotten what You said to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Have You forgotten Your covenant promise to them? And You didn't say to Abraham, 'Here's what I'm gonna do if.' You said, 'I'm gonna make your descendants like the stars of the sky, sands of the sea, not be able to count them.' Have You forgotten that, God"? No, He hadn't forgotten that. "Well, Lord, why are You going to do this"? Now, what I want you to notice here is this. If you'll notice in verse ten, that God said to him, "Now, let Me alone that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them, and I will make of you a great nation".
What's going on here? I believe two things. Number one, God is testing Moses. He said, "Now Moses, just leave Me alone. Here's what I'll do, I'll just wipe this whole crowd out". Now, on the one hand, Moses probably said, "Praise God"! Because they had done nothing but cause him trouble from day one. I mean, the Bible says that when they left Egypt, there was a mixed multitude. They were always giving him a hard time. I mean, doubting him and wanted to stone him. I mean, just all kind of things going on. They hadn't gotten quite to the place of stoning him at this point, but they're giving him a hard time in the wilderness, and so they were just a real motley bunch and hard to deal with. But here's what Moses said. Moses said, "No, no"! What was He doing? I believe, first of all, He was testing Moses' devotion to them as a leader.
Now, Moses is considered one of the greatest leaders in all human history. What was God doing at this moment in his life? He was testing his devotion to what He had called him to do: to lead His people out of Egyptian bondage into the Promised Land, testing his devotion and love for them, even though they had treated him the way they would treated him. God knew what He was going to do. And so, first of all, I think it was a test. And secondly, you and I could call this an anthropomorphism, which simply means that ascribing to God the way man thinks. And so, the only way Moses could possibly think is that, "God, change Your mind".
God never intended to destroy them. He said, listen, "Let Me alone that My anger may burn against them and destroy them". What was He doing? Testing Moses. He already knew exactly what He was going to do. He knew Moses was gonna intercede and He knew that He was gonna respond in Moses' mind to Moses' response. What do you think that did for Moses the rest of those years he was out there with them in the wilderness and giving him a hard time and wandering around for forty years? What did it do? It absolutely skyrocketed his faith because God did exactly what he asked Him to do. Had God purposed to do that anyway? He certainly had. Listen, if you're omniscient and you've purposed something, you don't have to change your mind.
All right, go, if you will, because the Bible says in James one, "There is no variableness of turning, no shadow of turning with Him". Go, if you will, to Jeremiah the twenty-fifth chapter, and I want you to look at the eleventh verse. People of Israel sinned against God, and so here's what God says in verse eleven of twenty-fifth chapter. "'And this whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the kingdom of Babylon seventy years.'" Now, watch what happens here. Here's what God said. He said, "Jeremiah, here's what I want you to tell 'em. I want you to tell 'em the Babylonians are coming. And here's what I'm gonna do". Verse twelve, "'Then it will be when seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' declares the LORD, 'for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.'"
Here's what He said, He said, "Jeremiah, here's what I'm gonna do. Because of their sin against Me and refused to abide by My will and my purpose, my plan, I'm sending the evil Babylonians, and they're going to desolate this land. They're gonna destroy this city, burn its gates and its walls, and then after seventy years when they have been in, when they've been in Babylonian bondage for seventy years, I'm gonna set 'em free, but here's what I'm gonna, I'm gonna send the Persians down and they're gonna destroy the Babylonians who were used by me to accomplish My will by destroying the city of Jerusalem".
How in the world could God do that? Because He's God and because He, listen, He didn't put evil in the Babylonians minds. They were an idolatrous people. He used their evil thinking, He used their disobedient heart, He used their hostility toward Israel to accomplish His purpose. And after He did it, He judged them for their evil and their ways. So, Jeremiah got a big prophetic word. So, here's what happens. If you'll turn to this twenty-sixth chapter now. And if you will notice that now Jeremiah, he stands in the court and he begins to tell the people of Judah what's gonna happen. Well, you can imagine what they thought.
Look, if you will, in the eleventh verse. This is the kind of response he got, God's prophet's response as a result of telling them what God told him to tell 'em, "Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, 'A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city as you have heard in your hearing.' Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, 'The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. Now therefore amend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will change His mind about the misfortune which He has pronounced against you.'"
Now, what he's saying is this. God, listen, God was not going to change His mind. God had already decreed what He was gonna do and He had all, listen, He had already said the Babylonians are coming, and here's what I'm gonna do. Now, the only way, of course, He knows how to say this, and this is a challenge to them, for example, to amend their ways. But you think about this. If God changes, if God will change His mind about one thing, how do I know He won't change about something else? Instead of changing His mind, what does He do? He says oftentimes, "Here's what I'm gonna do. If you do this, here's what I'm gonna do. If you don't do that, here's what I'm gonna do".
So, it isn't a matter of changing His mind as it is that God has decreed what He would do, sometimes upon certain conditions. He knew absolutely that the nation of Israel was not gonna change their mind, listen, you know what? The problem is the sin they committed was so awful in God's eyes, He had already said to Jeremiah, "This is what's gonna happen". Jeremiah in his love for the nation, Moses in his love for the nation, what were they doing? They were speaking in those terms of what they felt. There is no place in the scripture where God changed His mind. Because knowing what He was going to do, determining what He was going to do.
Listen, there may be a time when situations and circumstances change and God decreed that if it changes, here's what I will do. But if God says, "Here's what I'm going to do," period, there's nothing gonna change that. And they had sinned so long against God. Refused to let the land lay, as He said. And He gave them, listen, He gave them year after year after year of tribulation in proportion to the years of their disobedience. And you know, they could have said, "Well, we're gonna change our ways". Too late. God says, "Here's what I'm gonna do". He says, "I'm gonna send a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon, and here's what's gonna happen".
God doesn't have to change His mind. He's absolutely Sovereign over everything. So, the question comes, listen, does it make any difference whether I pray or not? Yes, it does. Because you see, it's gonna impact how involved He gets us in His work. It's gonna impact our faith. It's gonna impact our sense of dependence upon Him. It's gonna impact my agreement with His will. It's gonna impact every single facet of my life. It's gonna impact my love and relationship to Him. If I pray for anything, will it change God's mind? No. Can I impact my life and other people's lives by prayer? Yes. Will I get everything I ask for? No. Will I get God's best if I come to Him? Yes. Well, can God use me in someone else's life if I pray? Yes. Will my prayer change things? No, but God will respond to my prayer and God will change things if I pray according to His will and His purpose.
Do you understand what an awesome thing it is to be a child of God and to be able, listen, be able to kneel or stand before the Holy Father who has all power, who's ruling every single, listen, every single solitary thing on the face of this earth and talk to Him and know that He will respond to you with joy that you're coming to Him. And He's willing and ready to answer our petitions and our prayers no matter what. That's the kind of God we serve.
Now, I don't know about you, but if you're not in the habit of praying, you need to go home and get on your knees and ask God to forgive you for being prayerless when this awesome God who is in control is so willing, listen, to move heaven and earth in order to accomplish His purpose and His plan in your life. And I don't have time to give you one long illustration of something that happened in my life, but I can tell you that God arranged the affairs of heaven and earth to show me His will unmistakably, and absolutely for my life without any question whatsoever. And He had me at the spot at the time to see something that I have never seen since, and I never had seen before to show me: This is My will. Let you never doubt what I'm doing in your life.
My friend, God loves you more than you'll ever be able to conceive and, listen, He is so willing to get on the inside of you and work His works of grace and fulfill His plan, but you gotta let Him do it. You gotta trust Him, believe Him, and walk in His ways. And my friend, He'll absolutely, totally amaze you and surprise you with His goodness and grace and love for you. May God grant you the wisdom if you've heard, to have heard well, and to abide by it.
And Father, we love You and praise You and thank You today. You love us so much. Open our eyes, stir our emotions, move our hearts, God, draw us to Yourself, sanctify us unto Yourself, show us the truth, and enable us to walk in it is my prayer in Jesus' name, amen.