Answers to prayer in the present dispensation
Question
How does God respond to our prayers in the present dispensation?
Response
The simple way for me to answer to this question is to say that God responds to our prayers in perfect accordance with the unique kind of program and dealings that He has with us in this present dispensation. And though saying this is perfectly true, it does not provide for much of an understanding. However, by saying this it does emphasize that the answer to this question requires that we have a good understanding and appreciation for the unique kind of program and dealings that God has with us in this present dispensation. For the truth of the matter is that even though prayer is by no means unique to this dispensation, the particular kind of things that God’s people would pray for today, along with the issue of how God responds to His people’s prayers today, are matters that need to be understood dispensationally. For example, a great number of things that the people of Israel would naturally pray for (or about) in God’s program and dealings with them (whether in the “time past” portion of their program or in what is yet “to come”) are not things that we either would, or even should, pray for (or about) in this present dispensation. This of course is because they are matters that do not pertain to us today, having either nothing to do with the program that God has with us today, or they are matters that are not in accordance with the way that God is dealing with us in this present dispensation. Therefore, since God has two distinct and different programs in His overall purpose (and since Christians need to be “rightly dividing the word of truth” because of this) prayer is a subject that needs to be looked at and understood dispensationally.
Now of all of the factors that go into giving us a proper understanding and appreciation for prayer in this present dispensation, the most important ones of all are the following:
- the fact that God has suspended His program with Israel during this present dispensation and that Christians today are not a part of Israel’s program. Nor is God acting like His program with Israel is still in effect, nor is He engaged in trying to accomplish any part of His program with Israel today; and
- the fact that God has given us “the adoption of sons” in this present dispensation, with the result that He is treating us as ‘adult sons,’ which means that He is dealing with us as ‘adult sons,’ and not as “children”.
Both of these issues have a profound impact on the subject of prayer in this present dispensation. Intelligent prayer in this dispensation demands that Christians clearly understand and appreciate these two issues and the implications of them. Otherwise a Christian’s prayers will not be very intelligent at all, because he will pray about things that have nothing to do with what God is doing in His program with us today, or he will pray for things that do not pertain to how God is dealing with us today, or for things that do not pertain to what God is concerned with accomplishing in this present dispensation. Likewise if a Christian does not understand and appreciate what it means for God to be dealing with us as “sons” today and not as “children” (and that this also has an effect upon prayer and the way that God responds to our prayers today) he will have only childish thinking about prayer; and this will have him expecting God to respond to his prayers in the same sort of ways that He responded to Israel’s prayers.
Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that many Christians do not pray to God intelligently. They do not pray with the understanding and appreciation that God’s program with Israel is separate and distinct from God’s program with us today, and that God has temporarily suspended His program with Israel. Instead too many Christians pray as if they are the members of the remnant of Israel and [sic] as if God’s program with Israel and His operations that belong to it are in effect today. They therefore pray about things that pertain to God’s program with Israel, and they pray for things that belong to the outworking of God’s program with Israel. A classic example of this is when Christians pray the so-called ‘Lord’s Prayer’ of Matthew 6, or when they pray for other similar things that the Lord in His earthly ministry taught His disciples to make matters of their prayers. The things in the Gospel accounts that the Lord taught the members of the remnant of Israel to pray about, and to pray for, naturally pertain to God’s program and dealings with Israel. To be more precise they especially pertain to what takes place during the climactic stage in Israel’s program. Therefore, when the members of the remnant of Israel prayed for those things (and when they will yet pray for them again in the future) it was proper, right, and intelligent for them to do so. But as we know it is not proper, right, and intelligent for us to do so in this present dispensation of God’s grace.
Now when Christians fail to understand and appreciate the great dispensational change that God has made, they not only end up frequently praying for things that do not pertain to, or apply in, this present dispensation, but they also end up looking for God to respond to their prayers in the same ways that God told the people of Israel that He would respond to them when they prayed to Him. In view of this they expect God to operate upon the various ‘prayer promises’ that He gave to Israel, especially the ones that the Lord gave to His disciples as set forth in the Gospel accounts. However, many Christians do not understand that God gave Israel those ‘prayer promises’ because they are consistent with the nature of the particular program that God has with Israel. They specifically pertain to the issue of who and what Israel is in God’s plan and purpose with them. In other words, the vast majority of those ‘prayer promises’ in Israel’s program are consistent with the fact that the people of Israel are God’s own nation on the earth and that they dwell in His chosen land. This makes it so that many of Israel’s ‘prayer promises’ uniquely pertain to them as God’s nation and to what they experience in His own chosen land. (For example, the prayer promise in II Chronicles 7:14.) Likewise, many of their ‘prayer promises’ pertain to specific times in the outworking of Israel’s program and to specific situations that take place within that program. (For example, Matthew 18:19; Matthew 24:20; Mark 11:20-26; Luke 18:1-8; Luke 21:36; James 5:14-18; I Peter 4:7; I John 5:14-16.) And not only this, but many of Israel’s ‘prayer promises’ are also consistent with the fact that God was dealing with Israel as “children” under the law, and that as such He was dealing with them in ways that were consistent with childhood, including responding to their prayers in ways that were fitting to their childhood status in His sight.
So then in accordance with Israel being God’s own nation and dwelling in His chosen land; and in accordance with the issue of God dealing with Israel as “children” under the law, and not as adult “sons”; their ‘prayer promises’ frequently involve the issue of God responding to their prayers by supernaturally intervening in the outward circumstances of their life, and in ways that allow them to ‘see the work of the Lord’ in their outward circumstances and situations, and in the physical realm. Consequently their ‘prayer promises’ frequently involve God responding to their prayers with various forms of direct Divine intervention in the details of their lives, such as giving them “signs”; or performing miracles for them; or altering their physical circumstances; or providing them with angelic visitations and ministrations; or giving them supernatural protection and/or deliverance; or providing them with miraculous guidance; or responding with other such workings of God’s power for them in the visible and outward circumstances of their lives. As ones with whom God covenanted for them to ‘see His work’ among them, Israel’s ‘prayer promises’ naturally involve the issue of God responding to their prayers in ways that involve such overt, visible, and physical things.
Now once again, when Christians today fail to ‘rightly divide the word of truth’ in accordance with the great dispensational change that God has made, they unfortunately and mistakenly expect God to respond to them and their prayers in the same sort of ways and with the same kind of things that He does in His program and dealings with Israel. However, God does not respond to us and our prayers today like He did with Israel. And because of this when Christians do not understand and appreciate the different (and even better) way that God operates with us in this present dispensation, they end up having ‘prayer lives’ that suffer from one, or more, of the following afflictions:
- disappointment, dismay, perplexity, dissatisfaction, and/or unhappiness because they find that the ‘prayer promises’ in Israel’s program do not work in their lives;
- confusion, despair, and/or guilt because they conclude, or are taught, that since the ‘prayer promises’ do not seem to work for them this must mean that they do not have enough faith in them;
- anxiety and/or depression because they conclude, or they are taught, that something is wrong between them and God, (like some unconfessed sin or some stubborn disobedience), and that this accounts for why the ‘prayer promises’ do not work for them;
- loss of interest in, or lack of real appreciation for prayer, with the result that they pray infrequently, or do not really enjoy prayer;
- prayers that are more mechanical and/or repetitious than anything else, and that are done out of a sense of duty or obligation instead of genuine desire and delight;
- being adversely influenced and/or misled by the various erroneous teachings and ideas and claims about prayer that come from ones who do not “rightly divide the word of truth,” (like the present day teachings regarding the prayer of Jabez spoken about in I Chronicles 4:9-10), or that come from false brethren, or from false religious systems, or cults, etc.;
- or the experience of some other unfortunate misunderstanding or sad condition in connection with prayer, which is the direct result of Christians not understanding, appreciating, and living their lives in accordance with the great dispensational change that God has made, and with the fact that there are a number of great differences between how things operate in God’s program and dealings with Israel and how things operate in God’s program and dealings with us today in this present dispensation of His grace.
Simply and briefly put, in this present dispensation God responds to our prayers in perfect accordance with the fact that His program with us today is different by nature from His program with Israel, and especially in accordance with the fact that He is dealing with us today as adult “sons” and not as “children”. Now in connection with our sonship status Paul teaches us that since we have received “the adoption of sons” we need to understand and appreciate that the main way God deals with us today is through the education that He has for us in His written word to us. Likewise, Paul teaches us to understand and appreciate that the main expression, activity, and outworking of God’s power to us today is the excellency of the power of His written word living and operating in our sonship lives. And this particular expression and activity of God’s power truly is more excellent than other expressions of it. This is because God has designed that He would be glorified the most when His power expresses itself and operates through His written word, which He achieves by means of the particular things that He has purposed to accomplish through His written word as it powerfully operates in His people.
Now in accordance with this, we are taught in Paul’s epistles to understand and appreciate that the various activities and operations of the excellency of the power of God’s word toward us are specifically designed by God to take place “within” us. Therefore, they are designed to take place in our inner man, rather than in the visible or outward or physical realm, or in the outward circumstances and happenings of our lives. (For example, II Corinthians 4:7-18; Ephesians 3:16,20; Colossians 1:11; I Thessalonians 2:13.) And so with this being the case, our prayers to God as His “sons” naturally will be predominantly occupied with matters pertaining to the effectual working of the power of His word within us, as we acquire the knowledge and sonship education that God has designed His word to give us, and as we apply our sonship education to the details of our lives and thereby live our lives to the fulfilling of its objective Likewise God’s response to our prayers naturally has Him primarily responding to the various matters that concern the effectual working of His word in our inner man, which we as His “sons” set them before Him in our prayers. This, therefore, has God responding to us in ways that pertain to our inner man and have a direct effect upon it. More to the point. God responds to our prayers in ways and with responses that He, being our “Father,” has specifically built into (or incorporated into) our sonship education; which we also learn about, and learn to expect, as we progress through the program of our education.
Now these ways and responses are ones that conform to, and are consistent with, the adult type ‘father–son’ relationship that we have with God in this present dispensation. Just as a natural father who is educating his son in matters of adulthood does not respond to him in ways and with responses that belong to childhood, so also is this the case with God our “Father”. Having given us the adoption of sons” and thereby treating us as “sons” God responds to us as a father responds to his sons. More specifically, a father responds to his sons in ways that are consistent with, and fitting to, the adulthood education that he is giving to them. In accordance with this a father incorporates into his sons education provisions which enable him to not only supervise their education, but which also enable him to respond in ways that assist them in their learning and in their proper application of what they are being taught, yet at the same time not compromising the fact that as -adult sons’ they themselves are being held responsible for receiving their education, for implementing it in their lives, and for making their education a success. So then as a father educates his sons and thereby provides them with their own capability to understand his business and their role in it, to make their own wise adult type decisions in connection with it, and to intelligently work with him in his business as adult sons, he does not respond to his sons in ways that are inconsistent with their adulthood training, or that would cater to any foolishness or childishness on their part. Furthermore, as part of their adulthood training and living the father expects his sons to discern and to perceive on their own the needs that they have, and/or the assistance they might require from him, in connection with ensuring that they are properly learning and applying their sonship education. And it is to these wise and intelligent matters which his sons bring before him in the form of requests and supplications that the father will respond. Yet he will do so in accordance with the particular provisions that he has made within the program for their education by which he allows himself to assist his sons in obtaining the full effectual working of their sonship education.
Wherefore, a father responds to his sons in ways and with responses that are specifically designed by him to assist them to fully understand, appreciate, and make use of the full capabilities and functions that he has put into their education, while at the same time not compromising their adulthood responsibility and accountability. A father preserves his sons’ adulthood responsibility and accountability in all that he does. In fact he makes his sons aware of this at the outset of their sonship education, along with the fact that in view of this he has made complete provision for them to succeed as his adult sons by means of all that he has included in the program of education that he has designed for them to learn.
Now once again, just as this is the case with a natural father as he deals with his sons, so also is it the case with God our Father as He deals with us His “sons” in this present dispensation of His grace. By means of our adulthood “adoption” and the program for our sonship education. God has enabled Himself to perfectly and fully function as a “Father” unto us. And therefore, in connection with the particular issue of Him responding to our prayers. God our Father responds with responses that first of all conform to (and comply with) the distinctive nature of the program that He has with us in this present dispensation, but that also specifically work in our inner man, and that also are particularly designed by Him to assist us in benefiting from the full effectual working of our sonship edification within us.
Now admittedly what I have set forth here is very general. And without a doubt the overall subject of prayer is a large one, and many matters could be looked at and much could be said about it. However I have very briefly set forth the basics of what I recognize we need to acknowledge in order for us to have a fundamental understanding for prayer in this present dispensation, and to have an appreciation for how God responds to our prayers today in contrast to ways that He responds to prayer in His program and dealings with Israel.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries
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