Word of Salvation – Vol.03 No.12 – May 1956
How Should We Pray As We Ought?
Sermon by Rev. J. W. Deenick on John17:9a & Romans 8:26
Scripture Reading: John 17:1-19; Romans 8:18-27
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you think Paul is right? Is that a correct statement: “We know not what to pray for as we ought”?
If it IS correct, it means that we as children of God do not even know, what we should know first of all: how to pray. But IS it correct?
Did not the Lord Jesus Christ Himself teach us how we should pray and what we should pray for, when He said to His disciples: “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done”
But how then can Paul be right?
We surely know how to pray as we should! Even our children are able to learn this wonderful prayer. In the catechism-class we explain every word of it so that they may know how to pray. Paul cannot be right!
When we are children of God, when we have a regenerated heart, when the Spirit of Christ is dwelling and working in our hearts, we certainly know something about prayer and we know what to pray for, do we not?
Everywhere the Scriptures tell us what a believer’s prayer should be. The book of the psalms is full of prayers and the prayers of the prophets, the prayers of Jesus, the prayers of the N.T. church and of the apostles are just as many examples of faithful prayer.
But still, we cannot away from the fact that Paul makes this statement. It is in the Bible; “We do not know what we should pray for as we ought.’ How should we explain this?
And what is the message of our text for us on this Sunday?
We hear in the text the Word of God concerning…
HOW WE SHOULD PRAY AS WE OUGHT.
a) We do not know how to pray as we ought,
b) Christ shows us how to pray as we ought,
c) The Spirit of God prays for us, as WE ought.
- In Romans 8: 26 the text says: Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought.
Paul makes it clear immediately what the reason is why we do not know what to pray for. It is because of our infirmities. We are, spiritually speaking, too weak. We lack the spiritual power and knowledge, the discernment we need.
You know, the apostle Paul is far more a Christian “realist” than many Christians are in our days. They know exactly what to pray for. They claim to be filled with the Spirit to such an extent that the will of God and the command of God is always quite clear to them. But Paul knows better.
He knows what our infirmities are. He knows how limited our understanding of the Scriptures too often is. He knows how poor our zeal for the gospel, how weak our love for Christ continually is.
Paul does not consider himself to be full of the Spirit always and he knows from experience how often his wandering and wavering mind is led astray, even when he is approaching God in prayer. He acknowledges that in many situations he hardly knows if he should pray for this or for that, for prosperity or for adversity, for peace or for war, for life or for death.
Indeed we hardly know the first thing we should know. We do not know what to pray for as we ought.
O, surely, that does not justify us. It is not God’s mistake that we are weak, that we do not know. It is our mistake. Lack of knowledge is no excuse in the kingdom of heaven. But it is a FACT non the less. Paul IS right, too often we are mistaken regarding the objects of our prayers.
Paul says: “as we ought.” That means: as God is demanding from us. God is demanding from us that we should pray certain prayers. In every difficult situation of life there is a prayer that God is expecting from us. But because of our weakness and our unwillingness we do not pray as God expects us to do.
It is not difficult, brothers and sisters, to illustrate from our daily Christian life how right Paul is.
If we only remember in what sort of a world we live and how difficult it is to find the correct prayer in such a sinful and chaotic world we realize anew how true it is, that we have not yet learned the true art of prayer.
We live in a world of injustice and oppression, of lovelessness and tyranny. How shall we pray? Of course, we could pray in general terms, we could pray for justice, for freedom and for peace, yes, especially for peace. But what if we know that we should pray a special prayer for a special purpose, for a special nation, for a special delivery? How shall we pray for Hungary? How shall we pray for Cyprus? Shall we pray that God may deliver the Hungarian nation from the oppression of the Russian armies? Shall we pray that the western nations may find the courage to interfere for the cause of freedom and justice in that part of the world? That would be a pointed prayer. Or do we fear the risks that are involved? And with regard to Cyprus? What shall we pray for? For the freedom of that nation? For the success of the English, that order and a balance of military power in the Middle East might be restored?
We know not what to pray for as we ought.
Let me illustrate that from one crucial episode during the last world war. Many Christians in the western world were praying at a certain stage for the victory of the Russian armies in the battle of Stalingrad. A man like the English Christian, Rees Howells, organized special prayer circles for that purpose, interceding for the victory of the Russians. And God answered these prayers. The Germans were defeated.
It was the decisive turning-point of the war. From there the ultimate defeat of the German armies began. Indeed. But also from there the revival of Communism began. We prayed for the defeat of the one tyranny, but also for the revival of the other. We did not mean to. But we did. That victory brought freedom to Western Europe, but misery and poverty to the Eastern European countries. WE prayed for that Stalingrad victory, but I am sure that in Eastern Europe many Christians were not so certain that this was the correct thing to pray for.
We know not what to pray for as we ought.
We could go on by giving more such examples.
The dark history of the many wars among the Protestant nations of the West proves that more often than not two parts of the Christian world were most earnestly praying for each other’s defeat on the field of battle.
In the American war of independence, in the South-African Boer wars, in that most dramatic battle in which Cromwell’s armies defeated the Scottish Covenanters, two parts of Protestant Christianity were praying in all sincerity against one another.
We know not what to pray for as we ought.
But this does not concern the political world only. In the life of the church it is by no means better. I think of the oecumenical movement. What shall we pray for? For the World Council of Churches, yes or no? Many sincere Christians do. But I know of many prayer-circles, throughout the world, that concentrate on praying that God may frustrate the machinations of the devil in that World Council.
Some people pray for love and Christian tolerance within the church. But others pray that holy intolerance and separation may save God’s people from the apostate church. And many of us will remember the trial of the last ecclesiastical conflict in the Netherlands, within the Reformed Churches. How sincerely and honestly many Christians prayed exactly the opposite prayer.
We know not what to pray for as we ought.
And ultimately, every one of us could illustrate this from the difficulties of his personal prayer-life. A father is praying that God may never let his daughter marry that untrustworthy boy. But the girl is praying that father may change his mind and let her marry the man of her heart. They are both sincere, but they pray the opposite prayer.
We know not what to pray for as we ought.
No, that is no EXCUSE. Lack of knowledge… infirmities… are no excuse. We should know better. It is accusing us. We cannot get away from God’s command that we should know how to pray. But it is a fact. Paul is right.
We are miserable intercessors.
- – WE are. But Christ is not. That leads us to our second thought.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect intercessor.`
He knew how to pray and what to pray for. He knew how to evade the forbidden supplications.
We read that in John 17, the other part of our text. John 17 is called Christ’s intercessory prayer. The Dutch Christian calls it Christ’s High-priestly prayer. The Lord Jesus Christ is praying for the church, for the faith, the love, the unity, the perseverance of the church.
It is a perfect prayer. Certainly the Lord Jesus was tempted in His prayer-life just as we are. Satan suggested to Him the wrong intercessions all the time. But He found His way out of these temptations. He always found the right answer and the correct supplication. Even in Gethsemane. It may look as if Jesus did not know what to pray there. But He found the solution: “Thy will be done!”
In John 17 we have a perfect example of a really Spirit-filled prayer.
“I do not pray for the world”
That is what Jesus said: Not for the world.
Many bible-readers feel that this cannot be the correct reproduction of Jesus’ actual prayer. They say: this must be a mistake. Jesus said that He did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. And John the Baptist said: “See the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” How then could Jesus say: “I do not pray for the world?” What is the answer?
What did Jesus mean, when He said: Not for the world? Which world did He mean?
Jesus meant the world of sin and unbelief, of hatred and injustice. The world as far as it is the dominion and realm of Satan.
There IS such a world. There IS that realm of darkness in which Satan rules over the spirits and the bodies of men and women. Jesus does not pray for that world. That world must be condemned and rejected for ever.
Jesus prays for the church, as it is saved from that world. The church must be strengthened, must be sanctified. The church must be firm and courageous and united, that through its message many, many others may be saved from the dominion of Satan too. And in that way it is correct, what a well-known Swiss preacher of today says, that by praying for the church Jesus was praying for the world too. Not for Satan’s world, but for God’s world.
“I do not pray for the world”, that is: “I do not pray for the well-being of the realm of darkness and sin. No, Lord, no, Father, I pray for my disciples, that through their zeal, love and unity the world, Thy world, may be blessed.”
That is the intercession of. Christ.
He is the true High Priest in this prayer.
It is a lesson for us.
If we through weakness and lack of knowledge do not know how to intercede, we should listen better to the prayers of Him who taught us to pray.
What shall we ask God to do in this world of political chaos? We should not pray for the world, for the realm of Satan in our days. And, you know, the realm of Satan is everywhere. It is in the machinations of governments, oil-companies and liberation-movements. We should never identify the one nation, or the one group of nations with the kingdom of heaven; neither the other nation or group of nations with the realm of Satan.
You cannot say: Russia is the realm of darkness and the western world is defending the Christian good things of peace and liberty. That is complete nonsense. The western world is defending oil and uranium just as well. And there is quite a bit of the realm of Satan in that too.
We should rather be a bit humble and acknowledge: we know not what to pray for as we ought. And we should rather pray for the church and the powers of the Spirit of Christ among every nation. The prayer for the kingdom of heaven, the prayer for furtherance of the gospel, the prayer for the unity, the power and the steadfastness of the church, is the only prayer that can help the world.
If anybody does not know whether he should pray for the success of the English troops or for the success of patriots on Cyprus, let him be sure that it is a correct prayer when he prays for the conversion of Englishmen and patriots from the dominion of the devil. Therefore I will rather pray for the reformation and the revival in the Greek Orthodox Church on that island. For I am sure that the reformation of that church would help that nation better, than the liberation from English rule would do.
Does not the Lord Jesus Christ teach us to intercede for the world by interceding for the church?
That also concerns every part of our prayer-life.
One more illustration..! What shall I pray for? Shall I pray for the recovery of my child, yes or no? Shall I pray that I may find the boy, the girl, that I wish to be married to? Shall I demand it from God? Shall I pray for life or for death? Shall I demand from God that special thing I desire so much?
Some Christians do. If they feel that a certain thing would be really nice, they start a prayer-bombardment and think that they can move the throne of God. But Paul is wiser and more humble. I am still bound in infirmities, he says. I know not what I shall pray for; to live and work among you, or to die and be with Christ, he says.
Indeed, we know not, whether the life of our children or their death, whether being married or not to be married is the better solution. God knows. Yes, God knows. Therefore I will pray that His will be done and His kingdom come.
- And praise God: The Spirit of Christ will intercede for me along such lines, even if I fail. Paul says in Romans 8 again: “The Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered” And if we would look a little bit further, in verse 27, he says that the intercession of the Spirit for the saints is according to God, is according to the will, the being, the command of God. Because the Spirit perfectly knows what is the correct prayer.
THAT is our comfort in a broken life.
THAT is our consolation in infirmities.
He, God Himself, through His Spirit, will pray for us, will pray for me and for my children, will pray for Cyprus.
If WE stumble in prayer, HE does not.
Praise God: we can rest in Him, in His prayers for us, even if we cannot find that rest in our own prayers to Him.
He will pray for the present world situation, the present church situation and He will pray for my life, my home and my work.
He will pray with groanings that nobody can utter. That is: our human language will ever be insufficient to express the prayers of the Spirit.
But we will not try to imitate the Spirit. We do not need it.
We will just humbly pray the prayer which Christ taught us:
Lord, may Thy kingdom come with haste,
Lay Satan’s dark domain to waste,
And rule us by Thy precious Word,
Till everywhere Thy praise be heard.
Amen.
Praye r:
Dear Lord, Thy Word alone can make us wise unto salvation. Let Thy Word also make us wise in prayer.
And if we do not know what to pray for, or if we pray the wrong prayer, wilt Thou in heaven hear the supplications and groanings of Thy Spirit, Lord, that He may pray for us, in our place and on our behalf. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Psalter Hymnal: 420:1,2,3