Humble Prayer
Written by John Schaenzer Friday, 27 November 2009 23:35
In continuing with a series of sermons I am giving on prayer, I am exploring what it is to pray in a humble fashion. Is it important, or even required to be humble in our prayers? Do we have the authority to be demanding and expect our prayers to be answered in the fashion that we desire? As Christians, we should always hold to the standard that God sets forth in Scripture. We can begin our exploration of the topic with these thoughts.
Humble Prayer
Comforts of Home
November 28, 2009
I am a humble man and very proud of it. The foolishness of this statement should be obvious. If I am proud enough to declare my humility, I deceive myself, as my humility is not genuine. Such is the dilemma with striving to be a humble person. If I seek to produce humility in myself, odds are I will fail because I will then take credit for the transformation, thereby negating the humility with my pride. True humility is produced within us, not by us. One example of humility in prayer comes from the book of Daniel.
Daniel 10:12 “Then he said to me, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.’”
Daniel had set his heart on understanding. In other words, he was seeking the truth. Daniel also humbled himself before God. What does this mean that he humbled himself? The dictionary says to humble is to lower in condition, importance, or dignity. And to destroy the independence, power, or will of.
Two to three years earlier, Daniel “observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.” Daniel 9:3-4a goes on to say, “So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said”. Daniel goes on to confess the sins on behalf of Israel. He does so while lowering his own condition, importance, or dignity and destroying his own independence.
The object of Daniel’s prayer was the deliverance of his people that had been in captivity. He entered into prayer of confession and humbled himself before God. Daniel alone was not the concern of the prayer he engaged in. This time of prayer was dedicated to and focused upon the people of Israel. He considered himself only insofar as he was part of the group. He was so focused on the suffering of Israel that it was described as mourning.
Daniel 10:2 “In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks.”
Daniel was focused and persistent. He was seeking truth and he stuck with it. He “observed in the books the number of the years” and he believed what he read. He trusted the Word of God to be true. This belief fueled his persistence as he sought God for understanding and clarification. Anyone who has fasted will know that 3 weeks worth takes quite a bit of dedication. It has been my experience, and this is just me, that when I fast as a ritual, focusing on the act of fasting, it is very difficult to get through. In that circumstance I am very distracted by hunger. However, when I am focused on the object of my prayer, the purpose of the fast, and upon seeking God for wisdom and understanding, I seldom experience hunger pangs until the end of the period of fasting. This has proven true for me whether the fast has been one, three or ten days. As we see in verse three, Daniel made sure the focus was not on him by denying himself for the appointed time of fasting and prayer.
Daniel 10:3 “I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed.”
Now let’s not mistake the length of time as the key to moving God to respond to our prayers. While he fasted for three weeks, we read in verse 12, “from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.” Our activities and demands do not force God to act or respond. God knew the heart of Daniel as he mourned for the captive Israel and sought God for truth in the matter of the length of time they were to remain in Babylon and Persia.
We see in chapter 9 that the answer came in dramatic fashion.
Daniel 9:20-23 “Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, ‘O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.’”
While we may never receive answers to our prayers in such dramatic fashion, we can expect answers to our prayers. The last time I was here, I spoke about effective prayer and gave a couple of examples of answered prayer. The on was about my realization of my salvation and the other on related to a healing I had received. I also explored how we determine the effectiveness of our prayer. We don’t decide whether the prayer was effective based upon receiving the answer that we want, rather, we know our prayer was effective by the fact that God answered it based upon His will and His knowledge of the situation. And again, we know that God hears our prayers and has the answer for us. We cannot dictate the timing in which it is revealed to us and so we continue to persistently pray.
The advantage we have today is that we have the Bible, the Word of God. Oftentimes when we are seeking God’s will we fail to spend time searching His word for the principles that apply to the subject of our prayer. If we were to do so, we would need to lay ourselves aside and focus on God’s truth. We give up control by submitting ourselves to Him. We also give up the demands for the answers we want and replace them with the desire for God’s will to be done. It is the pride within our sinful nature that causes us to resist sin and to submit to God and His truth.
In these chapters in the Book of Daniel we learn many things about prayer. He was moved by the Word to pray and fast. When was the last time that we allowed the conviction of Scripture to move us to repentance and prayer? Do we really take the Bible seriously and believe that God is communicating His truth with us? What a shame it is that we leave the Bible on the shelf all too often while we worry and fret about the struggles in our lives. Can we not even humble ourselves to the point of acknowledging that God has wisdom and understanding beyond our own and to seek it out? Perhaps we are resistant to seeking God’s plan because we don’t want to give up control or the power to do what we want to do. It is a very difficult thing for our prideful selves to participate in submission to God.
Next we must question our fervency and persistence. Is there an intensity and zeal that drives us to see things through? Do we stay at it until we are convinced of God’s response to our prayer? I believe this is easier to do when God lays something on our heart rather than our own desires seeking out answers to bless ourselves. Being responsive to the Scripture or to the leading of the Holy Spirit enables us to team up with God rather than to pursue Him in an adversarial role. To do so requires submission on our part and humility to follow His will rather than our own. We see this in the self-denial in the act of fasting. I am of the belief that to fast for fasting sake alone is to merely go hungry. Fasting is an effective spiritual activity when we humble ourselves before God.
We see that Daniel was unselfishly identified with God’s people. Do we put others ahead of our own desires or demands? If we are part of the group, are we truly putting the group ahead of ourselves? The confession of our sins, both corporate and individual, enables us to move beyond our selfish desires and to put God and others in the forefront of our thoughts and prayers. Self-centeredness needs to removed from the picture if we are to approach God in humility. We need to trust in God and His character. He is holy and perfect in knowledge and wisdom whereas we are filled with flaws and self-deception. Our goal must be to glorify God by seeking and doing His will.
The Bible is filled with examples of God calling upon His people to humble themselves and call upon Him. Another passage is 2 Chronicles 7:11-16. “Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's palace, and successfully completed all that he had planned on doing in the house of the LORD and in his palace. Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, ‘I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.’”
We see here that humbling themselves was a pre-condition for God hearing their prayer. God was not interested so much in the action of praying as He was in the condition of their hearts. Is it any different with us? The first ten verses of the fourth chapter of the Book of James instruct us to this end.
“What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: ‘He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us’? But He gives a greater grace Therefore it says, ‘GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.’ Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
Conflicts and quarrels are not the result of seeking God in humility. Murder is the ultimate manifestation of selfish desires and sinfulness. I must humble myself and seek God or I may not receive what I am seeking. Am I humbling myself or am I seeking God with wrong motives to fulfill my pleasures in selfish gratification of my desires? Am I spiritually unfaithful, seeking the ways of the world instead of the ways of God? I have no right to expect God to hear my prayers, much less respond to them if all the while I am serving myself by following the ways of the world rather than living a godly life. As it asks in verse 4, “do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?” Scripture has a purpose, which is to convey the truths of God to us including the truth that God gives grace to the humble.
Our salvation lies within the grace of God. We are to submit to God’s authority. We are to resist the devil as we submit to God. We are to confess our sinfulness to God, purifying our hearts before Him. We cannot be double minded, serving both God and self, or the devil. Being miserable, mourning and weeping would be the natural outcropping from our realization of our sinfulness and separation from God as we seek His forgiveness. Humbling ourselves is to make ourselves low as we realize we are in the presence of the one true infinitely majestic and holy God, our Creator.
I close with a passage from The Gospel According To John, chapter 6, verses 35 through 40.
“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.’”
Are we humbling ourselves before the Lord Jesus Christ so we may be raised up on the last day? We must examine ourselves to be sure that we are humbling ourselves before Him. We must even ask Him for the grace to be truly humble and not self-deceived. If we ask God to reveal the truth to us, He is faithful to do so. Cry out to God for His mercy and grace while there is still time to do so.
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