Do our prayers change the future

Do Our Prayers Change the Future?


Why do we pray?1. Commanded – I Thess. 5:172. Dependence – Mt. 6:11, 123. Comfort – I Pet. 5:74. Encourage – Eph. 1:15, 16

But do some things happen because of our prayers? (Food, Safety, Health)


Question #1: Can our prayers change the future?

Possibility #1: Determinism

Nothing occurs which was not the fore-ordained will of God (blueprint)

Implications:The future cannot change!If the future did change, prayer did not do

it!Possibility #2: Free WillMan has the ability to make genuine choices.

Bible confirms Free WillDeuteronomy 30:19

19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Joshua 24:15 15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

The Bible has examples of future-changing prayer

Genesis 25:2121 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD

was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

Exodus chapter 321 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the

people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

2 Kings 20:5-65 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God

of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. 6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

James 5:17-18 17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it

might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

The Bible teaches that we should pray to change the future

Matthew 7:7-87 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be

opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

1 John 3:21-2221 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

Acts 8:20-2220 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast

thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. 21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

It is possible for human prayer to shape the future!(Better hope so… prayer for repentance)


Question #2: How can our prayers change the future?Possibility #1: The future is unknown even to God.

Clark Pinnock – “Instead of perceiving the entire course of human existence in one timeless moment, God comes to know events as they take place.” (God is surprised by

events)

Greg Sanders – “Only if God does not yet know the outcome of my journey can a prayer for safe travel be coherent

within the model of foreknowledge.” (Must be the case if praying is valid)

But there is a problem! The scriptures!

The Bible presents God as knowing the future perfectly!

Isaiah 42:9 9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. (prophecies)

John 13:19 19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He.

The Bible presents God as even know my future prayers!

Psalm 139:4 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

Matthew 6:8 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.


Question #2: How can our prayers change the future?

Possibility #2: God not only knows the future completely but even knows what we are going to prayer before we pray it.

God is separate from time and “inhabits eternity (Isa. 57:15)”

God and Eternity

God and Eternity

Time


Question #2: How can our prayers change the future?Possibility #2: God not only knows the future

completely but even knows what we are going to prayer before we pray it.

God is separate from time and “inhabits eternity (Isa. 57:15)”

God has known my prayers even before creation (not 1 second before or 1 day before but from the beginning) God has known from all eternity what I will pray tomorrow and how He will respond to that prayer.

Keep in mind knowing something will happen and causing something to happen is two different things.

(I know what Karen will do if I offer her a sandwich with mayonnaise)Our prayers change the future from our perspective but not God’s

(God knows the future but I do not)


Question #3: Do our prayers change the future?James 5:16-18

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Elijah’s prayers were not answered because he was a prophet or because the Spirit of God was upon him; no, James stresses our common nature.

Guy N. Woods – “If one of like passions with us (possessed of the same human nature) as Elijah could accomplish so much in prayer, then we should not deny its efficacy today.”


Question #3: Do our prayers change the future?When they are consistent with God’s will!

Jesus in Gethsemane

Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”

But these were in conflict with God’s will, therefore, no changing of the future.


PRAYER and GOD’S WILL

1. God’s ultimate will – What will absolutely happen (Jn. 10:27-29) This will not change!

2. God’s intentional will – What would ideally occur (II Pet. 3:9) What God will do if possible.

3. God’s circumstantial will – What God allows given the existing circumstances (Rev. 20:15) Freewill!

Our prayers can affect the circumstantial will of God and change the future!

Spiritual

Do our prayers change the future