Promise And Prayer

  By Arthur Petrie
    In his book on "Christian Perfection," JohnWesley says that "God does nothing but in answer
to prayer." The Bible teaches that prayer must occupy an important place in the plan and
program of God. At the close of a chapter full of promise, God says, "I will yet for this be
inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them" (Ezek. 36:37). Mysterious as it may seem,
prayer is one of the means that God has appointed for the carrying into effect His promises.
Matthew Henry says, "We must turn God’s promises into prayer, and then they shall be turned
into performances." F. B. Meyer writes, "Though the Bible be crowded with golden promises
from board to board, yet will they be inoperative until we turn them into prayer. It is not our
province to argue the reasonableness of this: it is enough to accentuate and enforce it." He also
writes, "God’s promises are given, not to restrain, but to incite (stimulate/ motivate) to prayer."
The teaching that promise and prayer must go together and be used together is "one of the primal
[primary] laws of the spiritual world." I shall illustrate this from Scripture.

First Kings 18

    This chapter furnishes an illustration of the connection between promise and prayer. God
definitely said to Elijah, "Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth" (v. 1).
Elijah met the condition: he showed himself to Ahab; but he did something more. He prayed.
And how he prayed! The echo of the promise was still sounding in his heart when he said to
Ahab, "Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain" (v. 41). Now notice
what happened. "Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel" to
pray! Oh, how many today are going up to eat and to drink, while the few go to pray! And the
many owe the fact that they can eat and drink to the prayers of the few.

    The saints that we owe things to

    Prayer was not mentioned as a condition in the promise of rain. Elijah might have gone away
from Ahab confident that God would keep His promise. But no, Elijah goes to pray. He prayed
seven times for rain. He sent his servant toward the sea to look for the promised rain, and while
the servant was going, Elijah put his face between his knees and prayed, as I imagine, "O Lord,
send the rain." The servant comes back and tells Elijah that he sees "nothing." Elijah says to him,
"Go again" seven times. And each time, while he is going, Elijah, with his face between his
knees, prays, "O Lord, send the rain." What a scene it is! Elijah praying for the promised rain as
though its coming depended upon his prayers and not on the promise of God! And why? Because
we have here "one of the primal laws of the spiritual world." God wants to be asked of to fulfill
His promises. Oh, blessed way of bringing us into the prayer chamber of God!

    The connection between promise and prayer is illustrated in a former scene in the life
of Elijah. He boldly goes into the presence of Ahab, and says, "As the Lord God of Israel
liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to
my word" (1 Kgs. 17:1). The people had turned away from God, and the promise was
written in Deuteronomy 11:17 that God would "shut up the heaven, that there be no
 rain." Elijah prayed that promise into performance. That these two scenes in the life of
Elijah might not be forgotten, and that the connection between promise and prayer might
be inculcated in us, James writes these soul-stirring words: "Elijah…prayed fervently
that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months.
And he prayed again; and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit"
(Jas. 5:17-18).

Isaiah 36 and 37

    Another illustration of promise and prayer is found in the experience of King Hezekiah,
recorded in Isaiah, chapters 36 and 37. The Assyrian had come into the land, and had boasted of
what he would do. God had solemnly promised, "I will break the Assyrian in My land, and upon
My mountains tread him under foot" (14:25). Hezekiah had a right to stay himself upon that
promise when the Assyrian invaded the land. Matthew Henry says that "Isaiah might have
referred him to the prophecies he had delivered and bid him pick out an answer from thence."
God even gave another and further promise of what He would do to the Assyrian: "Behold, I will
send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and I will cause
him to fall by the sword in his own land" (37:7). Hezekiah turned these promises into prayer.
That prayer is recorded in Isaiah 37:14-20, and a wonderful prayer it is. It was this prayer that
brought about the performance of the promises. The Lord Himself said so: "Thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria: This is the
word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him;…By the way that he came, by the same shall
he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord" (37:21-34).

    Thus God worked in answer to prayer, and not alone according to His promise. The Assyrian
did return into his own land, and in his own land he fell by the sword. The record reads: "So
Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came
to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that…his sons smote him with
the sword" (37:37-38). Thus the prayer of King Hezekiah brought about the performance of the
promise of God.

Ezekiel 36

    This chapter in a remarkable way sets forth the connection between promise and prayer.
Indeed, it is in this chapter that we have the principle of it stated. Nearly all of Ezekiel 36 is a
statement of promise after promise of good things for Israel – sure promises and certain of
fulfillment. At the end of this chapter full of promise, God said, "I the Lord have spoken it, and I
will do it" (36:36). The chapter might have ended there. To do what was promised is solemnly
certified to the people. But the chapter does not end there. A great principle of the spiritual world
is now set forth: "Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of
Israel, to do it for them" (v. 37). There you have it, as nowhere else in all Scripture. God has
ordained that prayer be offered that His promises be performed. The next illustration will
abundantly set this forth.
 Daniel 9

    Daniel 9 is perhaps the most moving chapter in the Bible on the matter of promise and prayer.
Daniel had read the twenty-ninth chapter of the prophet Jeremiah. That chapter contains this
promise: "Thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit
you, and perform My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place" (Jer. 29:10).
Daniel refers to this when he says in his ninth chapter: "In the first year of Darius the son of
Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes,…I Daniel understood by books the number of the years,
whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy
years in the desolations of Jerusalem" (vv. 1-2). The time for the accomplishment of that
promise was now at hand. What did Daniel do? Did he call his Hebrew friends together and
suggest a celebration in view of the end of their captivity? Did he sit around and wait for the
edict of the king, permitting them to return to their land? No, indeed. He prayed one of the most
moving and fervent prayers recorded in the Bible. Hear this much of it: "O Lord, hear; O Lord,
forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for Thine own sake, O my God: for Thy city and Thy
people are called by Thy name" (v. 19). Do you wonder that such a prayer sent an angel flying
out of Heaven to bring the answer to Daniel? It moved God Himself to answer.

    You cannot read that prayer without getting the fervency of it. Daniel prayed for the fulfilling
of the promise of God as though it depended on his prayer. And now note this: When God gave
the promise of the Jews’ return, He ordained that prayer should be the means of its
accomplishment. It is in connection with the promise through Jeremiah that God said, "Then
shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you" (Jer.
29:12). Daniel knew that, and so prayed as he did. "Then" refers to the time of the end of the
captivity, as can be seen by reading Jeremiah 29:10, 12. When that time was up, "then" they were
to "call" and "pray," and God promised to answer: "And I will be found of you, saith the Lord:
and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the
places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place
whence I caused you to be carried away captive" (Jer. 29:14).

    No doubt many others knew of this promise, and prayed. They prayed, and God answered. If
Jeremiah 29:10-14 and Daniel 9:2-3 teach anything, they certainly teach that promise and prayer
go together and that God has ordained prayer as a means to accomplish His purposes in the earth.
Matthew Henry makes this observation: "When God is about to give His people the expected
good, He pours out a spirit of prayer."

    David Brainerd wrote in his Journal under date June 30, 1744: "My soul was very solemn in
reading God’s Word; especially the ninth chapter of Daniel. I saw how God had called out His
servants to prayer, and made them wrestle with Him, when He designed to bestow any great
mercy on His church."

    That is exactly the case of Daniel. He saw that the time of the promise was at hand, and he
wrestled in prayer for its accomplishment. And God answered, not only in keeping with His
faithfulness to His promise, but because of Daniel’s prayer, and to teach His people that prayer
for the fulfillment of the promises of God is "one of the primal laws of the spiritual world."

Revelation 22:20

    Very strikingly, the whole Bible closes with a reiteration of this "primal law of the spiritual
world" – this truth of the connection between promise and prayer. It ends with a promise and a
prayer. The promise is, "Surely I come quickly." And the prayer is, "Amen. Even so, come,
Lord Jesus." Exultantly does J. A. Seiss write: "It is the promise of promises – the crown and
consummation of all promises – the coronation of all evangelic hopes – the sum of all prophecy
and prayer."

    Those who prayed the promises into performances were right with God. John’s heart was so
right with God that as soon as he heard the promise of Christ, he immediately and joyfully turned
it into prayer. God in Heaven is looking for those on earth in whose hearts He can put prayer for
the performance of His promises. "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole
earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him" (2 Chron.
16:9). And into such hearts, the Spirit of God will put the prayer of God, for "prayer is nothing
but the breathing that out before the Lord, that was first breathed into us by the Spirit of the
Lord." May the Lord number us among those who pray His promises.

MY FEW COMMENTS:

i. You are promised to inherit eternity after you are born again but you should
change this promise into prayer-watchful prayer- in order to turn it into
performance...Luke 21:34-36 (read carefully v. 36).

ii. God will not give you anything but in answer to what you have prayed for or
someone has prayed on behalf of you. Except in providing answers to prayer
(prayer according to what He has promised his people) God does nothing.

iii. Whenever God wants to give you something He will first make it a promise to you
and the next thing is to pour out a Spirit of prayer on you.

iv. We need holiness (spiritual prosperity), financial and material breakthrough, a

……::::::::::THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL REVEAL TO YOU HIS MANY AND