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The world does not know its Creator. Humanity as a whole does not know Yahweh. Even those who claim to know Him, to love Him, and to be His servants, are drowning in an ocean of misunderstandings about His name, His character, His Law, His nature… essentially everything that makes Him who He is, and who He portrays Himself to be in the Scriptures.
The world accuses Yahweh of being silent when crises arise, and of not answering the prayers of even His own Church. And it is true that Satan’s influence is far more readily seen in the modern world than that of our Father, but the Scriptures have told us to expect this. Two thousand years ago, the Apostles wrote of this day, when the Spirit would be largely withdrawn from the earth, when faith would be so rare that even Yahweh’s most dramatic impact on human history would be seen as fairy tales and mythology, exactly the same as the pagan legends from all over the world.
We read, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy…” (2Tim 3:1, 2) and the list goes on. The effect of this is not difficult to predict. During Yahshua’s earthly ministry, in places where there was little faith, even the Son of Yahweh could do little good. In His own country, where familiarity with His family caused people to disbelieve in His divine nature, we read that “He could there do no mighty work, save that He laid His hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. And He went round about the villages, teaching.” (Mark 6:5, 6)
The whole world has become that village. The whole world knows the name of “Jesus,” and has become so familiar with Him, or at least, the popular conception of Him, that He can do no mighty work on earth. The people of Yahshua’s homeland thought they knew Him, because they had heard of His family, but they were entirely unfamiliar with His true nature and power. Similarly, the world believes it knows all there is to know of Jesus, because we have had churches and prayers and hymns for thousands of years, but aside from scandals and controversies, the Church has not changed the world in centuries. There is no reason for anyone to have faith, looking at the state of Christianity in general, and this is why the final, rapid movements of human history will catch mankind entirely by surprise.
“If God exists,” the question is asked, “why doesn’t He answer my prayers? Why does He not say anything when I talk to him?”
The Bible tells us there are two reasons why prayer is not answered – only two. I want to emphasize this; of all the reasons there could be for Yahweh not to speak to humanity, the Bible lists only two. We read, “Ye lust, and have not. Ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain. Ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” (James 4:2, 3)
Those are the two reasons. First, people are not really asking Yahweh for what they desire. I will speak about that today. Second, when some people do ask of Yahweh, they are asking for their own gratification, for selfish motives, and not to show love for either the Father or one’s fellow human being. We will speak about that second reason today as well.
Some of the language that James uses in these two verses remind me of the major points made in the recent study The Mark of Cain. There is this idea of legitimate ambition, legitimate desire. Yahweh permits us to want certain things, so that we may pray for them and work toward them. When Lucifer desired to be exalted above His appointed role, and when Cain desired to be honored by Yahweh on his own carnal terms, they demonstrated the result of illegitimate ambitions. Yahweh cannot answer these kinds of prayers without causing great harm, and so He either denies them or, in extreme cases, causes judgment to follow that will protect the creation from even greater corruption.
The 144,000, the latter-day saints of Yahweh, know how to ask their Father for things in such a way that Yahshua is empowered to fulfill His promise: “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain – that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you.” (John 15:16)
Too often that last part is recollected, “whatsoever ye ask of the Father in My Name, He may give it to you,” while ignoring the first part. Remember… prophecy is conditional, and prophecy is nothing but the Father revealing a promise or warning to a chosen messenger. The promises and the warnings of Yahweh alike are conditional, inspiration tells us, and we are not left in the dark regarding what those conditions are. Here, Yahshua is willing, eager, to fulfill the desires of His people. He shares the Father’s delight in answering prayer, but those who offer the prayers are ordained to go forth into the world and bring forth enduring fruit. This fruit must be acknowledged by the observing universe, it “should remain” as a testimony to agape-love, that (so that) our prayers will be heard and gain a positive reply from the Throne.
One of the things that will teach the saints their perfect understanding of prayer will be their recognition of the role of the human instrument.
Consider the example of Yahshua that I mentioned before. It is a remarkable idea, that the divine Son of Yahweh would be restrained in His ability to work miracles by the faith of those who received Him. What is even more remarkable, though, is the fact that He was even there at all, with an earthly body through which He was acting, and with an earthly family to criticize. While the Father has no limit to His power, the Son restricted Himself to operating as any human being would. Any miracles that He performed were from the Father working through Him, connecting the Two by the Holy Spirit.
And consider the nature of those miracles when He did perform them. No beams of light came down from Heaven to heal His patients. No lighting arced down to strike His enemies dead. There was nothing spectacular-looking about the work of omnipotence, and why? It is because Yahweh wished to honor the human instrument. He worked within the limitations of Yahshua’s human form, even permitting Him to die by the hands of other humans, because humanity is His chosen vessel. From the beginning, mankind was created in Yahweh’s image – this was not a coincidence, or a casual decision. This was the wisdom of the ages being made manifest. What is truly great about Yahweh is not His ability to send fire, or hurricanes, or earthquakes. As Elijah knew, the true greatness of Yahweh is not in these things.
“And Yahweh said [to Elijah], ‘Go forth, and stand upon the mount before Yahweh.’ And, behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before Yahweh, but Yahweh was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire, and after the fire a still small voice. (1Kings 19:11, 12)
The 144,000 understand what this means. With Yahweh is great power. Yahweh has great power, but He is not “in” those displays of power. He can do all these things, and infinitely greater, but His character is not revealed by His strength. They are the tools He has, and can use, but He is not “in” these things. All the things about Yahweh that are truly great are found in His character… and that character is perfectly content to dwell in even these frail and limited human forms.
Now, we can know what it is to truly be a child of Yahweh. We may not be able to summon the lightning, or raise the dead, or walk on water, unless we are specifically called to do these things for some rare and extraordinary purpose… but every day of our lives, we prove that we are the sons and daughters of Yahweh the Most High, because we have and reveal what is truly great about Him, and that is His heart of love. That is the role of the human instrument.
Faith is not usually about changing the world directly. We can pray for world peace, and for all the hungry to be fed, and for evil dictators to be cast down… but those are not usually the kinds of prayers that our Father has ever been pleased to answer… because it would not bring honor to His chosen vessel of righteousness – the human instrument.
The Faith of Yahshua is about total reliance on the Father and Son, but for what purpose? It is so that They will give us the will, the power, and the opportunity, to bring forth righteousness into the world with our hands, and feet, and mouths. These are the miracles that win souls to everlasting life. I mentioned Elijah, and it is true that Elijah had a special anointing. Some of His miracles were very overt, and this is another reason why the last generation of saints are the People of Eli-Yah, because there will come a day and hour for spectacular miracles, but until that blessing is fully manifest, we have this greatest of promises: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Phil 4:13)
Understood in the context of being dead to self and alive in Christ, this verse is the most powerful of the Bible’s blessings. Even the world recognizes it without understanding it. Athletes, musicians and anyone engaged in skillful activity knows this verse. Unfortunately, they do not understand it, or it would transform them into victory-believing Christians, but they know it is powerful.
The prayers of the saints are rarely about transforming the world directly. The faithful prayer of a righteous man or woman says, “Give me the power to bring about the changes that need to take place.” And then, when the prayer is answered, and we accomplish the Father’s will, we give Him praise while He honors us for the work that has been done. Furthermore, the world sees what we have done in Yahweh’s name, and glory and attention are brought to the Plan of Salvation.
Imagine if, when we prayed for something, it suddenly took place without any effort on our part. The world would have no understanding of righteousness, and see Yahweh as just a means to accomplishing various ends. The sick would come to us for healing and be made whole only to return to the habits that caused their condition in nine out of ten cases. The churches would be full of people seeking for loaves and fishes, for what would be of benefit to their flesh, and then the skepticism would set in, and people would begin to examine the “science” of miracles, to seek for a way to explain supernatural effects without the need to believe in or worship the Father. Satan would ensure that there would be many theories, none of which would lead to a transformation of the soul and character.
But Yahweh has chosen the Church, His covenanted People, to be the channel of His blessings into the world, not just so that the hungry would be fed and the sick attended, but so that those who are seeking the Kingdom with earnest hearts would see a people cooperating with the divine in a way that brings glory to both. This is what will bind up the work in the last days, and harvest the righteous from the earth.
I can do all things through Christ. I do always those things that please Him. These words are the testimony of Yahshua. King David wrote, “Create in me a clean heart, O Elohim; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free Spirit.” (Psalm 51:10-12) And why? So that he could be content and self-satisfied? No, we read on: “Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.” (Psalm 51:13)
That is a remarkable thing for a King of Israel to say. This is not the kind of thing any king would normally say. Why would King David feel the need to act as a common evangelist? Why would he be in contact with sinners in the streets, to convert them to Yahweh’s worship? But these are the words of the Holy Spirit of Yahshua coming through, and telling every one of us the work of divinity among human beings… we are raised up to serve. We are strengthened to teach righteousness. When we pray, it is not for something to happen here, or there, or far away… it is to happen to us, so that we may succeed in the tasks to which our Father sets us. This is how the world, anyone in the world who desires, will come to know Yahweh and Yahshua… it is through the faithful human instrument.
It is not selfish to ask for blessings, or for abilities, or for success, in the pursuit of lawful ambitions. But it is a mistake to expect doors to open in front of you when your hands have strength... the Scriptures teach us to pray for ability and skill, so that we may recognize doors when we see them, and then open them to the glory of our Father. “Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, ‘O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.’” (Dan 9:21, 22)
It would be natural, easy, for angels to carry out the will of Yahweh directly; however, here we see that they are sent, in response to prayer, to strengthen us, and to give us skill. Human as we are, those who are in Christ bring honor to Him with what we do. As it is written, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” (1Cor 10:31)
None of these verses indicate a passive people, waiting for miracles. Of course, when we have no earthly way of escape, and can do nothing to help ourselves, we are to pray for, and expect, divine deliverance. I hope that this distinction is clear. Yahweh is ready, willing, and able, to provide supernatural solutions to our problems… but most of the time, not only are such obviously divine responses unnecessary, they are counterproductive to what He is trying to accomplish by setting up and blessing an organized Church.
If I praise a sister for singing a good song, I do not err in doing so. It is known, and may well be said, that Yahweh is the one who truly receives the praise by providing the ability and the inspiration. Indeed, the one who is praised will often say, “I am blessed that Yahweh’s gift to me has brought you joy,” or something like that. That is proper as well, but it is not intended as a rebuke to the one who has praised her. Here we see the balance. Yahweh honors the human instrument, and the human instrument honors Yahweh. As long as these lines of faith are both active, pride and arrogance will not form. The problem with Lucifer, and with Cain, is that they desired honor while withholding honor from the Father. They wanted to replace Him, or to force His acknowledgement regardless of His will. In this case, the human instrument was honored above, rather than as a vessel of, the divine.
I want to return one last time to the example of Elijah. We read, “And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, ‘If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty.’ And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.” (2Kings 1:10)
At times, it may be appropriate to ask for direct, divine intervention. That is fitting. At times, Elijah can bring fire down from Heaven, although I think that in Heaven we will discover some new dimensions to this incident. Was this an example of perfect righteousness? Would Yahweh’s love have been displayed more clearly had Elijah prayed for something else? Was the time in which this took place prepared to receive a gentler display of Yahweh’s power? These are things we will learn in eternity.
There are certainly times at which Yah wishes to reveal His power and glorify Himself directly, independent of the human instrument. But these times are rare. Most of the time, our Father is attempting to establish something more enduring than a momentary flash of cosmic strength. When He is setting up a teacher, when He is setting up a Church, an earthly authority, then He acts through the human instrument so that it will be honored for His continuing glory. This has been the desire of Yahweh’s heart from the beginning. He created Adam to represent Him to the physical creation. When Adam fell, He created the priesthood, a set of men that represent Him to the physical creation. When the Israelite nation and its priesthood rejected Him by their rebellion and unbelief, Yah sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to fulfill all righteousness… surely, you see the pattern here.
In these last days, Yahweh has a people who serve Him, like Yahshua, who are filled with His Spirit, and do His will on the earth. This is why He places a seal on them, a Seal of His divine approval… finally, the purpose of the Plan of Salvation is fulfilled, in a people, in beings of flesh that are nevertheless like the Almighty in Spirit. This is the crowning jewel of Creation: the saint.
As probation closes, as it shortly will, there will be less and less need for such restraint. The work will close with miracles, even as it began, as a testimony to what spirit-filled men and woman can do. I look forward to this day with great eagerness, although there is enough joy and glory to fill every day until then.
Now, when it comes to the prayers of the saints in particular, prayers for specific things, in my own experience, are THE effective ones. That has certainly been the testimony of my experience. There were times that I was struggling with issues in my faith… not with willful sin, but distracting thoughts, unpleasant and unwanted thoughts. My viewpoint at the time was, “I pray regularly, so why are these disturbing thoughts plaguing me so often?” I thought that, since I prayed often, I should have the power to deal with anything that could arise and bother me. Even so, the thoughts persisted, until I came to a realization. Yahweh gave me a question to ask myself, “Did I pray for help with those specific thoughts?” Did I ask for help with that specific thing? It was so obvious, so simple, that it revealed my earlier assumption as being clear foolishness, even unwitting presumption. Prayer is a request that I send to Yahweh; it does not automatically give me blessings in every aspect of my life. I am always dependent on my Father in everything, and He is pleased that I remember that, even as He gives me work to do on His behalf.
I had not been praying for help with the specific troubles that I was having, and so I started to make it a part of my daily prayers, to ask for help with specific things that troubled me. And, I got exactly what I prayed for. Whenever the thoughts would arise to tempt me, five words would rise up in my mind, and perhaps they are the five most comforting words there can be. The five words were: “I have prayed about this.”
Whenever temptation arose, Yahweh would send to me this reminder, this knowledge, that I had asked Him for help with this specific thing, and that He would never leave me nor fail me. Immediately, I was at peace. Immediately, my prayers were answered. And yes, the Scriptures do say that the Holy Spirit makes up for any lack in the wording and intentions of our prayers, (Rom 8:26) but as the saints mature, Yahweh desires a more active agreement between the things we ask for, and the things He grants.
In this matter, what is true for me is will be true for anyone. Yahweh does not answer my prayers above or beyond anyone else’s. Because I have prayed, I can be used as a pure human instrument, not because of me, but because of the One who has answered the prayer. I am the least of my brethren. What Yahweh has revealed through me, so much more will He do also through you.
We live in a world in which miracles are rare. We usually explain that as being the result of a lack of faith, and it is a true answer; I began this study by affirming that understanding. But I would like to suggest an additional factor as well. The People of Yahweh are not to wait to see pillars of fire in order to boldly step out in faith to do the mighty works of Yahweh. We must step out in faith and seek to heal others, both physically and spiritually. We are to discover their transgressions (it’s not difficult) and therefore their needs. We are to discern those things they are not doing that prevents Yah from giving them success... in many areas, spiritually most important, of course, but also health, finance, etc. In the matter of the character of Christ, we see that many agree with the beast and its image in these days in one way or another. It is making them sick.
We are to find the willing, those who are open to understanding righteousness by faith. We are to counsel them, pray with them, and yes, teach them to pray for specific things, because it is my testimony that this is the proper and effective way to ask our Father for things... not so that an overt miracle will happen, but so that He may honor us by strengthening our hands to accomplish the work, to “put legs on our prayers,” as we sometimes say.
The world will always look for an excuse to disbelieve the supernatural. That is one of Satan’s greatest triumphs in this modern, secular world. But if a people, a consistent people, with a testimony of righteousness by faith, are seen to do things that please Yahweh, to heal the sick, and raise the dead, and teach victory over sin, and demonstrate true, loving unity… then He will honor us as we honor Him, and the world will be compelled to say, “We have never seen anything like this before.”
“By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35) There is a depth to this that we have yet to realize and manifest into the world. Herein is revealed the character of Yahweh in vessels of flesh.
Yahweh loves and seeks to honor the human instrument, or else He would do it all Himself through direct intervention or the work of an angel. There would be no need of prayer. Whatever was necessary for the salvation of man, all this would be done immediately, and by perfect, divine means. But that is not the way that Infinite Wisdom has decided this would work. He holds up those who honor Him as an example for others to follow. He teaches us character, longsuffering, patience, hope… so that we will be just like Him. This is the ideal relationship that our Father seeks to produce, holding us up (little flock though we are) as a beacon and rallying-point for all who sincerely seek righteousness and the Kingdom of Yahweh. This is how He honors the faithful, visibly united, denominated Church that is the Bride of His Son, and the Wise Virgins thereof. This is how He prepares us, and sends us out into the world as agents and instruments of His Word, and “So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth; It shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isa 55:11)
David.
An Enduring Witness
“The father who has died in the faith, resting upon the eternal promise of God, left his loved ones in full trust that the Lord would care for them. And how does the Lord provide for these bereaved ones? He does not work a miracle in sending manna from heaven, he does not send ravens to bring them food; but he works a miracle upon human hearts, he expels selfishness from the soul, he unseals the fountain of benevolence. He tests the love of his professed followers by committing to their tender mercies the afflicted and bereaved ones, the poor and the orphan.” [The Review and Herald, June 27, 1893]
“God could have proclaimed His truth through sinless angels, but this is not His plan. He chooses human beings, men compassed with infirmity, as instruments in the working out of His designs. The priceless treasure is placed in earthen vessels. Through men His blessings are to be conveyed to the world. Through them His glory is to shine forth into the darkness of sin. In loving ministry they are to meet the sinful and the needy, and lead them to the cross. And in all their work they are to ascribe glory, honor, and praise to Him who is above all and over all..” [Acts of the Apostles, p. 330]
“The Lord in His wisdom has arranged that by means of the close relationship that should be maintained by all believers, Christian shall be united to Christian and church to church. Thus the human instrumentality will be enabled to co-operate with the divine. Every agency will be subordinate to the Holy Spirit, and all the believers will be united in an organized and well-directed effort to give to the world the glad tidings of the grace of God.” [Counsels for the Church, p. 247]