If God Knows Our Needs, Why Pray?

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If God knows we need before we ask him and of God sovereignly governs all things and monitors all things become the best.

What good does it do the prey yeah I can see it does me some good to get off my chest to tell God what I need.

What I like him to do. But the bottom line question is this prayer make a difference in light of God's providence may be one of the questions we hear Miller's. We do ministries.

How do we harmonize God sovereignly is divine rule over everything with prayer. Since his plans already in place, my prayers change anything, here's Dr. RC scroll from his series on the providence of God. Early on in our lecture series. I dropped a hint at least that there is a link between God's providential care of his universe and this whole business of prayer we see for example the closeness between the word providence and the word provision now provisions come from what we call a pro fighter. Historically, we said that the man of the family has had the responsibility of being the provider of the household. That is, he is to make sure that certain provisions are taken care of for the well-being of the life of the family. Now you see, of course, that the word provide comes from the same Latin structure that the word providence comes from because when we have provisions is because we see before us certain needs that we will have were going to need food were going to make Charleroi new clothing relieving sayings and so we gather to ourselves those articles that we call provisions articles that we need to take care of ourselves. As a result of our ability to see down the road apiece.

We can see the linguistic link here between the act of providing and the very concept of providence will part of the providence of God is God's disposition to provide for his people to see that there provisions are taken care and as the great provider. He invites his people to come to him and to verbalize their needs. The Scriptures tell us that God is pleased when we come and tell him what it is we need Jesus tells us what father if his son asks for bread, will give them scorpion. However, he like those together so their heavenly father is delighted and pleased to give us those things that we need and then here's where it gets a little difficult Scriptures going to say that God knows what we need before we even ask for that. Is he see in advance pro would I know he knows what you need when I made even before we bring up that immediately raises the question of what will. If God knows what I need.

He knows what you need and he's pleased to be the provider of all of our human needs. Why bother with the exercise prayer. Who needs the print on the one hand it seems like an exercise in futility and second of all, it even smacks of a kind of arrogance because it seems as if we think that we need to freshen the deities memory or teach him a lesson and then again it would seem to be insulting to God to tell them what we need. If he knows in advance what like the quote from one of the great theologians and church history when he considered this particular question in his book the institutes of the Christian religion. John Calvin was discussing this question of why should we pray in the light of our understanding of the problems of God and if there's any theologian in church history that made an extensive study of the concept of providence. It was, but here's what common has to say about quote but some will say, does he not know without a monitor both what our difficulties are and what is meet for our interest so that it seems in some major superfluous to solicit him with our prayers as if he were winking or even sleeping until aroused by the sound of our boys, those who argue in this way attend, not to the end or the purpose for which the Lord taught us to pray, it was not so much for God's good as it was for our good.

And obviously God doesn't need the information and yet he encourages us to give him the information I see here example of the kind of love and compassion relationship that is mirrored imperfectly, of course, but is mirrored in familial relationships in this world.

Those of you who are mothers and fathers have certainly had the experience of you know very well what's going on in your children's mind.

You don't need to probe.

You can see they can observe it as apparently you know more from your experience than they do. Sometimes you take the child aside and you say tell me about tell me what's happening here.

You know very well what's happening, you know it better than they know it, but you're giving that child now an opportunity to relate to you and to relate. It is not interesting.

We use the word relate sometimes as a verb that means to tell them that we also mean it is a personal relationship to speak to make port out bounce it off me talk to me and you invite the child to inform you of what you already know, and so our heavenly father gives us the opportunity to come into his presence to have a private audience with this set before him. Those things that we feel like we need he knows before we come, what were going to say, but it is for our benefit and are good that we have the opportunity to speak with him. Sometimes we look at the elements of prayer in terms of the acrostic acts they see TS a is adoration.

See his confession this Thanksgiving and asses supplication.

Let's look at these elements of prayer. Does God need your adoration for his benefit. God is a song that will used to be popular in this country so you remember got along without you.

Before a metric going to get along without you.

Now the God got along just fine before we ever came onto the scene of world history. God does not need me.

He does need my fellowship. He doesn't need my praise. He doesn't need my adoration is ego needs are not dependent upon our response to him. He is self existent and self-sufficient. He has and enjoys perfect fellowship within the intimacy of the Godhead itself from all eternity. The father the son and the Holy Spirit perfectly fulfill one another. They don't need your adoration.

God doesn't need your adoration, but I the adoration. If I am going to grow as a creature made in the image of God and be all that God has called me to be. He has made me as a creature capable of worship and I am the one who loses something of my own humanity. When I never experience adoration know it's a funny thing.

We live in an age that is been characterized as an age of unprecedented hedonism were hedonism was that philosophy that defines the good in terms of pleasure and pleasure is defined basically in terms of feeling so very intensely sensual culture in which we live within me preoccupied with feeling good even hear maxims like this.

If it feels good.

It is God I can't imagine anything more. Contrary to truth and that but I'm trying to bury honesty. I don't know anything that feels is wonderful as adoration, and there are many human beings who have never experienced the sheer joy of adoring God. The sense of release, and personal fulfillment that comes with a pure expression of adoration.

You know what I'm talking about and true.

I mean, it's not something perhaps that characterizes our moment to moment existence or even something that we experience necessarily everyday but we've all had those precious moments we've experienced the intense release of the love of the human soul directed towards the appreciation for the majesty of God, there is nothing like confession gets God have to hear our sins to be fulfilled know you know the old saying confession is good for the soul. What is good for the soul broadside in this room go to the pagan world go to people have no time whatsoever for the things of God of no interest in religious inclinations who may deny the reality of evil, and I will show you people who carry one of the heaviest burdens of the human brain can never be asked to endure and are paralyzed by it and that is the problem of on relenting guilt. We look to every conceivable manner to assuage this paralysis that inflicts us by guilt.

We look at forms of intoxication.

Other forms of escape, to get rid of that bad feeling that we have guilt. I know of nothing were liberating to the human life and authentic confession, authentic confession before God where a person can experience forgiveness. Confession is not for God's good for our good. And God is not one who has to be signed for everything that we get from his hands or he's going to be upset or miffed or feeling slighted.

Remember Jesus parable of the 10 lepers are tell the story of the 10 lepers were Jesus heals 10 people of the dreaded disease of leprosy.

Remember what happened.

Nine of them went on their way and only one of them took time to come back and to show his gratitude to Jesus heard people talk about that and they'll say well there was one grateful leper and nine ungrateful lepers say wait a minute that's not what the story is about. Not that Jesus heals 10 people leprosy and only one of them is grateful. Are you kidding me, you go back to the ancient world and see what life was like for a leper. These people were separated from their loved one from their vocations. They were the pariahs of the community like they had him wear a bell around their neck and cry out unclean unclean of any healthy person came along. Jesus not only comes along goes over and touches them, embraces them, and then he heals them and were supposed to believe that nine of them say Hill school and are going to get all of their work and have no sense of gratitude. I guarantee you that of the 10 lepers that were healed of leprosy you had 10 of the most grateful people under the sun. They were all grateful they were so excited to hear they had been isolated from the children from their wives from the communities. Now they were set free in Jesus and go show yourself to the priest show myself the priest look at me I'm free of this dreaded disease. I'm at my company. I can't wait to see my wife. I can't wait to see my kids. I can't wait to go to the precinct to pronounce cure they were so excited they were so grateful they forgot to show their grant is not that my work ungrateful. One was grateful but the one took the time to express craft were all grateful God doesn't need to hear your expression grant, but you need. I need to express my Thanksgiving. That's why the apostle tells us that when we make our requests to God. We are to make all our request to the father with thanksgiving because this is the way in which the relationship is deepened as the fourth dimension really raises the questions of providence. This aspect of supplication here was where we really run in head on the concept of God's sovereign province.

Again, we know that God doesn't need to hear our petitions to know of what we need.

But the question we come up against. Now is this god knows we need before we ask him and of God sovereignly governs all things and monitors all things become the best. What good does it do the prey yeah I can see it does me some good to get off my chest to tell God what I need one of like him to do.

But the bottom line question is this prayer make a difference in light of God's providence said it this way.

This prayer work this prayer change anything will does the Bible answer the question course at times in the book of James St. James encourages people to pray.

He points us to the example of Elijah in the Old Testament whose prayers were so efficacious, so powerful that actually they made it stop raining again called on fire from heaven. His prayers were effectual and fervent. Let me ask you whether or not you think Jesus is believed the prayer work, call your attention here to a passage that Luke records for us in his gospel. We all know that Jesus selected 12 men whom he called to be his disciples and the later commission, with the exception of Judah to be apostles before Jesus selected his 12 disciples, is what the Scriptures say one of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and he spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose 12 of them. We also designated apostle letters and gentlemen, Jesus considered prayer is such an important element of the working out of his mission. The working out of his destiny. But before he set about the important decision of selecting people to be disciples. He retired from those who were surrounding him went apart by himself and in his solitude, spent the entire night in prayer we see Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane praying so intensely that his sweat are as drops of blood from his four the idea that he teaches in the parable of the important woman is prayer is not a cavalier casual matter but prayer is a matter of personal intensity. It is a matter of passion for the people of God read the prayers of David or David cries out my pillow is wet with my tears. James tells us the fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man avails with much does the doctrine of providence negate the value of prayer, the efficacy of prayer.

Remember the source for a document. Providence is the word of God.

The same word of God, who tells us that this is our father's world and that God has appointed all things from the beginning is the same source that tells us that the fervent effectual prayer of righteous people avails much.

Does it change things. Yes, it changed the changes you achievement them just change us. It changes events. Jesus said, you have not because you rational. We don't really believe it changes things run the most funny stories in the New Testament is in the book about Peter's arrested right and what to the disciples do they run up in the upper room there all upset and they engage in intensive prayer beseeching God pleading with God for the life of Peter.

And while they're in there praying for Peter's release. God sends an angel to the prison to open the door. The prison and he releases Peter J.

Word of Peter go. He makes a beeline to the upper room and he comes up to see his friends and be restored. Joyful fellowship with them. He knocks on the door and he's left then that Michael looked people don't want to be disturbed or seriously busy trying here and so they send the servant lady as she runs to the door to see what this interruption this and she opens the door she sees Peter as basin runs at his ghost is out there and believe me, a similar prayer. We were sitting in flesh and blood right in front of we don't really believe that prayer matters were the prayer works. People don't believe the prayer matters of prayer works are people who simply don't pray with any degree of regularity or any degree of intensity because there's no more wonderful confirmation of the providential provision of God in our lives than that which comes from watching God answer prayers state the question one of the widest prayer change God's mind absolutely not. If you mean by that God's eternal decrease.

God has set certain things in concrete from the foundation of the world and you can ask until you're blue in the face of change.

His plan is not gonna do it.

God has an agenda, but remember that his providential goal the end he has decreed he has decreed to bring about screw me in your prayers are included among God's providential plan for the destiny of his work as I know the God could do things in advance whether I asked him or not, and that I am an insider to ask for these things through the influence of the Holy Spirit in my life. I'm excited to see God using my prayers and your prayers as the means that he has decreed to bring his will pass that only intensifies our joy of fellowship that we have with him. Finally, let me conclude with this story of the farmer who sat on his porch and says God is my provider benefit is the will of providence that I will have a bumper crop this year.

Then I will leave that up to the providence of God. God wants me to plant the seed gonna plant to see if God wants the rows to be cultivated on will cultivate and God wants the crop to be harvested. God of harvest the crop.

And if he doesn't then case a raw sarong I'm going to stay in my rocking chair that lies in general and I think we know what happens. The farmer and his crop.

He didn't have any CT doesn't have any plants. He has no harvest. He has no food. I don't how may times of heard people say the Bible says God helps those who help themselves about it and say that that's been refractoriness from poor Richard's almanac's okay but it is a principal that is valid in a certain dimension. The divine providence is not to be despised or held in contempt by people who sit back and say why. If God is in charge. I'm not going to do anything because God calls us to work God calls us to plan God calls us to pray because our labor which is real, our plans, which are important in our prayers which are significant are part of the very things that the supreme ruler of heaven and earth uses to bring about our destiny.

We've only scratched the surface of the understanding of the doctrine of providence. I hope that this wet your appetite to study the doctrine. Further, there's no more important thing to consider then how my life relates to the life of God and how God is related. This time the Christians once again, the Lord, providence back.

Scripture tells us to be anxious for nothing, and today Dr. RC Sproul has given us a strong antidote to worry, to rest in God's good providence. Glad you joined us for Renewing Your Mind on this Monday I'm Lee Webb and I were wrapping up RC series on the providence of God. It's a series that enters some difficult questions such as is God responsible for human wickedness and what about human freedom become in the series to you. I think you'll find it helpful in your further study.

You can order the three CD set for a donation of any amount is go to Renewing Your Mind.org or call us at 800-435-4343 you have questions about theology or the Bible. Let me bite you to use our online service called ask Ligonier. It's not just a database of answers we have trained team members and time zones around the world ready to field your questions in real time.

Just go to ask.Ligonier.or you can do that 24 hours a day six days a week web address again is ask.Ligonier.org well tomorrow were bringing back another classic series by RC is simply titled joy. Though the farming industry collapses the stock market crashes, though the technological industries of computers and so on. Explode though all these things happen.

Nevertheless, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation, deep, heartfelt joy. Is it really possible to find out tomorrow Renewing Your Mind. We hope you'll join us