Page 70 - Psalms Ebook

Here is the prayer truth. Prayer does not change God’s will. Prayer
fulfills God’s will. The question is, since God is in sovereign control,
even over those who try to oppose Him, in Psalm 2 it says that “the
ungodly went up against Him” and verse 4 says, “He who sits in the
heavens laughs”. He scoffs at them. Psalm 37:12, “The wicked plot
against the righteous and gnashes at him with their teeth. The Lord
laughs at him, for he sees his day is coming.” Psalm 59:8, “But You,
O LORD, laugh at them; You scoff at all the nations.”

Now over and over again in these Psalms you see God laugh. You had
better write this down in your mind. When God laughs, it is not funny.
The reason He laughs is because it is ludicrous for man to think he can
oppose God and for people to stand up against the will of God. He is
sovereign; He reigns. Psalm 47:7 and 8, “God is the King of all the
earth; God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne.” And
I love Psalm 103. I have prayed this so many times. Psalm 103:19, “His
sovereignty rules over all.” Something happens in my life, I just come
back to that. “His sovereignty rules over all.” Such a wonderful,
wonderful verse.

But since that is true, since His sovereignty rules over all – all people, all
events, all demons, all nature, all spirits, all angels, all circumstances –
since it is true that He does whatever He pleases in heaven and earth and
in the great deep, you must have at one time or another asked the
question: Why pray? What good will it do? Can we change His mind?
If He has decreed something, can we change His will? Can we affect His
will? Since He already knows what is going to happen and since He is
sovereign and has decreed, then why pray? Will my prayer change the
will of God? I think most Christians have entertained that question in
some form or another.

Many of us have heard of, or are involved in, what is called a prayer
chain. The idea is this. A certain brother or sister has a certain need and
so Christian A calls Christian B and Christian B calls Christian C, and
the idea is, let’s pray. Let’s help. Let’s get together and pray. And some
would have the idea, the more that pray, the better. The better shot we
have. Is that true? Is God more moved if fifty pray than if twenty-five
pray? If one hundred pray than fifty pray? And so on. What
relationship does prayer have to the throne of God if He is sovereign?
My mother used to ask me this all the time. Why pray? Why pray? He
is going to do what He wants to anyway.

Let me try and explain what I think is God’s heart on this. God ordains