HOW WE HINDER GOD

HOW WE HINDER GOD 

"Far be it from me that I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for you" 1 Sam. 12:23

Let us be very careful not to misread these words of Samuel, for rightly apprehended they are most arresting and revealing. Samuel did not say: “Far be it in me that I should sin against you in ceasing to pray for you." There is a secondary sense in which he might have said that, for we do certainly sin against men when we cease to pray for them. But that is so for the very reason which is revealed in what Samuel did actually say, namely: "Far be it from me that I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for you." His thought was that if he ceased to pray for Israel he would be SINNING AGAINST GOD. What a remarkable truth is involved in that conception concerning prayer. Quite simply stated, it is that IN PRAYER WE CREATE CONDITIONS which make it possible for God to act in ways otherwise impossible to Him. WHEN WE CEASE TO PRAY WE LIMIT GOD. WHEN WE PRAY WE OPEN HIS WAY TO ACT. We may not be able to account for this philosophically. It may seem to us as though our praying could not possibly make any difference to the putting forth of the Divine power, even though it might possibly affect His will. As a matter of fact, the reverse is true. No prayer of mine can change the will of God, which is ever "good and acceptable and perfect." (Rom. 12:2) But my prayer can and does make it possible for His power to operate in ways impossible apart from it. When I cease to pray for men, I sin against God first, because I hinder Him in that I do not help Him. Therefore I GRIEVOUSLY SIN against men when I CEASE TO PRAY FOR THEM. (See 1 Cor. 1:11)