Reimar A.C. Schultze

Past Issues of the Call To Obedience

"God Has Put Himself Under The Law Of Prayer"

by Pastor Reimar A. C. Schultze

The thought that God would place Himself under anything goes against the grain of our modern thinking.  But God is sovereign and He can place himself above or below any law as He chooses. Today we shall consider that God has placed Himself under the law of prayer. By this law He has made us vital partners in the operation of His kingdom.

The Bible passages that prove that God has placed Himself under the law of prayer are too numerous to quote.  But any of them can stand alone to support it: “Call upon me, and I will answer (Ps. 91:15)…Ask and ye shall receive (Jn. 16:24 )…. If my people shall humble themselves and pray, I will hear (2 Chr. 7:14 )… Concerning the work of my hands command ye me (Is. 45:11)… You have not, because you ask not (Ja. 4:2).” We all will be ruled either by circumstance or by prayer.  All prayerless people live in an endless ocean of circumstances.  They are moved about by the ebbs and tides of the sea of life, by the coming and going of mood swings, by family affairs, by social pressures, by stock market gyrations, by natural disasters, by fears, by false hopes and faulty speculations. We were created to pray so that we would never become victims but that we would always be conquerors. What a mighty gift God has given us in prayer.  Woe unto us on Judgment Day if we have not employed it.

The fact that God has placed Himself under the law of prayer then brings us to this irrefutable conclusion: that what happens to us depends a lot more on us than on God. By prayer we bind or loose (Mt. 16:19 ). If we don’t pray circumstances will take over and our days will not go down as God-days, as days of heaven on earth, as days of His will having been done, His Kingdom having come.

Remember we can only conquer one day at a time, not whole seasons or years.  That is why Jesus said, “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Mt. 6:34 ) and “Give us this day our daily bread” (Mt. 6:11 ). Your daily bread will not come without your daily prayer. Oh yes, you may get bread without prayer, but it will not be His bread unless you pray. His bread gives strength to you. Your bread will breed worms (see Ex. 16:15 -20).  Let your life revolve around his kingdom.

So the man of prayer is another creature altogether.  He is super-natural by Biblical definition. The apostle Paul had the audacity to actually call him a new creation, like a new species. This new man does not drift around in the sea of circumstance; he’s not overtaken by the prevailing atmosphere.  He is connected to heaven.  He has unlimited power to affect change. Circumstances do not change him, rather he changes circumstances.  He is linked with God in the great operation and administration of His kingdom even to the breaking down of the mightiest strong holds (2 Co. 10:14 ). The men and women of prayer are the marvels of the ages: they have survived fire (Dan. 3:27 ); caused the sun to stand still (Jos. 10:12 ); survived poisonous snake bites (Ac. 28:3-6); and been able to forgive and love those who persecuted and hated them (Ac. 7:59 , 60).

Are you governed by circumstance or by prayer? Are you living in your strength or His strength? Are you looking at the problems surrounding you, at the problems of your neighbors and the nations to get your clues as to what to do? Or are you focused on God to get direction and strength?

You say you are too busy to pray. But how is it that you are not too busy to struggle with the awful consequences of a prayerless life? When you land in an ocean of troubles and disappointments that take thousands of hours to fix, you will find time. Which is easier? What takes more time? Is it to pray for a disaster not to happen, or is it to work yourself out of one? It is wise to pray ahead of the devil. Pray that he will not destroy your home, rather than pray after he has demolished it. I believe you will be spared 70% of troubles if you have a prayer life. What a bargain! That is what God has for you.

Oh my friends let your eyes be continually upon your Master to seek His perfect and acceptable will. Prayer puts God to work on earth.  God has designed it to be so. Prayer causes man to rule with God, and He often he will not act until we ask. Prayer prevents man from becoming a victim of anything. But prayerlessness rules God out of the affairs of your life and your nation.  Someone said that to deny prayer is to deny God Himself, because God and prayer are so inseparably linked. One can never be thought of without the other in the economy of the Kingdom of God .

There is no prayer too big for God to answer. Joshua asked for the sun to stand still, so he could finish a battle (Jos. 10: 12 -14).  Likewise, there is no prayer too small to be answered.  Do not be prayerless about small things, because the stuff of life is mostly about small things. If there is neglect in small things it will often lead to trouble with big things.  In the Netherlands they have learned not to ignore a small hole in a dam. A 20-foot python can easily visit a home through a small hole. Do not allow holes of prayerlessness in your life.

You may spend ten minutes or an hour looking for a tool, or you can avoid a long search by simply coming to Jesus.  Since He knows where it is, why not ask Him? I am working for Him and so I simply ask Him whether He wants me to look for something or to write you, or to call someone to encourage them.  My time is His time. Since I am working for him, He is interested in what I am doing with His time.  Sometimes you have to ask Him several times, as Elijah asked the Lord seven times for rain to come (I K. 18:41-45). And sometimes He will let you search and while you search He will give you marvelous divine revelations and a sweet time of fellowship with Him during the search. But often He will let you know where to find the lost tool, or coin, or sheep. Jesus cares about everything.

Always start by looking for His will, always keep in touch with Him. God does not want his children to waste time. You ask, where is the Scripture for praying for little things? It is “Pray without ceasing” (1 Th. 5:17 ).  That means, never leave the attitude of prayer in all you do, small or large. Again, life mostly consists of small things.  Prayer without ceasing will cover everything, small and great. Prayer is getting God to do the things that He otherwise would not do. God by His own choice has put Himself under the law of prayer. Again, what happens to you has more to do with you than Him. He is committed to the law of prayer; the question is: are you?

But I must not finish this article without addressing those of you who have prayed but received few answers to prayer.  If that is your case, perhaps you need to take spiritual inventory. Is your prayer life built on these two fundamentals: intimacy and obedient faith? Intimacy means abiding in Christ.  Jesus said to His disciples, “Abide in me and I in you… “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5).

The test of an abiding life in Christ is obedience in everything. For Jesus taught that if His words abide in us, that is, if we obey, we shall ask what we will and it shall be done unto us (Jn. 15:7,10). Obedience brings us both faith and abiding.  And abiding always brings much fruit. Now as obedience gives us residence in Christ it is also the soil of biblical faith. Abraham proved his belief through his obedience. So it is only in the abiding that your faith can grow to see ever-greater answers to prayer.  And as you come to greater intimacy with the Lord, year after year, the bigger the Lord will become to you. Going back to Joshua, the God who made the sun stand still was a bigger God than the One he had when he lay defeated on his face outside the gates of Ai (Jos. 7:6). When you start with Christ you may not have faith to pray for big things. But be encouraged as you remain in Him, as He prunes you, you will in time become a mighty warrior for Him. So the kingdom of God is as a mustard seed planted in the soil of an obedient heart. As its roots go down in humility, its spiritual branches will grow up in faith making you an ever greater partner in His mighty workings. God has placed himself under the law of prayer. Always be in the spirit of prayer and never leave your home without having had a season alone with God.