Prayer Principles Isaiah ADENDUM THEMES
Intro: one cannot pray effectively with only a vague god concept in mind.
For, prayer is communing with God. Therefore, the one praying must approach God as He truly is, with a knowledge of who He is. For, God manifests His presence to those who approach Him in this way. To pray biblically is to be in contact with God as He truly is revealed in His Word. Therefore, effective prayer has a controlling element of worship in it.
In relation to this subject of effectual prayer, we would rightly ask, what is God’s majesty, and what is His majesty doing? He is extending His glory by making a Name for Himself, not giving His glory to another. He redeems for His Name sake, He judges for His Name sake. He delays His wrath for His Name (own) sake. That is who He is. Do you know this God? Do you love this God?
So, when we say ‘effectual prayer’, we do not mean ‘effectual’ in the sense of: how to get what you want. However, answered prayer is a Scriptural theme associated with effective prayer. But, prayer is not so much an attempt to impose our will upon God’s will—or to seek to change His mind, prayer is more along the lines of us drawing near and bringing our petitions with the expectation of being changed by God in the process of His answering us so that we are aligned with Him and His purposes.
How the redeemed reason
“And it will be said in that day, ‘Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation” (Is 25:9).
“Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; it is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back” (Is 38:17).
‘Songs’ of the redeemed
“In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; He sets up walls and ramparts for security. Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter, the one that remains faithful. The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You.
Trust in the LORD forever, for in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock. For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the unassailable city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust. The foot will trample it, the feet of the afflicted, the steps of the helpless” (Is 26:1-6).
“Then you will say on that day, ‘I will give thanks to You, O LORD; for although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.’ Therefore, you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation. And in that day you will say, ‘Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; make them remember that His name is exalted. Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things; let this be known throughout the earth. Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel” (Is 12:1-6).
Sin barrier and repentance, the great need for confession of sin, return to Me!
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. ‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. ‘If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.’ truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken” (Is 1:16-19).
“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear” (Is 59:1-2).
“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on Your name, who arouses himself to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have delivered us into the power of our iniquities” (Is 64:6-7).
“A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares the LORD” (Is 59:20).
“You felt secure in your wickedness and said, ‘No one sees me,’ your wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you; for you have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’ But evil will come on you which you will not know how to charm away; and disaster will fall on you for which you cannot atone; and destruction about which you do not know will come on you suddenly” (Is 47:10-11).
“I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you” (Is 44:22).
“Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel” (Is 5:24).
“Return to Him from whom you have deeply defected, O sons of Israel. For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your sinful hands have made for you as a sin” (Is 31:6-7).
“You who are far away, hear what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge My might.” Sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling has seized the godless. Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual burning?” (Is 33:13-14).
“Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them, nor do they seek the LORD of hosts” (Is 9:13).
“For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, ‘In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.’ But you were not willing” (Is 30:15).
“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. They will say of Me, ‘Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength. Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame. In the LORD all the offspring of Israel will be justified and will glory” (Is 45:22-25).
Waiting on the Lord and seeking Him
“Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Is 40:31).
“Kings will be your guardians, and their princesses your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth and lick the dust of your feet; and you will know that I am the LORD; those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame” (Is 49:23).
“For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him” (Is 64:4).
“And I will wait for the LORD who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will even look eagerly for Him” (Is 8:17).
“Therefore, the LORD longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him” (Is 30:18).
“Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Is 55:6-9).
Salvation is by substitution; He will not be untrue to Himself in order to save
“But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Is 53:5-6).
What the redeemed do, sanctify His Name, not profane it
“But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they will sanctify My name; indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel” (Is 29:23).
“I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations” (Is 66:19).
“And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from sabbath to sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD” (Is 66:23).
The redeemed take refuge in Him
“I have no wrath. Should someone give Me briars and thorns in battle, then I would step on them, I would burn them completely. Or let him rely on My protection, let him make peace with Me, let him make peace with Me. In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout, and they will fill the whole world with fruit” (Is 27:4-6).
The Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel
“’Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; and do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; but you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth. For the LORD has called you like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,’ says your God” (Is 54:4-6).
Our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel” (Is 47:4).
“Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you,” declares the LORD, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel” (Is 41:14).
He is Creator, we are creatures, is the starting point; your Redeemer is your Creator
“Thus, says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and its offspring, Who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it, ‘I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, and I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison. I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things; before they spring forth I proclaim them to you” (Is 42:5-9).
“But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!” (Is 43:1).
“Everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made” (Is 43:7).
“Thus, says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone, causing the omens of boasters to fail, making fools out of diviners, causing wise men to draw back and turning their knowledge into foolishness, confirming the word of His servant and performing the purpose of His messengers. It is I who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited!’ And of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built.’ And I will raise up her ruins again” (Is 44”24-26).
“Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds pour down righteousness; let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, and righteousness spring up with it. I, the LORD, have created it. Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—an earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’? Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ Or to a woman, ‘To what are you giving birth?” (Is 45:8-10).
“Remember this, and be assured; recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it” (Is 46:8-11).
The God of majesty is making a Name for Himself
“I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Is 43:25).
“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. They will say of Me, ‘Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength. Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame” (Is 45:22-24).
“For the sake of My name I delay My wrath, and for My praise I restrain it for you, in order not to cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; for how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another” (Is 48:9-11).
“Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses. Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them, Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, Who divided the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name, Who led them through the depths? Like the horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble; as the cattle which go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So, You led Your people, to make for Yourself a glorious name” (Is 63:11-14).
“For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake” (Is 37:35).
Conclusion:
Biblical prayer has many dimensions: communion, fellowship, petition, intercession, confession, contrition, repentance, worship, praise, thanksgiving, exultation, complaint, outpouring of the heart, listening, waiting, etc.