The following is only my opinion, but a genuine honest effort in breaking down the prayer error of a wonderful humble leader, as a direct result of having to overcome said error, only in the past few years myself, after God called me on a self-righteous spirit, and then cleaned me up by renewing my own flaws, leading me to Isaiah 7:9b that teaches us "Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm;" suddenly, faith took on a whole new grounding, based on the living word, full of little hidden nuggets that 99% of Christians are missing.
Before breaking down the prayer in question, it is paramount to grasp that the latter scripture (Isaiah 7:9b), suffice to say, has mostly to do with our need to fully understand grace. Never once did I preach grace beyond salvation alone from two different pulpits, praying much like the prayer-error in question, that left us all asking, pleading, and begging God to do things, rather than thanking Him for what He's already done and provided. Only then, can we be free from always feeling something is missing, while living life with unnecessary worry, fear & doubt.
Grace by definition, is God giving us what we do not deserve - unmerited, undeserved favor. Grace is His gift that comes with salvation. Meaning, we no longer have to earn His blessings. Only under the law did a person have to do something in order for God to do something in return. BUT WE ARE NO LONGER UNDER THE LAW, but under grace. The law merely made us aware of our sin and our need for a Savior! Romans 6:14 tells us, "Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace," and that's why Jesus came, to give us GRACE & TRUTH, where John 1:17 teaches us, "For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness ( grace & truth), came through Jesus Christ."
We might more rightly say, Jesus came to return to us, the grace lost at Mount Sinai. And with that said, could this PlanDemic, three years in, leave us thirty-seven left of forty years, because of our own unbelief? God's not abandoning us, merely trying to get our attention from our own wandering and playing church amidst what I have pinned as being denominationally proud, continuing to fulfill Galatians 5:4 (the blind leading the blind), and Galatians 5:15 (pride pitting one doctrine against the other).
The prayer error in question
Quote '28 minute mark' found HERE: "We ask for forgiveness for everything we've done wrong. We ask that you would turn our nation. Lord we ask once again that there would be a great awakening, that we would come to you and realize the error of our ways. That we would cleanse ourselves, purify our hearts, that we would cleanse our hands from doing wrong, and turn to you and lift them up in praise. Lord, do this for us, cause we can't do it ourselves. Melt our hearts. Make us new again. For we ask it in Jesus name, amen."
The very first line of this prayer, is why God is not listening. He's already forgiven EVERY CHRISTIAN of EVERY SIN, past, current and future at salvation.
A/ This man is asking for something God has already given us at salvation, forgiveness! At salvation, embracing Jesus as our Lord & Savior, asking forgiveness of our sins, and that's it - past, current, and future sin gone, never to be remembered again (Hebrews 10:17/Jeremiah 31:34). And still, we insist on asking God over and over again, to forgive us of our wrong doings. No, no, no - that is not how grace works. God shows us mercy (not giving us what we do deserve), when He points us to Jesus, who is grace, and in Him, we place our faith and faith alone, no works. And then, He's going to take that free gift away, when He loves us so much, wanting to bless us, and none to perish - after making us white as snow; His masterpiece; Jesus our brother; friend, and joint heir in the Kingdom of Heaven? No, no, no!
B/ In order to make sense of the balance of this prayer, asking, begging, and pleading God to do what He's already done, it is crucial we understand the Sovereignty of God, and the empowerment and authority given us, in and through Christ, limiting Himself by His very own living word. Noah Webster defines sovereign/sovereignty in his 1828 dictionary as follows:
SOVEREIGN
Supreme in power; possessing supreme dominion; as a sovereign ruler of the universe.
Supreme; superior to all others; chief. God is the sovereign good of all who love and obey him.
Supremely efficacious; superior to all others; predominant; effectual; as a sovereign remedy.
Supreme; pertaining to the first magistrate of a nation; as sovereign authority.
A supreme lord or ruler; one who possesses the highest authority without control. Some earthly princes, kings and emperors are sovereigns in their dominions.
A supreme magistrate; a king.
What does all this mean - (with the help of Andrew Wommack)
The word SOVEREIGN/SOVEREIGNTY, in other words, means INDEPENDENT
Even the fake royalty in the UK was identified as sovereign – as dictator over all – making and changing laws – but today for the devil himself because of their selfish motives - living for control over others. Note the clear distinction shown in #5 above - where God is the ONE who possesses the highest authority WITHOUT CONTROL - giving us FREE WILL.
In order for FREE WILL to exist, God also knew in advance that both GOOD & EVIL must exist, to enable CHOICE or that Free Will to choose.
Regarding God, it means HE is the SUPREME RULER – all powerful – all mighty – there is no god above God (Isaiah 43:10) – therefore He is SOVEREIGN – He is independent – no one tells Him what’s up or down, do this or that … He is GOD – He and He alone calls the shots.
There have been too many misapplications at to what this all means in reference to God.
X – God is so sovereign you can never tell what He is going to do – we just don’t know – because He doesn’t answer to man.
X – This has led people to pray prayers such as – LORD, LET IT BE YOUR WILL – when God’s will states WE ARE ALREADY HEALED, 1 Peter 2:24, or what we pray and believe we have RECEIVED ALREADY, it will be ours, Mark 11:24, thus we know what God’s will is, right?
Nobody can make God do anything, BUT, God has made Himself do certain things – GOD HAS LIMITED HIS OWN SOVEREIGNTY – He has placed limitations upon Himself THROUGH HIS WORD as just noted by two examples above by Peter & Mark.
Psalm 138:2 says - “your promises are backed by all the honor of your name,” and additionally, because of this, we can also know that as soon as we pray, God answers us – because Psalm 138:3a says - “As soon as I pray, you answer me,” PLUS He then encourages us with new strength – because Psalm 138:3b says - “you encourage me by giving me strength.”
So God cannot be God if He doesn’t honor His promises, right? And therefore, God is also limited, no matter how bad we are being born-again Christians, to not honor his WORD as in, 1 Peter 2:24, Mark 11:24, or Psalm 138:2 or 138:3, + 31,169 more verses.
Will God withhold much blessing, giving little in its place, when we deliberately abuse grace, continuing to sin, using grace as our scapegoat? Why shouldn't he? But then, 1 John 5:18 teaches us "We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them."
This is simply not something that can be challenged – it’s not up for debate – God’s word, not mine, or anyone else choosing to stand boldly on WORDS OF FAITH from the LIVING WORD of our LIVING GOD – Jesus Christ Living God.
Jesus is exalted above all names – every knee will bow to Him and Him alone – and as noted in Psalm 138:2, the promises of God are backed by the HONOR OF HIS NAME
Isaiah 45:23 also confirms this honor of our living God in prophecy - “I have sworn by my own name; I have spoken the truth, and I will never go back on my word: Every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will declare allegiance to me.”
In simple terms – God, by His word, stands by the very promises made in His word and He will not, and cannot go against them, because of His sovereignty.
In Matthew 24:35, Jesus says - “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear,” in simple terms – My word is My bond – My bond is My word – and My word that lives, lives on and stands as I say.
The word of God is what He Himself has bound His own sovereignty to.
Psalm 89:34 confirms again - “No, I will not break my covenant; I will not take back a single word I said.”
God’s own word becomes His bond, His very own covenant and legal and binding contract with Himself.
When God says, THIS IS THE WAY IT’S GOING TO BE, so it is, and we can count on it, just as His living word says.
John 17:17 says - “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.”
1 Peter 1:25 says – “But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.”
Psalm 119:160 says – “The very essence of your words is truth; all your just regulations will stand forever.”
Hebrews 4:12 says – “For the word of God is alive and powerful.”
James 1:22 says - “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”
God is so sovereign, He has limited His own sovereignty by His word, His covenants that He will not and cannot break – THEREFORE – He has limited Himself to His word
And through His word, He has given us the ability to believe, by faith, to call what is not, as though it were, and so it shall be according to Mark 11:24 and Matthew 21:22 and Mark 9:23 and John 14:13-14 and on and on the list goes …
The principles in God’s living word are clear and WE MUST KNOW what the word says … ALL of His word and not bits & pieces that only cause confusion and judgment upon fellow Christians (according to the devils plans), fulfilling Galatians 5:15.
1 John 5:14-15 tells us plainly - “And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.” And how crazy it is, DO NOT MISS THIS – that we can be thanking Him for what’s coming (Mark 11:24), because we know what even the disciples, apostles, and the prophets didn’t know – because we have ALL of the living word in front of us, at our fingertips, digital tools included, to identify with and have revealed to us, just how powerful the statement, ‘THE FINISHED WORKS OF CHRIST’ were, and are to this day. With that said, all of God's chosen, do exactly and only, according to plan; we are not and will not change God's mind, no matter how we beg, plead, and babble on.
*** We are privileged unimaginably, AND NOT TAKING ADVANTAGE OF SUCH A GIFT, of the power and invincibility we’ve been given, because of the sovereignty of Abba Father and His mercy and grace coupled into placing limitations upon Himself because of His living word of absolute truth, that profoundly sets people free, FAR BEYOND SALVATION ALONE, into the here and now, is additionally beyond expressible gratitude.
AND WE INSIST that we do not, or cannot know the will of God for us? That is a very wrong and sorry position, considering His living word, as shown in all of the above, says differently.
In wrapping up, we can see that this prayer from the second line to the end, can be summed up as follows:
We ask that you would turn our nation.
{God has already given us all the power & authority (Christ is in us, and we are in Christ) needed to turn the nation and the world around - starting with knowing and living His word - keeping in mind the teaching of Jesus in Luke 6:40 that says "Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher." In other words, if we care to know ALL of God's living word, we too can have such power and authority, to cast out demons, heal the sick, give sight to the blind, if we will just believe and not doubt. - not to mention that we ourselves are healed, of all sickness & disease, plague and virus, if we will just believe and not doubt - even with faith as small as a mustard seed, willing to speak to any mountain that dares challenge our invincibility in Christ.}
Lord we ask once again that there would be a great awakening, that we would come to you and realize the error of our ways.
{Again, the great awakening begins with us. He has already told us to come boldly to the throne of grace, but we embrace grace for salvation only, missing all the above paragraph, and to realize the error of our ways is to humble ourselves under the mighty power of God, and at just the right time, He will lift us up in honor; BUT we must know all His word.}
That we would cleanse ourselves, purify our hearts, that we would cleanse our hands from doing wrong, and turn to you and lift them up in praise.
{At salvation, we are made perfect in God's eyes, with His glory, so to feel the need to cleanse ourselves further, is to call God dirty and unclean, because we are in Christ, and Christ is in us, and He lived and died a sin-free life. And knowing God's promise that He is always with us and would never abandon us, it is us who needs to begin living daily lifting God up in praise, with honor and for all glory, and dumping our ritual prayers of babbling on and on, and simply talk with Jesus as with any friend; we boast because we know that JESUS is His name - CHRIST is His title - HE lives - and HE is God - for there is no other.}
PS: The song, PURIFY MY HEART, one that I have personally sung and led worship many times, now curse it, because it's doing more harm than good for the listening Christian, the church, and its faith - asking God to purify hearts, when His purification couldn't get any better than white as snow, at salvation. The entire song is based on begging and pleading God to give us what we already have within us - causing the Christian to feel the need to continue earning God's blessings - and again - that's not grace - rather a curse and overall strategy of the devil's plan to steal, kill, & destroy everything good, especially inerrant and infallible truth.
Lord, do this for us, cause we can't do it ourselves.
{We better learn, because God has long given us all the ability to do whatever we feel impressed to do, on Philippians 4:13 alone; but without faith that verse or say Mark 9:23 or Matthew 21:22 also become lost amidst our doctrinal taboos of denominational pride.}
Melt our hearts. Make us new again. For we ask it in Jesus name, amen."
{This sounds like we are pleading Psalm 51, a perfect example of being under the Law [Having to earn God's blessings], but we are not under the law - John 1:17/Galatians 5:4}
To close, this is not to judge the wonderful man who prayed this prayer. If I were him, and he brought this to my attention, I would indeed be taking it very seriously, in hopes of learning how to become an even better leader for my friend & brother, JESUS CHRIST LIVING GOD.
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