Prayer Becomes Sin

One day as I read my Bible, I was startled by these words about the wicked: When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let his prayer become sin (Psalm 109:7 NKJV).  How can prayer turn into sin?  How can something as lovely as communication with our heavenly Father be twisted into something that condemns us?  There are five ways that we can sin by praying.

1.  Prayer becomes sin when it is an act of disobedience.  In a previous post, "When Not to Pray," I wrote that there are times when God says to quit praying and start doing.  But a prayer might also become sin when we fail to pray for those things that God has commanded us to pray for (look for a post on this subject soon).  We might also err by talking when we should be listening or just remaining still and quiet in His presence (Psalm 46:10; Habakkuk 2:20).

2.  Prayer becomes sin when it is contaminated by a sinful life.  Proverbs 28:9 says, One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.  We need clean hands and a pure heart to approach the Holy One (Psalm 24:4).  Ron Dunn used to say, "It is the life that prays."  If our life offends God, so will our prayer, unless it is a prayer of repentance.

3.  Prayer becomes sin when it is offered to a false god or idol.  Israel provoked the Lord by their prayers offered on the high places.  Westerners in the 21st century may lightly dismiss this offense thinking that idolatry is a thing of another time and place.  But when the Bible warns against "images," we need to make the connection to imagination.  If we are praying to a false idea of God, our prayer is an act of sin.

4.  Prayer becomes sin when it is centered on self.  The New King James Version has a picturesque translation of Psalm 106:15: He gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul.  The Psalmist is referring to the time when the children of Israel craved meat in the wilderness (Numbers 11).  God's granting of their petition was a judgment on the sinfulness of their prayer.  We should always keep in mind that prayer is not getting man's will done in heaven but getting God's will done on earth.

5.  Prayer becomes sin when it lacks faith.  The Bible says, Whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23).  The apostle Paul was referring specifically to a believer who ate meat that had been offered to an idol even though he was unsure whether or not it was right to do so.  With regard to prayer, we can commit the same offense when we pray in ways or ask for things when we are not sure it is right to do so.  It is imperative that we pray in the will of God by the aid of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26-27).

We should not let the danger of praying wrongly keep us from praying.  The only way to learn to pray is by praying.  Our heavenly Father is as delighted by our sincere mistakes as is any earthly parent who hears his child learning to talk.  As we pray, His Spirit will lead us and correct us.

Let us pray today, not in fear that we might do it wrong, but in full assurance that when we pray for His glory to be extended to all peoples, we are doing it right.

Prayer Rendered Powerless

In his book Real Evangelism, Bailey Smith, a past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, offers the shocking proposition that we can nullify the power of prayer.  He suggests that we do so by our inaction.  If we fail to act on what we pray about, we give prayer no outlet to complete its purpose.  He draws an analogy with electrical power which must complete a circuit to release its energy.  Any "short circuit" disrupts the flow leaving the intended use powerless.  Smith applies this concept to our praying for God to make us a soul-winner, but then failing to make any contacts, in effect choking off any avenue for God to answer our prayer.

In previous posts I have tried to demonstrate the connection that Jesus and others in the Bible made between prayer and faith.  It is important to realize that faith is a two-sided coin.  One side is that of receiving a word from the Lord.  If God does not speak to us, then we do not exercise faith but presumption.  When Jesus told Satan that it was wrong to tempt or test the Lord His God, He meant that He would not jump off the pinnacle of the temple unless the Spirit told Him to, regardless of what promises could be found in the written word of God (Matthew 4:5-7).

But the other side of the coin is obedience.  William Carey preached, "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God."  Both parts of that statement are about faith.  Just as there is no faith without a word from God, there also is no faith without a work from man.  What I mean is that if we believe, we will act.  This teaching is clear in what James says about faith and works.  Much so-called faith is dead, useless (2:14-26, especially verses 20 and 26) because nothing comes from it.  While works do not produce faith, true faith always produces works.  When God's Spirit leads us, and He always does if we are truly children of God (Romans 8:14), our faith in Him and His word is revealed by our obedience.  Failure to obey is unbelief.  It is sin.  When we don't do the good we know we are to do, it is sin (James 4:17).  When we act apart from a faith-creating word from God, it is sin (Romans 14:23).  True belief always leads to action.

Of course, the act of praying is itself a work produced by faith.  We pray because we believe God will hear and do things in answer to prayer that He would not otherwise do (James 4:2).  However, let's not nullify the power of our prayers by failing to do the things consistent with what we are praying for.  The disciples, who were told to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into the harvest, were themselves sent into the harvest by Jesus.  As we pray for God to extend the gospel to the unengaged unreached people groups of the world, let us do all we can to go ourselves if at all possible.  Let's not short-circuit prayer's power by inaction.