NO PRAYER

By Rick Mathes

Luke 18:1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,

The anchor of the Calvinist acronym TULIP is “perseverance of the saints.” You’ve hear the old adage, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” Well that applies to prayer also. We just don’t give up. How would you like to learn in heaven that you were just one prayer short of a loved one getting saved? You gave up one prayer short of it being answered!

The hardest to answer prayer for our Lord is one offered up by a sinner that refuses to repent. How can a Holy God when a filthy, unrepentant sinner lifts his dirty hands in prayer. This person has the wrong expectations.

How about the sinner that is all wrapped up in self-confidence? He’s the one who sings, “I did it my way” when no one is looking. Excuse me: God is looking and He can see right through these phony prayers that are only said to be heard by others to impress them with his sincerity.

The unforgiveable sin is unbelief. This person has false idols that are lifted up as gods. I can remember like yesterday, I couldn’t even spell Jesus after having all “A’s” in catechism and catholic high school while I prayed to my “patron saint” statue of Joseph. What a horrible scam to invent by Rome! The commandment clearly demands that we do not worship false idols nor create any image of God (or Joseph for that matter). Unbelievable but true and almost universally ignored as is chastity.

An unforgiving heart has no right to pray for forgiveness. How audacious can a person get and how can they expect a Holy God to respond favorably from His blood soaked cross?

When you have a lack of faith, your doubts drain your prayers of all their power. Doubt and fear are the keys to hell. Faith and trust will get you past Saint Peter’s gate and into the new Jerusalem.

Too many prayers (litanies) are not heard and in reality are worse than any prayer at all. Talking to God in a dishonoring way is shameful and won’t be forgotten when you are called to account for your actions in the last judgment.