are they for the gratification of our desires?

Is He and His service first

and last, and self excluded?

We have before commented on this very prevalent source of denied

petitions.  If dispensational truth means anything at all it will have a

practical bearing upon every phase of our life including our praying.  We

must learn to pray in harmony with our calling.  It is not sufficient to

quote any verse from the Bible and expect it to be a sufficient basis for the

Lord to answer our requests.  How many believers have claimed such promises

as Matthew 21:22 'And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer,

believing, ye shall receive', only to reap disappointment which has staggered

them!  It is easy to explain the failure by reading into the promise

conditions which are not there.  The answer to the problem is to be found,

not in tampering with the Lord's words, but in rightly dividing the Word of

Truth.  Again, if instead of a slavish adherence to the 'Lord's Prayer', the

magnificent prayers of Ephesians 1 and 3 were used by God's people more

frequently, would there not be a greater growth in grace and a deeper

appreciation of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, and also of His

The apostle Paul exhorted the saints at Colosse to continue in prayer

(4:2).  The word here is proskartereo.  It occurs in Mark 3:9, 'And He spake

to His disciples, that a small ship should wait on Him because of the

multitude, lest they should throng Him'.  Just as the purpose of this little

ship was to be put at the Lord's disposal and wait for Him to use as He

willed, so the believer, when he reaches the point in his spiritual growth

where he earnestly longs for God's will, will likewise wait upon Him by

continued prayer and watch for every indication of His hand to this end.

However, we must utter a word of warning.  Persevering prayer to know

our heavenly Father's will is one thing, but persistent praying that is

outside His will may bring an answer that is terrible in the extreme.  We

think back on Israel's experience when, not satisfied with the gracious

provision of the manna, 'angel's food' as Scripture terms it, they longed for

flesh such as they had in Egypt.  The whole of Numbers chapter 11 should be

studied in this connection.  Did God answer their prayer? Yes, indeed He did,

but with dreadful consequences as the context indicates.

The Psalmist's comment is:

'They ... lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the

desert.  And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their

soul' (Psa. 106:13-15).

Here was a terrible answer, consequent upon their determination to get

something that was outside the will of God.  Let us ever remember that He is

always more ready to answer than we are to pray, and that persevering prayer

is necessary, not because He is aloof and unwilling, needing constant

worrying that the answer may be wrung out of Him, but rather that the waiting

time is for our spiritual growth, discipline and appreciation of His

goodness.  Let us not interpret beseeching as though it were besieging.  Just

as a wise and loving parent makes every provision for the needs of his child,

yet he trains that child, to ask for these things and say 'please', and