Does Praying More Times Make God More Likely to Answer?

Jupiter – someone who won’t expedite your prayers.

A friend wrote me a question, and I think the answer might be beneficial to many of us.

Does praying a lot make God more likely to act?

I think the answer to the quantity question raised by “you have not because you ask not,” is that God is not impressed with quantity for the sake of quantity – but that he looks for faithfulness that happens to express itself in many prayers. It is found in the faithfulness to ask about everything that you need. You will either be a person who goes to God, or a person who goes elsewhere with your needs and complaints and desires.

LET’S SEE WHAT JAMES ACTUALLY HAS IN MIND

When James says “you ask not,” he isn’t saying that they are not ever trying to get any needs met by anyone – I believe he is indicting them for asking elsewhere. He indicts them (in 1.8, and 4.8) for “double-mindedness.” Which is a term for idolatry. It is spiritual two-timing. We know this because James 4.8 is referring to a pair of images in Psalm 24.

UNDERSTANDING PSALM 24

Let’s compare Psalm 24 and James 4

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4.8)

And in Ps 24.3-4:

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.

Ps 24’s verses are a chiasm:

• clean hands
  • pure heart
  • soul lifted (in worship) of a false thing
• deceitful swearing (by hands)

So the dirty hands are impure from swearing falsely, and the soul/heart is made impure by worshiping an empty thing – an idol. James says, “cleanse your hands you sinners.” For idolatry he says, “purify your hearts you double-minded.” And it’s really helpful to know this about James, because it makes more sense for us of James 1:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (Jas 1.5-8)

Therefore, in James 1.5-8, “doubting” is not a form of fear (as in Jude 1.22)^a, but doubting in James is “double-minded,” idolatrous bet-hedging. It means if you are asking Zeus for help because your doubt whether Yhwh is enough, then your heart is given to two masters, and you are unstable, and should not think you will get anything from Yhwh.

It doesn’t mean that the weak who have fears will be ignored by God, since Jude (again, verse 22) says just that – that God wants us to be merciful to the weakness of doubt. God loves the brokenhearted.

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ALL OF THAT SAID TO SAY

When James says, “You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” he is saying: When you come to God you are asking like Balaam for love of evil gain, and other wise you are asking the wrong gods to meet your needs. Go to God and not to someone else for all your needs. As James 4 says, “draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” Just read the first ten verses of James 4, and hear how he is talking about idolatry, and not just lazy praying.

Of course, if you are different – not an idolator – if you go to God for each need – then this will make a lot of prayer. But it isn’t the count of the quantity of the prayer that moves the Lord – it is the quality of the faithfulness that always matches a need in life with prayer to the right god: Yhwh, father of the heavenly lights.

BUT THIS IS WHERE THE NUMBER COMES IN

Persistence in prayer is going to make many, many prayers if God lets us pray for a long time before answering. But he might answer in 2 days, or in 5 minutes. The fact of repetitive prayer is an attribute of faithfulness, but the number of prayers is determined by how long God makes you wait before he says yes, or changes your heart about what you should pray.

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This post is a follow up to: How Jesus Wants Us to Pray.

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Luke Welch has a master’s degree from Covenant Seminary and preaches regularly in a conservative Anglican church in Maryland. He blogs about Bible structure at SUBTEXT. Follow him on Twitter: @lukeawelch<>mobi onlineцены на оптимизацию ов

1. Jude is talking about “fear”: “Have mercy on those who doubt…”  (back)