Peter Exhorts the Persecuted Believers Volume 1

 Peter's Greeting to the Dispersed Brethren & Sisteren Part 1

1 Peter 1:1 Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, KJV Note: NKJV=New King James Version

The Apostle Peter (like James) is writing his letter to all the Jewish converts to Christ Jesus our Lord who because of extreme persecution i.e. their very physical lives being in danger in Jerusalem fled to various other cities, as is written here by Peter with these words, "Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia," (1 Peter 1:1) (KJV). This little English phrase 'scattered throughout' is translated by the Greek word diaspora meaning dispersion, that is, (specifically and concretely) the (converted) Israelites resident in Gentile countries: - (which are) scattered (abroad). Note: "Scattering of the Jews from the land of Palestine into other parts of the world. The term 'dispersion' is also often used to describe this process. The diaspora took place over several centuries. While its exact beginnings are difficult to date, two major events greatly contributed to it. In 722 B.C. the Assyrians captured the Northern Kingdom (Israel). Following this victory, the Assyrians resettled large numbers of the Israelites in Assyria (2 Kings 17:6). In 586 B.C. the Babylonians captured the Southern Kingdom (Judah) and followed the same policy of resettlement. Many of the residents of Judah were transported to Babylon (2 Kings 25:8-12). While some of these persons later returned to Judah, many of them remained permanently in Babylon. Later other wars fought by the Greeks and Romans in Palestine helped scatter more of the Jewish people. The result of the diaspora was that by NT times as many Jews lived outside of Palestine as lived within the land. In almost every city Paul visited on his missionary journeys, he found a Jewish synagogue (Acts 14:1; 17:1,10; 18:4). The diaspora thus helped pave the way for the spread of the Gospel." (Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary). So, we see then that the dispersion of the Jews began long before our Lord Jesus Christ ever came to the earth 🌎 and that the land of Palestine has always belonged to the Jewish people and is part of the Jewish Nation. These brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ were most likely spoken of by Luke in Acts 8:1-2, as it is written here, "At that time a great persecution arose against the Church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him." (Acts 8:1-2) (NKJV). As we see this occured right after the murder of Stephen (which was witnessed by Saul who would later become a Jewish convert to Christ himself and change his name to Paul the Apostle). Every Jewish convert to our Lord Jesus Christ was extremely hated during that time by the remaining unconverted Jews. It is no different for we converted Gentiles today who live and move and have our being in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 17:28), but we live among unconverted people of every ethnicity and they are doing the same things to us as the unconverted Jews did during the time the Apostle Peter 🖋 penned this first letter ✉, for let us recall, remember, and realize the reason for the constant hatred and persecution as written by the Apostle Paul with these words, "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14) (NKJV). The natural man 👨 or woman 👩 is the person simply still dead in their trespasses and sins and have not yet been resurrected from spiritual death by our Lord Jesus Christ, as He said of Himself, "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?'" (John 11:25-26)(NKJV). Outside of the 'new birth' (John 3:3-8) there is no connection to God at all and the persons who are still disconnected from God see those of us who are connected to Him as their enemies i.e. light vs darkness, as it is written, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.' Therefore 'Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.' 'I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty.'" (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) (NKJV).

Here is what Alexander MacLaren had to say of 1 Peter 1:1, "All those who really have faith in Jesus Christ are ‘strangers of the Dispersion’; scattered throughout the world, and dwelling dispersedly in an order of things to which they do not belong, ‘seeking a city which hath foundations.’ The word ‘strangers’ means, originally, persons for a time living in an alien city. And that is the idea that the Apostle would impress upon us as true for each of us, in the measure in which our Christianity is real. For, remember, although all men may be truly spoken of as being ‘pilgrims and sojourners upon the earth’ by reason of both the shortness of the duration of their earthly course and the disproportion between their immortal part and the material things amongst which they dwell, Peter is thinking of something very different from either the brevity of earthly life or the infinite necessities of an immortal spirit when he calls his Christian brethren strangers. Not because we are men, not because we are to die soon, and the world is to outlast us; not because other people will one day live in our houses and read our books and sit upon our chairs, and we shall be forgotten, but because we are Christ’s people are we here sojourners, and must regard this as not our rest. Not because our immortal soul cannot satisfy itself, however it tries, upon the trivialities of earth any more than a human appetite can on the husks that the swine do eat, but because new desires, tastes, aspirations, affinities, have been kindled in us by the new life that has flowed into us; therefore the connection that other men have with the world, which makes some of them altogether ‘men of the world, whose portion is in this life,’ is for us broken, and we are strangers, scattered abroad, solitary, not by reason of the inevitable loneliness in which, after all love and companionship, every soul lives; not by reason of losses or deaths, but by reason of the contrariety between the foundation of our lives, and the foundation of the lives of the men round us; therefore we stand lonely in the midst of crowds; strangers in the ordered communities of the world. Ah, there is no solitude so utter as the solitude of being the only man in a crowd that has a faith in his heart, and there is no isolating power like the power of rending all ties that true attachment with Jesus Christ has. ‘Think not that I am come to bring peace on earth, but a sword’—to set a man against his own household, if they be not of the household of faith. These things are the inevitable issues of religion—to make us strangers, isolated in the midst of this world." Here also is what John Wesley had to say of 1 Peter 1:1, "To the sojourners - Upon earth, the Christians, chiefly those of Jewish extraction. Scattered - Long ago driven out of their own land. Those scattered by the persecution mentioned Act 8:1, were scattered only through Judea and Samaria, though afterwards some of them travelled to Phenice, Cyprus, and Antioch. Through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia - He names these five provinces in the order wherein they occurred to him, writing from the east. All these countries lie in the Lesser Asia. The Asia here distinguished from the other provinces is that which was usually called the Proconsular Asia being a Roman province."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…

James Expounds on Faith Volume 61

 Praying in Faith Part 6

James 5:19-20 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. KJV Note: NKJV=New King James Version

The Apostle James concludes his discourse to the scattered Jewish converts to our Lord Master and Savior Jesus Christ by reminding them of how he has warned them repeatedly in his letter of the sins that could so easily plague them (and we true believers today and those of every era and generation since James 🖋 penned this letter all those years ago) such as the sin of showing partiality or the sin of 🗺 worldliness or the sins that proceed forth from the tongue 😝 or the sin of boasting and many others. The Apostle wanted them to be watchful for themselves and for other true brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ so as to prevent ourselves and others from falling as the author of Hebrews so eloquently wrote with these words, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2) (NKJV). Since they and we all have our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to look to in all our times of trouble, testing, and temptation we should also and always while we remain here on the earth 🌎 as sojourners and pilgrims look to keep ourselves from falling back into our old sins and when we see any other true brother or sister 'in Christ' doing so we must do as James the Apostle declares with these words, "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." (James 5:19-20) (KJV). The little English phrase 'do err' in verse 19 is translated by the Greek word planaō meaning to (properly cause to) roam (from safety, truth, or virtue): - go astray, deceive, err, seduce, wander, be out of the way. The little English phrase 'the error' is translated by the Greek word planē meaning somewhat the same as 'do err' and that is objectively fraudulence; subjectively a straying from orthodoxy or piety: - deceit, to deceive, delusion, error. The little English phrase 'shall save' is translated by the Greek word sōzō meaning (as used here) to save, that is, deliver or protect (literally or figuratively). The little English phrase 'shall hide' is translated by the Greek word kaluptō meaning to cover up (literally or figuratively): - cover, hide. In other words, the Apostle James is writing to those Jewish converts to Christ back then and to us now that there are some of us true believers in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who go astray from Him, that is, who wander away back into our old sins that He Christ has cleansed us from and washed us from in and by His Blood because we feed the flesh more than we feed our spirit man 👨 or woman 👩, for we should always heed the words written to us by the Apostle Paul declaring these truths, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:1-11) (NKJV). Some saints stray from true orthodoxy and piety by being deluded and decieved, however, when through hearing a word spoken by a true brother 'in Christ' in a sermon or reading a word from the Word of God on our own or being led to a passage of Scripture by another brother or sister in Christ that brings conviction of sin to the inner man 👨 or inner woman 👩 of the erring saint then that brother or sister is then turned back 🔙 from their err and they are often times delivered from physical death being rendered by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, for He will not allow His own to continue to blaspheme His Name instead He will take them home to heaven as the Apostle John declares with these words, "If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death." (1 John 5:16-17) (NKJV). The sin or sins that could lead to physival death are surely different for each brother and sister 'in Christ', however, the Apostle James declares that the brothers or sisters 'in Christ' who are responsible for leading the wayward son or daughter of God back to the right path i.e. the truth of the Gospel of Christ and of the Word of God will for themselves cover up a large number of their sins and even perhaps of the sins of the wayward child 🧒 of God.

Here is what Matthew Henry had to say of James 5:19-20, "This epistle concludes with an exhortation to do all we can in our places to promote the conversion and salvation of others, James 5:19, James 5:20. Some interpret these verses as an apology which the apostle is making for himself that he should so plainly and sharply reprove the Jewish Christians for their many faults and errors. And certainly James gives a very good reason why he was so much concerned to reclaim them from their errors, because in thus doing he should save souls, and hide a multitude of sins. But we are not to restrain this place to the apostle's converting such as erred from the truth; no, nor to other ministerial endeavours of the like nature, since it is said, 'If any err, and one convert him, let him be who he will that does so good an office for another, he is therein an instrument of saving a soul from death.' Those whom the apostle here calls brethren, he yet supposes liable to err. It is no mark of a wise or a holy man to boast of his being free from error, or to refuse to acknowledge when he is in an error. But if any do err, be they ever so great, you must not be afraid to show them their error; and, be they ever so weak and little, you must not disdain to make them wiser and better. If they err from the truth, that is, from the gospel (the great rule and standard of truth), whether it be in opinion or practice, you must endeavour to bring them again to the rule. Errors in judgment and in life generally go together. There is some doctrinal mistake at the bottom of every practical miscarriage. There is no one habitually bad, but upon some bad principle. Now to convert such is to reduce them from their error, and to reclaim them from the evils they have been led into. We are not presently to accuse and exclaim against an erring brother, and seek to bring reproaches and calamities upon him, but to convert him: and, if by all our endeavours we cannot do this, yet we are nowhere empowered to persecute and destroy him. If we are instrumental in the conversion of any, we are said to convert them, though this be principally and efficiently the work of God. And, if we can do no more towards the conversion of sinners, yet we may do this - pray for the grace and Spirit of God to convert and change them. And let those that are in any way serviceable to convert others know what will be the happy consequence of their doing this: they may take great comfort in it at present, and they will meet with a crown at last. He that is said to err from the truth in James 5:19 is described as erring in his way in James 5:20, and we cannot be said to convert any merely by altering their opinions, unless we can bring them to correct and amend their ways. This is conversion - to turn a sinner from the error of his ways, and not to turn him from one party to another, or merely from one notion and way of thinking to another. He who thus converteth a sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death. There is a soul in the case; and what is done towards the salvation of the soul shall certainly turn to good account. The soul being the principal part of the man, the saving of that only is mentioned, but it includes the salvation of the whole man: the spirit shall be saved from hell, the body raised from the grave, and both saved from eternal death. And then, by such conversion of heart and life, a multitude of sins shall be hid. A most comfortable passage of scripture is this. We learn hence that though our sins are many, even a multitude, yet they may be hid or pardoned; and that when sin is turned from or forsaken it shall be hid, never to appear in judgment against us. Let people contrive to cover or excuse their sin as they will, there is no way effectually and finally to hide it but by forsaking it. Some make the sense of this text to be, that conversion shall prevent a multitude of sins; and it is a truth beyond dispute that many sins are prevented in the party converted, many also may be prevented in others that he may have an influence upon, or may converse with. Upon the whole, how should we lay out ourselves with all possible concern for the conversion of sinners! It will be for the happiness and salvation of the converted; it will prevent much mischief, and the spreading and multiplying of sin in the world; it will be for the glory and honour of God; and it will mightily redound to our comfort and renown in the great day. Those that turn many to righteousness, and those who help to do so, shall shine as the stars for ever and ever."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…

James Expounds on Faith Volume 60

 Praying in Faith Part 5

James 5:17-18 Elias/Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. KJV Note: NKJV=New King James Version

We just heard from the Apostle James how the effectual fervant prayer of a righteous man 👨 bears much fruit, well the Apostle now reminded those scattered Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus our Lord as he so reminds we brothers and sisters 'in Christ' today and of every era and generation of the efforts, exploits, and endeavors of the Prophet of God Elijah who was a weak sinful man just like we are today and in every era and generation of those who truly belong to Adonai/Elohim, as it is 📝 written, "Elias/Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." (James 5:17-18) (KJV). Somehow, those of us alive today who have come to our Lord Jesus Christ in repentance and faith falsely believe that those saints of God who lived hundreds of years and even thousands of years before we came upon the earth 🌎 were somehow different than we are, i.e. 'supersaints'. Reality is that they were vile sinners just like us, but the same God/Jesus whom we belong to did miraculous deeds through them. Why? Was it because they were special? Of course not, they were simply obedient and faithful. Is this word from the Word of God true or not? "Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8) (KJV). Well, if it is true and it is, then this same Jesus/God can do whatever He wills to do today as He did yesterday and as He will do forever, through the obedient faith and prayers of any righteous son or daughter of His. Is God/Jesus dead or is He alive for evermore? Let us not think that Elijah was not a wretched sinner, because he was, as well as King David, the Apostle Paul, Peter, John, James and all who came to belong to Christ Jesus our Lord just like we do. Let us stop this foolishness of arguing over whether God still answers the seemingly impossible prayers of His sons and daughters with miracles that cannot be explained by the finite minds that belong to all human beings. Brothers and Sisters 'in Christ' over the centuries have prayed for some of the most hopeless cases of people still dead in their tresspasses and sins to be born again and those sinners salvation by grace through faith happened. I just read 📖 that the women who was the star in the popular reality TV show Ink (Kate Von D) has made a profession of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and she ended up going to a small Baptist Church not far from her home in Indiana. When she went the saints there told her they had been praying for her ever since she moved into her new home (how long they prayed I do not know). This may seem like nothing to many cynical minded folk, but God is God over everything happening within His Universe 🌌, so He does not miss the prayers of a one or a few, just like He does not miss the prayers of many. You know the people who are quick to discount miracles always do so until their little girl 👧 or little boy 👦 is sick unto death, then you better believe they are praying for a miracle from God to save the life of their child 🧒 just as they should be doing. God makes miracles happen every day in the life of His adopted sons and daughters, except many of us fail to see them (there are some we cannot see) because our faith is at such a weak and low state or condition. The Apostle James was originally writing to the new converts to Christ from the 12 Tribes of Judah who were being viciously persecuted which is what caused them to flee to various other parts of the world 🗺 during that time. The Apostle wanted them to know that Elijah was just like them and God received his prayers and answered in a Mighty way that could only be attributed, acknowledged, or accounted that God had shut up the rain for three (3) years and that at the faithful praying of Elijah, He (God) had brought forth the rain once again to the land. In other words, Brother James wanted them to know that they are not less of saints than Elijah, nor was Elijah a greater saint than they or us today, but they too can pray for big things they needed and for the protection they needed from the violent assaults coming from the devil through his two-legged devils and God would hear them and hear us.

Here is what the Expositors' Bible Commentary had to say of James 5:17-18, "The example by which St. James proves the efficacy of a righteous man’s prayer is interesting and important in two respects:- (1.) It is the only evidence that we have that the great drought in the time of Ahab was prayed for by Elijah, and it is the only direct evidence that he prayed for the rain which put an end to it. We are told that Elijah prophesied the drought (1 Kings 17:1) and the rain; (1 Kiings 18:41) and that before the rain he put himself in an attitude of prayer, with his face between his knees (1 Kings 18:42); but that he prayed, and for the rain which he had foretold, is not stated. Whether the statement made by St. James is an inference from these statements, or based on independent tradition, must remain uncertain. We read in Ecclesiasticus of Elijah that by 'the Word of the Lord he shut up (held back), the heaven' (48:3); but that seems to refer to prophecy rather than to prayer. The difference, if there be any, between the duration of the drought as stated here and by St. Luke, (Luke 4:25) and as stated in the Book of the Kings, will not be a stumbling-block to any who recognize that inspiration does not necessarily make a man infallible in chronology. Three and a half years (=42 months= 1,260 days) was the traditional duration of times of great calamity. (Daniel 7:25; Daniel 12:7; Revelation 11:2-3; Revelation 12:6; Revelation 12:14; Revelation 13:5) (2.) This passage supplies us with Biblical authority for prayers for changes of weather, and the like; for the conduct of Elijah is evidently put before us for our imitation. St. James carefully guards against the objection that Elijah was a man gifted with miraculous powers, and therefore no guide for ordinary people, by asserting that he was a man of like nature with ourselves. And let us concede, for the sake of argument, that St. James may have been mistaken in believing that Elijah prayed for the drought and for the rain; yet still the fact remains that an inspired New Testament writer puts before us, for our encouragement in prayer, a case in which prayers for changes of weather were made and answered. And he certainly exhorts us to pray for the recovery of the sick, which is an analogous case. This kind of prayer seems to require special consideration. 'Is it, then, according to the Divine will that when we are individually suffering from the regularity of the course of nature-suffering, for instance, from the want of rain, or the superabundance of it-we should ask God to interfere with that regularity? That in such circumstances we should pray for submission to the Divine will, and for such wisdom as shall lead to compliance with it in the future, is a matter of course, and results inevitably from the relation between the spiritual Father and the spiritual child. But ought we to go farther than this? Ought we to pray, expecting that our prayer will be effectual, that God may interfere with the fixed sequences of nature? Let us try to realize what Would follow if we offered such prayer and prevailed. In a world-wide Church each believer would constitute himself a judge of what was best for himself and his neighbor, and thus the order of the world would be at the mercy everywhere of individual caprice (a sudden desire) and ignorance. Irregularity would accordingly take the place of invariableness. No man could possibly foretell what would be on the morrow. The scientist would find all his researches for rule and law baffled; the agriculturist would find all his calculations upset; nature, again, as in the days of ignorance, would become the master of man; like an eagle transfixed by an arrow winged by one of its own feathers, man would have shackled himself with the chains of his ancient servitude by the licentious employment of his own freedom, and would have reduced the cosmos of which God made him the master to a chaos which overwhelmed him by its unexpected blows.' The picture which is here drawn sketches for us the consequences of allowing each individual to have control over the forces of nature. It is incredible that God could be induced to allow such control to individuals; but does it follow from this that He never listens to prayers respecting His direction of the forces of nature, and that consequently all such prayers are presumptuous? The conclusion does not seem to follow from the premises, The valid conclusion would rather be this: No one ought to pray to God to give him absolute control of the forces of nature. The prayer, 'Lord, in Thy control of the forces of nature have mercy upon me and my fellow-men,' is a prayer of a very different character. The objection to prayers for rain or for the cessation of rain, and the like, is based on the supposition that we thereby 'ask God to interfere with the regularity of the course of nature.' Yet it is admitted that to 'pray for submission to the Divine will, and for such wisdom as will lead to compliance with it in the future, is a matter of course and results inevitably from the relation between the spiritual Father and the spiritual child.' But is there no regularity about the things thus admitted to befit objects of prayer? Are human character and human intellect not subject to law? When we pray for a submissive spirit and for wisdom, are we not asking God to 'interfere with that regularity' which governs the development of character and of intelligence? Either the prayer is to obtain more submission or more wisdom than we should otherwise get, or it is not. If it is to obtain it, then the regularity which would otherwise have prevailed is interrupted. If our prayer is not to obtain for us more submission and more wisdom than we should have obtained if we had not prayed, then the prayer is futile. It will perhaps be urged that the two cases are not strictly parallel. They are not; but for the purposes of this argument they are sufficiently parallel. It is maintained that we have no right to pray for rain, because we thereby propose to interfere with the regularity of natural processes; yet it is allowed that we may pray for wisdom. To get wisdom by prayer is quite as much an interference with the regularity of natural processes as to get rain by prayer. Therefore, either we ought to pray for neither, or we have the right to pray for both. And so far as the two cases are not parallel, it seems to be more reasonable to pray for rain than to pray for submissiveness and wisdom. God has given our wills the awful power of being able to resist His will. Are we to suppose that He exercises less control over matter, which cannot resist Him, than over human wills, which He allows to do so; or that He will help us or not help us to become better and wiser, according as we ask Him or do not ask Him for such help, and yet will never make any change as to giving or withholding material blessings, however much, or however little, we may ask Him to do this? The objection is sometimes stated in a slightly different form. God has arranged the material universe according to His infinite wisdom; it is presumptuous to pray that He will make any change in it. The answer to which is that, if that argument is valid against praying for rain, it is valid against all prayer whatever. If I impugn infinite wisdom when I pray for a change in the weather, do I not equally impugn it, when I pray for a change in the life or character of myself or of my friends? God knows without our asking what weather is best for us; and He knows equally without our asking what spiritual graces are best for us. Does not the parallel difficulty point to a parallel solution? What right have we to assume that in either case effectual prayer interferes with the regularity which seems to characterize Divine action? May it not be God’s will that the prayer of faith should be a force that can influence other forces, whether material or spiritual, and that its influence should be according to law (whether natural or supernatural) quite as much as the influence of other forces? A man who puts up a lightning-conductor brings down the electric current when it might otherwise have remained above, and brings it down in one place rather than another; yet no one would say that he interferes With the regularity of the course of nature. Is there anything in religion or science to forbid us from thinking of prayer as working in an analogous manner-according to a law too subtle for us to comprehend and analyze, but according to a law none the less? In the vast network of forces in which an all-wise God has constructed the universe a Christian will believe that one force which 'availeth much,' both in the material and in the spiritual world, 'is the earnest prayer of the righteous'. It is better for us that we should be able to influence by our prayers God’s direction of events than that we should be unable to do so; therefore a merciful Father has placed this power within our reach."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…