Where In The Bible Will I Find:

Things We Should Be Careful In Praying For?

We are taught to pray, and to "pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17). This means that we are to be in a prayerful attitude at all times, asking God for His protection and thanking Him for the many blessings we receive with each day. All miracles, all miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased at the death of the last apostle on earth. The apostles could pass a miraculous gift on to a fellow Christian but it ended there as the one receiving this gift could not pass it on to anyone else.

Therefore, in our prayers, we must be careful not to ask God for anything that would constitute Him performing a miracle. Not that God could not, but that He will not, as He now provides through His law of nature. God has given us an intellect, the ability to read His Word, and if we read and study it often we will be able to recall it to memory as we need it. It would be very thoughtful for the one who is called on to word our prayers to always be mindful of precisely what he would be asking God to do in answering his request.

Would it require God to act directly, supernaturally, or could God bring about an answer to the prayer through means of His natural law'? Often we hear brethren pray (and most of us have asked) for God to give the preacher "a happy (or ready) recollection of the things he has prepared to say." In reference to the wording of this particular request, we should ask ourselves, "What means does God provide today for instant recall?"

The only Biblical reference made to any remembrance of previous knowledge occurs in context of the miraculous. For example, as He was preaching to return to heaven, Jesus promised His apostles He would send the "Comforter" who would "bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you" (John 14:26). Are we to expect this today? No! This was for the apostles only. Today, we are to "study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (II Tim. 2:15).

The Scripture does not teach that God provides for ready recollections other than by the faculties of the mind that He created for the very purpose of recall ability. God does not by-pass and undermine the faculties He has given man. We can, and always should, pray for the speaker, that he may have prepared a lesson that is in accordance with God's Holy Word, and that it will be received in good and honest hearts and that it will bring forth much fruit to God's honor and Glory. Obey God's Word, and keep on praying.