Making Sense of Praying With Faith - by Peter Witkowski

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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This article is almost 1700 words, which means he has ample opportunity to explain his topic. But rather than the auyhor "making sense" of praying with faith, the result is mystifying and absolutely nonsensical. 

The author goes to great lengths to contrast praying God's secret will vs. praying God's revealed will. There is supposed to be some sort of difference in the way we pray, but we are unable to discern what that might be. He seems to be saying that we can rightly expect that God will answer prayers regarding His revealed will, but that we cannot expect this regarding His secret will. How these are different in practice, or where we find these concepts in Scripture, remain a mystery.

And, how does knowing this benefit us? What does it mean on a practical level? These also are mysteries.

Ultimately, if the reader expected to find a teaching on how to pray, he won't find it. If the reader wanted to know how to pray with faith, the author mentions the phrase only once without explaining it. If the reader wanted the Bible clarified, the author is only interested in explaining his doctrine.

This is author's sole intent, to explain his doctrine. That's what Reformed/Calvinist teachers do. They explain their doctrines. Over and over again. They will never explain the Bible unless they can explain their doctrines. 

How do we know the author is Reformed/Calvinist? Easy. First, he begins his presentation with Reformed code words, the "means of grace." Second, he parses and categorizes his subject into compartments that appear to sound biblical, but they are simply inventions designed to fit the Bible into his doctrines. Third, he quotes go-to Scriptures that are always used by Reformists, in this case Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God.” Fourth, he approvingly quotes Reformists like Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and even Calvin himself.

But most importantly, the author completely fails to explain anything. If he did anything at all, he added confusion.

Confusion is the enemy's work. We therefore must deem this Bad Bible Teaching.

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Few means of grace (Undefined phrase.)

are so well known and yet so misunderstood as the “prayer of faith” or the act of “praying by faith.” Countless Christians have hopefully (and even perhaps judgmentally) told their friends, “If you have the faith of a mustard seed then… your church will grow, you will get that promotion, you will find a spouse, you will have a kid, and you will overcome your cerebral palsy.”

Though such claims appear to confuse the Lord of the universe with a genie in a bottle, they possess some scriptural backing. Jesus declares in Luke 17:6: “If you had faith like the grain of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.’” Jesus expresses similar sentiments in Matthew 17:20-21, telling his disciples that if they had the faith of a mustard seed they too could move mountains because “nothing will be impossible for you.”

To make sense of Jesus’ teaching and to determine if our suffering can be attributed to some deficiency in our prayer life, (Suffering? This is a different premise than the author first articulated.)

we need to locate Jesus’ statements within their biblical context and within the greater biblical narrative, paying special note to the prayers of King David in 2 Samuel 12 and 15. ("Special note?" The author will devote maybe a half dozen sentences to this "special" topic, most of which are simply describing the biblical narrative. He does absolutely nothing with this in terms of the premise of the article.)

In so doing, we will see that prayers of faith consist of asking God for his revealed promises and in taking our needs to him because we know that he will hear us. (...While praying about things regarding his secret will is different because... um...)

A Quick Tutorial in God’s Two Wills

(There is absolutely no Bible verse that teaches that God has two wills.)

God’s revealed will concerns those things plainly stated in the Bible. For example, God tells Christians not to steal. The man contemplating whether to defraud his employer does not need to pray for guidance. The Lord tells him what to do in Ephesians 4:28: “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” The man knows God’s will for his life. The same can be said about his sexuality, his parenting, and any other thing that God’s word has addressed.

But the Lord has not revealed whether the man’s mother will die from cancer. (Maybe the Lord has not revealed it, but that is far different than claiming He will NEVER reveal it. 

The issue is, the author is a cessationist who does not believe that God speaks to us anymore. Thus the "secret will" shall always remain a secret, for if He revealed His secret will it means He is still speaking to His people. Cessationists cannot permit this.)

He does not know whether his mother will respond to the drugs. Though God has already determined the day of her death, he has not revealed that information to the man. As Moses notes in Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God.” (The author is misusing this verse terribly. Let's quote a bit more:

De. 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

In reading this passage we find Moses was exhorting Israel to live holy lives according to God's commands. By the time we get to this verse we understand that Moses was declaring that Israel possesses the Law as something uniquely revealed to them. The Law belongs to Israel forever.

Another way to put this is, what God possesses has been given to become the possession of Israel. They do not possess what has not been given. So we can see this has nothing at all to do with God's "secret will." The author is misusing this Scripture.

When we attempt to discern His will we are therefore not broaching some contrived boundary of His secrets. The things we do not know is not the same thing as God's secret will. We cannot assume that what we do not not know will not be revealed to us.)

The two wills of God profoundly shape how we should pray. (Here's the money sentence. So, how do the two wills of God do this? Please explain.)

Prayer requests that concern God’s revealed will should be prayed with expectant confidence. To borrow language from another sector of Christendom, Christians should name-it-and-claim-it when asking God for the grace needed to stop complaining, to stop being rude, and to stop lusting. ("Expectant confidence." Ok. Then how should we pray about God's secret will? 

The author seems to be saying that praying God's revealed will is a guarantee of the answer we want. But this is ridiculous, because Christians will repeatedly pray to stop being bitter or to stop lusting [items of "revealed will"] yet will not gain victory over these things.)

To quote 1 John 5:14-15: “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” (Hmmm. The author has done his best to set us up to reinterpret these verses according to his template, but because we have resisted his efforts we can read them for the plain meaning. And what we find is the same sort of promise given to the disciples. 

This is important because in the next section the author will arbitrarily relegate those promises to the disciples only. It's becoming more clear that the author is making excuses to justify his doctrine. His doctrine is first, which means a bunch of Bible verses need to be reinterpreted to conform with his doctrine.

This makes the author a false teacher.)

As Spurgeon concludes, “Our heavenly Banker is delighted to cash His own promissory notes…He is more ready to hear than you are to ask (Jan 15).”

Conversely, Christians have no such confidence when asking for healing, (The other shoe drops. Apparently we have no confidence to receive anything regarding His secret will. So does that mean we shouldn't pray about these things? Or that we should pray differently? Please explain.

And what about James 5:15? And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

So this difference in confidence we are supposed to have, where in the Bible do we find this?)

new jobs, or spouses. They may receive the desired outcome of their prayers. Then again, they may not. (So this kind of prayer may or may not have the desired outcome. And this differs from praying His revealed will in what way? Please explain.

The fact is, simply because God has "revealed" his will [or kept things secret], does not matter when it comes to our prayers.)

So Mustard Seeds and Mountains?

Though many assume that Jesus’ statements on praying with faith relate to God’s hidden will, the opposite is true. Jesus’ instructions on prayers of faith are tied to God’s revealed will. (We should not pray with faith regarding God's secret will? Where is this in the Bible? Please explain.

Now we see the utility of this artificial distinction between the supposed two wills. This dodge allows the author to preemptively dismiss an entire category of prayer.)

In Luke 17:6, Jesus locates the moving of the mulberry trees after his teaching on the need to forgive sins. (No, the preceding verses refer to forgiving a brother who repents.)

In this passage, prayers of faith do not address miraculous healings tied to God’s secret will but to miraculous expressions of forgiveness that align with God’s revealed will. (No, Luke ties Jesus' statement about moving the mulberry tree to the apostles' statement, "Increase our faith!" Did the author even read the verses?)

Similarly, Jesus promises his disciples that they can cast out demons and move mountains in Matthew 17:20 and Mark 9:29 through prayer. Once again, these promises align with Jesus’ earlier teachings in Matthew 10:1 and Mark 6:7. (??? "Once again?" This is the first mention of this!)

The passages reveal that Jesus had already promised the twelve disciples, “authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out” that the were to pray for in Matthew 17 and Mark 9. (So the author is setting the stage to create his second dodge, i.e., that only the disciples received these promises.

This of course is false: 

Jn. 14:11-12 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

This passage creates a problem for cessationists like the author. Jesus used the word "anyone," so cessationists can't claim this promise was only for the disciples. So they will attempt to reduce "greater things" to the many salvations that have happened throughout history. This to them is the "greater things." There is no biblical basis to do this, but cessationists need it to conform to their doctrine.)

And when Jesus curses a barren fig tree for its lack of fruit and then promises his disciples that “whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith (Matt 21:22)” he does so against the backdrop of specific promises contained in his revealed will. Namely, Jesus curses the barren fig tree because all who are attached to him can and will bear fruit by faith. Those who do not bear the fruit of repentance are accursed – outside the kingdom of God. As the parallel passage in Mark 11 notes forgiving other people’s sins is one of these miraculous fruits. This passage on prayer relates to God’s revealed will. (???)

When God encourages his people to have the faith that move mountains, (Waaait, the author just contextualized this in terms of the disciples. So we should have faith that moves mountains? Please explain.)

the pinnacles in question are not miraculous healings or projections of financial independence (things that pertain to God’s secret will). (But, but... We are confused. There appears to be no difference in praying for matters regarding either will. Somehow we are supposed to pray differently between the two. Please explain. 

This all seems to be adding up to an elaborate ruse designed to explain the author's lack of faith.)

Rather the promises concern the supernatural grace needed to confront the rude guy in our small group, to forgive the angry child screaming in our home, and to overlook the unkind mother-in-law who comments on every picture. (The author continues to riff on his artificial distinction.)

In other words, to offer prayers of faith in the context of God’s revealed will is to pray expecting God to keep his promises to us. 

Prayers and God’s Secret Will

Though prayers should always address elements of God’s revealed will – laying claim to his promises, they should also address concerns related to his secret will. (Finally, we find out that we should pray regarding things contained in God's secret will. How is it different? Please explain.)

Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread (Matt 6:11).” In other words, Christians should ask God for spouses, healings, and jobs. But to do so in faith, they need only to trust that Jesus’ hears their prayers. (Previously the author told us this about praying God's revealed will: 

In so doing, we will see that prayers of faith consist of asking God for his revealed promises...

So for both revealed and secret will we should pray in faith. Ok, got it.)

Faith as it relates to God’s secret will consists in the asking and not the results we receive. (Sigh... Is this different from praying in faith regarding God's revealed will? How? Please explain.)

In 2 Samuel 12:15-23, David pleads with Lord to save his son with such earnestness and zeal that his servants feared that King David would commit suicide when God refused to grant his request. The author of 2 Samuel writes, “David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground (2 Sam 12:16).” But when the child dies, David does not become suicidal. He gets up, eats, and continues with life. He offered the following explanation to his servants, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me (2 Sam 12:22-23).” Despite his great emotion and sincerity, the Lord refused David’s request.

A few years later – fearing for his life and the lives of his closest friends while on the run from Absalom’s insurrection, David once again turns to the Lord. With tears and groanings, he prays, “O Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness (2 Sam 15:31).” Almost immediately, the Lord grants David’s request. God connects the weary king with Hushi, a trusted political advisor, who is then used by God to undo Absalom’s revolution with bad counsel.

In both instances, David offered prayers filled with great emotion and sincerity derived from his faith that concerned God’s secret will. One prayer met with rejection and the other with approval. Through David, the Lord reveals that the measure of one’s faith consists not in the Lord’s granting of our request but in the prayer itself. To pray faithfully within the realm of God’s secret will is to believe that the God of the Bible hears our prayers. (Sigh... We are now completely unable to determine what the author is attempting to say. We can discern no difference between praying God's revealed will and praying God's secret will. They look and sound exactly the same.)

To quote, John Calvin, “Calling on God like this does not refer to a simple knowledge of his existence but rather that we must be thoroughly convinced that our requests will not fall to the ground, but be receive by him.” When Christians pray in faith, they do not pray to some universal force or to an unknown god. They pray as Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “to the living, personal God who thinks, who acts, who sees us, who knows all about us, who can answer our prayer and is ready to do so .” In other words, to ask God for relief from the flu, or to pass your exams, or to find a new job because you know God hears your requests is to offer a prayer of faith. In so doing, we confess that our hope lies not in our intelligence or efforts but in God’s merciful providence. ("Merciful providence." Reformist jargon.)

With regards to God’ secret will, prayers of faith consist in the praying of the prayer to the God who hears.

Final Thoughts

Without question, believers are called to move mountains and mulberry bushes by faith. (??? Once again, the author had previously contextualized this in terms of the disciples. But now he bestows this upon all of us. We are now completely at loss to explain what the author means.)

But such prayers consist not in gaining new homes or in the healing of terminal cancer. (??? Why not? Please, explain.)

They consist in laying claim to God’s revealed will. These prayers move the mountains of bitterness that sit atop our furrowed brows through confession and repentance. (Wow, breath-taking diversion from the plain meaning.)

What proves even greater and more exceptional than physical earthly blessing is the spiritual transformation that God has promised his children. (False choice.)

Whoever asks for spiritual miracles in faith will see mountains move.

And, Christians should also ask God in faith for things covered by his secret will. (??? This entire article was written to distinguish between the two wills, but now we find that the author's cauncel on praying is the same either way. Why, then, did he write?)

But when they do so, they must realize that faith in this setting consists not in getting what they asked for but in the asking. (??? Where do we find this idea in the Bible? Please explain. Oh. He's done.)

Those who believe that their creator and savior hear their prayers have prayed in faith for things related to God’s secret will.

May we all pray more and may the Lord bless our prayers.