God’s Providence and the Privilege of Prayer - by CILAS MENEZES

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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We are going to do our best to untangle this mess. A lot of what the author writes is based on unstated underlying premises. He assumes we know these premises and agree with them. But for someone who is unacquainted with these things, the article reads as nothing but nonsense.

What are those premises? Well, they are all founded upon Reformist/Calvinist thought. This area of theology has some particular beliefs which come to bear on the author's thought processes, including:

• God is sovereign - This does not simply mean God is King of kings and ruler of the universe. It means God controls everything.
• Everything is pre-ordained - This is perhaps the extreme version of Reformism. Most Reformists will say that God did not create evil or sin. But the author does not make these exceptions.
• Obeying God's commands means we participate in what He has pre-ordained.

From these and other assumptions the author will make his conclusion, that prayer does not change God's mind because God has already made all the choices and lined up every event in everyone's lives.

We find this in one of the author's last statements:

"...the God who ordains all things has also ordained our prayers as a means to accomplish his perfect will." 

In what way has God ordained all things, and where do we find this in the Bible? Does this mean God ordains tornados? Sin? The devil? "All things" seems to be pretty inclusive, right? 

So if He indeed ordains all things, then the script is written. Every single molecule in the universe is doing exactly what it was planned to do. Every power and principality, every angel, every human, can only do the precise things that were ordained by God. Period.

Thus we are in the middle of an elaborate ruse. We think we are living out our lives, responsible for our choices, and trying to live virtuous, God-honoring lives. But we're not. Everything is pre-ordained, according to the author. So in reality, no one is responsible for one's actions. It's all pre-planned. 

In addition, the author doesn't quote a single Bible verse. We must say, this is one of the worst Bible teachings we have ever read. We must assign it the tag, "Bad Bible Teaching."

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Few aspects of the Christian life are more neglected than the cultivation of a habit of personal and private prayer. In his classic Preaching and Preachers, Lloyd Jones wrote, “I suppose we all fail at this next point more than anywhere else; that is in the matter of prayer.”1

One of the most vivid testimonies to the believer’s struggle in prayer, however, comes from the Puritan John Bunyan:

And verily may I but speak my own experience, and from that tell you the difficulty of praying to God as I ought; it is enough to make your poor, blind, carnal men to entertain strange thoughts of me. For, as for my heart, when I go to pray, I find it so loth to go to God, and when it is with him, so loth to stay with him, that many times I am forced in my prayers, first to beg God that he would take mine heart, and set it on himself in Christ, and when it is there, that he would keep it there. Nay, many times I know not what to pray for, I am so blind, nor how to pray, I am so ignorant; only, blessed be grace, the Spirit helps our infirmities (Rom. 8:26).2

Perhaps you recognize yourself in Bunyan’s confession. Or maybe you have grown so accustomed to a prayerless life that you scarcely notice the loss. May his words stir you to self-examination, that you would take up afresh the calling to be a man or a woman of prayer.

But as you battle against prayerlessness, be encouraged: In his absolute sovereignty (Unexplained term.)

and freedom, (What does the author mean by God being free?)

God has chosen to accomplish many of his purposes through his people’s prayers. This is not an accident of history, but part of God’s eternal plan.

Consider these examples from Scripture:

• The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah came in response to the outcry of the oppressed (Gen. 18:20–21; Ezek. 16:49–50).
• Israel’s deliverance from Egypt was God’s answer to the groaning and cries of his people (Ex. 2:23–25; 3:7–9).
• Your conversion, dear reader, was an answer to the prayers of saints—those under the Old Covenant (Ps. 67:3–5; 117:1) and those under the New (Rom. 15:8–13).
• Christ’s resurrection fulfilled his prayer on the cross (Ps. 22:19–22).
• The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost came in answer to Christ’s prayer (John 14:16).
• Saul’s conversion in Acts 9 may well have been an answer to the prayers of believers obeying Jesus’ command to pray for their persecutors (Matt. 5:43-44).

Does this mean our prayers change God’s mind or determine his will? By no means! (Prayer does not change God's mind? We are sure the author has some Scripture that tells us this...)

As the Westminster Confession teaches, God’s eternal decree is unchangeable (WCF 3:1; 5:1). (...oh. A doctrinal statement.)

Yet in that decree, (??? Which decree? "God's eternal decree" is not identified in the above quote.)

he has also ordained the means by which his purposes will come to pass. (Again, no Bible support...)

No one can bind the Lord except himself, and in his wisdom, he has bound certain ends to specific means—among them, the prayers of his saints. (??? What does this binding mean? Is the author going to explain anything?)

There is no necessary connection between means and ends. (Actually, there is. All means result in ends. All ends are a result of means. What is the point here?)

Food does not nourish by some independent power; water does not extinguish fire by its authority; soil does not produce a harvest apart from God’s blessing. These connections exist because the Ruler of the universe willed them to be so (Ps. 104:14; 145:15-16; Col. 1:16-17). (??? We are really beginning to wonder if there's a point coming soon.)

The same is true of prayer. God could accomplish all his purposes instantly by the word of his power (as in creation), but he has chosen to work through appointed means, and he commands us to use them. (So prayer is one avenue God uses to accomplish His purposes. No one disagrees. But why would we obey this command if what He decreed is going to happen anyway? Is the author going to explain anything?)

This is no mere duty; it is a privilege.

Yet here is a danger: we can become so focused on the visible instruments that we credit them with the power that belongs to God alone. (?? "Visible instruments?" Who gets focused on these? What does this mean? Is the author going to explain anything?)

The Bible teaches us to use the means diligently (Where does the Bible do this? What verses? Please explain.)

(whether Word, sacraments, or prayer), but never to trust in them as if they could work apart from the Spirit’s power. (Who does this? Examples? Explanations? Bible verses?)

We must look beyond the means to the gracious Author, who alone makes them effectual. (This is a nonsense statement.)

And when we do, our hearts can only respond, Praise be to the Lord, who invites us into his sovereign work (Again he uses this unexplained term.)

through the humble act of prayer.

So then, let us pray. Not because our words have any power in themselves, but because our Father delights to hear the voices of his children (Where does the Bible tell us this?)

and has chosen, in his providence, (First use of this word since the title. This was the matter the author was supposed to explain. But we have arrived at the last paragraph, and here we find this "providence," which the author does not explain.)

to weave their petitions into the fabric of his eternal plan. (Another nonsense statement.)

When you pray, you are not informing God of what he does not know, nor persuading him to be kind, for he is already infinitely wise and gracious. (Who thinks these things? Really. What Christian thinks God does not know things?)

Instead, you are entering the throne room of the King who has promised to work through your requests for his glory and your good. (Bible reference?) 

Therefore, let us come boldly to the throne of grace today (Heb. 4:16), (Finally, a snippet of a Bible verse. Let's quote: 

He. 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

trusting that the God who ordains all things has also ordained our prayers as a means to accomplish his perfect will. (Which makes our prayers irrelevant, if everything is going to happen as God has ordained.)

1 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers: The Classic Text with Essays from Mark Dever, Kevin DeYoung, Timothy Keller, John Piper, and Others (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 181.

2 John Bunyan, The Works of John Bunyan, ed. George Offor, 3 vols. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, Ⅰ991), 1:631.