When Should I Stop Praying for Something?

00:00:05.000 | David in Bristol, Connecticut writes in and asks this, "Pastor John, over the last year,

00:00:09.000 | the Lord has taught me much about prayer, both by study of His Word and by lots of doing and failing at it.

00:00:14.000 | While I'm sure there will always be some mystery to prayer, the one thing that I've always struggled with

00:00:19.000 | is how to know if and when to stop praying for something, especially related to 1 John 5:14-17,

00:00:27.000 | since God's timing is rarely, if ever, ours, how do we know when to persevere in asking Him for something

00:00:32.000 | and when to stop, because nothing is changing and it seems to be God saying no?"

00:00:37.000 | Well, this is one of these questions where I'm going to see how much I can say when I don't know the answer.

00:00:45.000 | And I hope it's not fog, and I'm saying it up front so everybody will know it's not, I'm not trying to hide it.

00:00:53.000 | I don't know for sure, but this may help. It helps me to think out loud like this.

00:01:00.000 | Isn't it significant? I think it is.

00:01:03.000 | That in the Bible, we have a statement, "You have not because you asked not," James 4:2.

00:01:10.000 | But we don't have a statement, "You prayed too much or too long."

00:01:16.000 | We don't have a statement that says, "You have things I did not want to give you

00:01:22.000 | because you kept on asking me when it was time to quit."

00:01:26.000 | We don't have anything like that.

00:01:28.000 | In fact, all the emphasis in the New Testament is in the other direction.

00:01:34.000 | Keep on praying. Don't lose heart. Ask, seek, knock.

00:01:39.000 | Wake up your friend at midnight if you must.

00:01:41.000 | Go back to the city judge over and over until he gives you justice, even though he just wants you off his back.

00:01:47.000 | I mean, those are amazing, horrible pictures of God.

00:01:51.000 | And the point is, he loves when we keep on coming and badgering him for something we want very badly

00:02:01.000 | according to his revealed will.

00:02:04.000 | But here we have this difficult verse that was referred to in the question, John 5, 16.

00:02:11.000 | "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask,

00:02:18.000 | and God will forgive him to those who commit sins that do not lead to death."

00:02:22.000 | There is sin that leads to death.

00:02:26.000 | I do not say one should pray for that.

00:02:32.000 | All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

00:02:38.000 | That's 1 John 5, 16 and 17.

00:02:41.000 | Now notice, it does not say, "Don't pray about sin that leads to death."

00:02:50.000 | It says simply, "There is sin that leads to death. I don't say that one should pray for that."

00:03:00.000 | It does amount, doesn't it, to a permission at least not to pray about sin that leads to death.

00:03:08.000 | And that's what makes the question so hard, like David says.

00:03:12.000 | How do we know? How do we know when a person has sinned unto death?

00:03:18.000 | That is, there's not going to be any forgiveness.

00:03:21.000 | He's hardened himself so many times and so long, God has withdrawn from him,

00:03:26.000 | and there's not going to be any repentance on his part,

00:03:28.000 | and therefore not going to be any forgiveness on God's part.

00:03:31.000 | How do we know when that's happened?

00:03:35.000 | It's not a particular sin. Get that out of the courtroom right away.

00:03:40.000 | It's not murder or rape or treason, because it doesn't say "the sin," like the unforgivable sin.

00:03:45.000 | That's not what this is about. It's not "the sin" or "a sin" that leads to death.

00:03:50.000 | It is sin or sinning unto death.

00:03:53.000 | It's not the act. It's the depth and irreversibility of the act

00:03:58.000 | that a person has sinned so long they're not able to repent anymore.

00:04:02.000 | But how do we know that? And the answer is, "I don't know."

00:04:06.000 | But it might help to point to an analogy with a similar kind of difficulty.

00:04:12.000 | Jesus said in Matthew 7, "Do not give dogs what is holy,

00:04:17.000 | and do not throw your pearls before pigs,

00:04:21.000 | lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you."

00:04:25.000 | So there seems to be a kind of hardness and resistance and cynical attitude

00:04:32.000 | that you should not share the most precious truths with.

00:04:39.000 | People are so utterly hard and cynical

00:04:43.000 | that they'll only trample your gospel words under their feet.

00:04:49.000 | How do we know when that is?

00:04:52.000 | I mean, Paul spoke to people who then threw him in prison

00:04:56.000 | and chanted songs for two hours to false gods.

00:05:01.000 | I mean, that's a lot of trampling going on in response to Paul's preaching.

00:05:06.000 | And Jesus spoke, and people killed him.

00:05:10.000 | That's trampling the pearl of great price.

00:05:14.000 | So, in the one case, we don't have to pray for certain hardened sinners.

00:05:21.000 | In the other case, we shouldn't give holy things to the certain hardened sinners.

00:05:26.000 | And when does that apply? I don't know.

00:05:33.000 | But it may be that just knowing that such situations exist

00:05:39.000 | will help us, by the Holy Spirit, discern when we are in one.

00:05:46.000 | And I'll just say, last thing, Tony, that this hit home to me for my grandmother.

00:05:51.000 | She's gone now, and in heaven, I frankly doubt.

00:05:55.000 | But she's the closest one I came to where I almost said to the Lord,

00:06:01.000 | "I'm not going to pray for her anymore."

00:06:03.000 | She is so cynical to everything I say.

00:06:06.000 | She turns everything on its head.

00:06:09.000 | She's a terrible model for my grandkids, her grandkids,

00:06:12.000 | and actually her great-grandkids.

00:06:15.000 | I say grandmother, great-grandmother.

00:06:18.000 | My parents were not like that.

00:06:20.000 | She was my grandmother, and so she was a bad example.

00:06:23.000 | But frankly, I couldn't stop.

00:06:26.000 | I couldn't bring myself to stop praying for her conversion.

00:06:30.000 | I've never, frankly, come to a situation where I've said,

00:06:32.000 | "That person is beyond my prayers."

00:06:36.000 | Excellent. That's very helpful, Pastor John. Thank you.

00:06:39.000 | And on this topic of prayer, be sure to check out episode #123 in this podcast,

00:06:43.000 | which is titled "How Food and Sex Are Made Holy,"

00:06:47.000 | and also episode #124 titled "Mealtime Prayers--Necessary or Optional?"

00:06:53.000 | We will return on Monday with a new episode.

00:06:56.000 | Until then, be sure to check out the Ask Pastor John app for the iPhone and the Android,

00:06:59.000 | and check out our website, DesiringGod.org,

00:07:02.000 | where you can find an archive of thousands of books, articles, sermons, and other resources,

00:07:06.000 | all free of charge from John Piper,

00:07:09.000 | and all intended to help explain why God is most glorified in us

00:07:12.000 | when we are most satisfied in Him.

00:07:15.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Have a great weekend.

00:07:18.000 | [end]

00:07:21.000 | [music]

00:07:24.000 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

When Should I Stop Praying for Something?

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