Lifting Up Holy Hands In Prayer

I Timothy 2:5-8

Have you ever noticed how children attempt to manipulate their parents? Mary wants to go to the local teen hotspot to flirt with the boys. She knows her parents won’t approve, so she asks her little sister Suzie if she’d like a milkshake. She then suggests that the hot spot makes really good milkshakes. Since Suzie is not interested in boys yet, her parents will not think that is why Suzie is asking and might let her go, but she’s to young to go alone so they’ll send Mary to take her. If Suzie has a friend visiting, it works even better because it is a lot harder for the parents to refuse the friend.

All too often people approach God the same way. They assume he is more likely to give someone else what they ask for. Like Mary, they either are trying to get by with something, or have allowed their relationship with God to deteriorate to such a degree thay don’t dare ask for themselves. As a pastor, people continually ask me to pray for them, putting me in the same situation Mary put Suzie. It weakens their relationship with God even more, even if it gets the results they wanted. The Catholic custom of praying to the saints is an extension of the same practice, reaching even further for someone to ask for us.

In chapter one, Paul warned Timothy that some had made shipwreck of their lives by putting faith aside. He is continuing in the same vein, pointing out that God did not choose for any man to perish, but gave his life for every human being. He did not love some more than others, and our attitude that some men’s prayers have greater impact is a result of a lack of faith in God and his love for us. As Romans 14:23 says, “for whatsoever is not of faith is sin."

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” (I Timothy 2:5-8)

God wants you to pray to him. Jesus loved you enough to die for you. He wants you to talk to him, not to hide behind someone else. It makes no difference whether you are man or woman, Jew or Gentile, Old or young. Galatians 3:27-28 describes this. “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Both Revelation 5:8 and Revelation 8:3-4 Speak of our prayers as incense and a sweet odor to God. We ought to pray for ourselves, not counting on someone else to do it for us.

Paul then stressed three conditions for our prayer to be pleasing to God. The first condition listed is that of holy hands lifted in prayer. Wickedness prevents God heeding our prayers. Isaiah 59:1-2 states, “Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.“ Proverbs 15.8 tells us that “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.” Proverbs 15:26 & 28 reiterate the idea.

Christians ought to be holy, since according to Hebrews 10:8, “we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Verse 14 builds on the statement, stating, “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Holiness is the Christian’s natural state as Romans 8:1-14 explains in some detail.

The concept of lifted hands has produced an unusual phenomenon in our day. Traditionally the concept of lifted hands was of hands clasped in prayer, or palms uplifted in supplication to a ruler, begging for his intervention. Today many are expressing themselves in a different manner. The lifting of hands is identical to the action of the fans often seen on American Idol or at a Rock concert. Clearly their action is not an act of prayer.

The second condition for prayer is without wrath. Ephesians 4:30-31 lists a series of things that need to be eliminated from our lives to prevent grieving the Holy spirit. “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:” James 1:20 explains why. “For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” When we are controlled by anger, we are not concerned about what is right. We are only concerned with our own way. Our prayers will be for things that are contrary to the will of God, and they will be sinful, as in praying for God to kill someone.

The final condition is without doubting. Many times our prayers are like the church in Acts 12, praying for deliverance for Peter, but refusing to believe it when Rhoda told them he was standing at the door. In Mark 11:24, Jesus said, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Some have distorted this verse, ignoring other related verses, and implying that God is obligated to give exactly what we ask for. The last part of Hebrews 11 makes it clear that faith does not always produce the short term results we ask for, but that God will always produce the results we desired in faith according to what he has promised for the long term. The short term benefits might well prevent the long term goals being possible. We are to pray, believing that God wants the best for us, and that he will answer in the best way, not necessarily in the way we asked.

Real faith will accept his right to deliver in the way and time he sees best, rather than demanding our way.