And
whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it - John 14:13-14.
In
all our praying, however, it is important that we keep in mind that God
will not alter His eternal purposes at the word of a man. We do not
pray in order to persuade God to change His mind. Prayer is not an
assault upon the reluctance of God, nor an effort to secure a suspension
of His will for us or for those for whom we pray. Prayer is not
intended to overcome God and "move His arm." God will never be other
than Himself, no matter how many people pray, nor how long nor how
earnestly.
God's love desires the best for all of us, and He
desires to give us the best at any cost. He will open rivers in desert
places, still turbulent waves, quiet the wind, bring water from the
rock, send an angel to release an apostle from prison, feed an
orphanage, open a land long closed to the gospel. All these things and a
thousand others He has done and will do in answer to prayer, but only
because it had been His will to do it from the beginning. No one
persuades Him.
What the praying man does is to bring his will into
line with the will of God so God can do what He has all along been
willing to do. Thus prayer changes the man and enables God to change
things in answer to man's prayer. A. W. Tozer.
The Price of Neglect, pp. 51-52
