Wednesday July 1^st, 2009 Another reason why your prayers are not answered Matthew 18:19&20 Key word or phrase “pray amiss”

Back on June 18^th, we looked a James 4:1-4, and we paid particular attention to the word “amiss” as in “Ye ask (pray), and receive not, because ye ask (pray) amiss”. Today we shall look at what Jesus had to say about corporate praying and asking. Now, please bear in mind, Matthew 18:19&20 deals with corporate prayer, not individual prayer. It is when two or more come together to pray, not when you go to the Lord in prayer alone. Individual prayer is covered more thoroughly in Matthew 6 and Luke 11.

Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall *agree on earth as touching *any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:19&20

First, let us start by looking at a couple of words, and then we will look at more later.

agree: Is the Greek word sumphoneo, it is pronounced soom-fo-neh'-o and it means to be harmonious, i.e. (figuratively) to be in accord (be suitable, concur) or stipulate (by compact):--agree (together, with). In other words it means that if two of you are both Born Again Washed in the Blood of the Lamb Christians and you each agree exactly with the other in what you are praying for. How exact must you be in agreement? In the time of Jesus and throughout the time after, in order to convict, it took two or more witnesses whose testimony was exact. These witnesses came into the court separately, were questioned separately, but their witness had to be exact on each and every point. They couldn’t just agree that the guilty party was wearing a shirt, they had to be exact on the description of the shirt, such as “he was wearing a blue short sleeve shirt with white buttons of which the second one down from the top was not buttoned, but the first one down was.” So, when the two or more are praying, two must agree exactly. You can”t simply pray “Lord please heal Joe, in the name of Jesus”. No, no, you must be much more exact.

any thing: The word translated “anything” comes from the two Greek words “pas” for any and “pragma” for thing, so it is not “anything” but “any thing”, and can, as you will see, mean “any things”.

First “pas”, pronounced just as it looks and would sound in English, pas. The meaning is all, any, every, the whole:--all (manner of, means), alway(-s), any (one), every (one, way), as many as, + no(-thing), X thoroughly, whatsoever, whole, whosoever. So, pas means one or more things, much as we would use the word any, today, one or some of a thing or number of things, no matter how much or how many.

Pragma, pronounced prag'-mah is a deed; by implication, an affair; by extension, an object (material):--business, matter, thing, work. So, here we have pragma making the meaning of any thing, more exactly stated any exact thing or things.

So, what we have in “That if two of you shall *agree on earth as touching *any thing that they shall ask, ” is when praying, if two of those praying are Born Again Washed in the Blood of the Lamb Christians and those two or more are in absolute agreement on what they are praying for that prayer will be answered, but there is more to make the prayer not amiss. For we have a few more words we need to clear up.

“on earth” Are the Greek words epi and ge, they two mean exactly what it says, the two in absolute agreement must both be on”epi“ earth “ge“, on the earth.

“it shall be done” comes from the Greek word ginomai, pronounced ghin'-om-ahee. Now, read and ponder the definition of “ginomai” very, very carefully. “ginomai” is a prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; meaning to cause to be ("gen"-erate), i.e. (reflexively) to become (come into being), used with great latitude (literal, figurative, intensive, etc.):--arise, be assembled, be(-come, -fall, -have self), be brought (to pass), (be) come (to pass), continue, be divided, draw, be ended, fall, be finished, follow, be found, be fulfilled, + God forbid, grow, happen, have, be kept, be made, be married, be ordained to be, partake, pass, be performed, be published, require, seem, be showed, X soon as it was, sound, be taken, be turned, use, wax, will, would, be wrought. Therfore, “it shall be done”, “ginomai”, means that what is asked will be done, but that it will be done as God chooses to do it, not necessarily the way you have asked for it to be done or expect it to be done. Notice how Jesus said “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from Me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt”. The cup was taken away from Jesus, but not until He had drunk of it, meaning He had to die only once, be crucified only once, be offered up for the sins of all would call on His name only once.

“gathered together” There is but one more Greek word we need to look at, the word sunago, pronounced soon-ag'-o which means to lead together, i.e. collect or convene; specially, to entertain (hospitably):--+ accompany, assemble (selves, together), bestow, come together, gather (selves together, up, together), lead into, resort, take in. It. “sunago” appears in the KJV translated as “gathered together” but does not seem to necessarily mean gathered together in one physical location, remember epi and ge, “on earth”.

So, what we have is: Again I say unto you, That if two (Two Born again Washed in the Blood of the Lamb Christians) of you shall *agree (agree on every detail) on earth (On earth, not in heaven, not on the moon, not on Pluto, but on earth, this tends to preclude the claimed prayers of astronauts who claim the looked upon the earth from outer space and the moon and prayed for the earth.) as touching *any thing (Any one or more things that are identical) that they (the two or more Born Again Washed in the Blood of the Lamb Christians) shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:19&20

How important is it for us to pray correctly? God has promised that “If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Folks our land is in serious trouble, and there is nothing secular that is going to heal it. A state seceding from the union will, without a doubt, help that state, but will not heal our land. Secession is the only way anyone or more of the states can escape the draconian evil of the US Government, but it will not heal our land. The only way to heal or land is to obey the word of God: “If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” And do not pray amiss.

Now, bear in mind, Matthew 18:19&20 deals with corporate prayer, not individual prayer. It is when two or more come together to pray, not when you go to the Lord in prayer alone. That is covered more thoroughly in Matthew 6 and Luke 11.

*All Scripture, unless otherwise noted, is from the ACP/KJV

This thought is copyrighted and protected by US Copyright laws and may not be used in any way, shape or form, in whole or in part without express written permission, dated and referencing the specific thought or thoughts, by Rev. Robert M. Celeste. Note Only Dr. Allen Gilpatrick 116900 of KSR LaGrange is exempt from this.