Pray Like This

By Michael Zarlengo

Michael Zarlengo, author of Tabernacle Gifts, Our First Day in Heaven, has deeply searched the Scriptures, this time for God's secret to answered prayer. He follows the fragrant incense of answered prayer throughout the Bible to learn God's secret. His discovery will astound you.

Did you know that in the Old Testament God's people were given eight prayer laws? When God's people prayed according to their eight prayer laws they always had their prayers answered. In the New Testament Jesus and the apostles explain the true meanings of these eight prayer laws for us today. These eight old prayer laws reveal God's New Testament secret of answered prayer to receive anything we request in His name.

"You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it" (John 14:14 NIV).

What a promise! However, do you receive everything you ask God in prayer? If not, you aren't alone. Many Christians do not have the answers they seek. "I thought God answered all prayers," one might say. God does answer all prayers; however, we often do not receive what we request.

"That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord'' (James 4:3 NASB).

God's Word says that this is because we are asking incorrectly.

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss"(James 4:3 NKJV).

How do we ask correctly and, as Jesus said, receive anything we request? In this book, we will learn the truth about prayer so we will receive the answers we are looking for.

"The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know His..."(Ps. 25:14 NASB)

The author using only the Bible, listed-out and studied every prayer recorded, every Old Testament prayer law given to Moses, every example of praying, and every teaching on prayer by the Lord Jesus and the Apostles and noticed a repeating pattern for effective prayer of the same eight elements, given in the same order. The book describes his astounding discovery; it is not eight things we are to say in prayer, but the eight ways we are to live in order to receive anything we ask.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Apr 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9780970454881

Book preview

Index

Chapter 1

Answered Prayer



Can we pray in such a way that God will always grant our requests? Yes! But the secret to answered prayer isn’t what you might think. It’s not a name-it-and-claim-it kind of faith, nor is it specific words we should repeat. In this book, we will discover from God’s Word, the Bible, God’s secret to answered prayer.

Why is answered prayer a secret? It is, at first, concealed because it is to the glory of God to conceal a matter. However, it is to our glory to search His Word and learn what He has concealed. In this life we must search for God’s truth, including how to pray.¹

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings. (Prov. 25:2)²

Should it be our goal to have all of our prayers answered? Yes. In fact, that is the biblical standard for answered prayer. Our Lord Jesus promised us that God would give us anything we ask in prayer. Anything!

If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:14 NKJV)

The apostle Paul teaches that we will not only receive all we ask in prayer, but much more than we can even imagine.

[God] is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. (Eph. 3:20)

Many Christians do not even receive simple answers to their prayers, let alone receive something immeasurably more than they could imagine. Yet God’s Word assures us that our prayer aim should be for all our prayers to be answered beyond what we ask or imagine. In this book, we will discover and experience the truth of these remarkable Scripture promises.

Therefore, since God’s Word has stated it, let us agree that the truth regarding prayer is anything we ask in prayer, answered beyond our imagination.

Unimaginable Answers

We will start our search by looking at two biblical accounts that contain God’s secret to answered prayer beyond imagination. In this first instance, we glimpse God the Father as He considers one of the most important prayers ever prayed. All God’s people, including you and me, have prayed this prayer, which He answers beyond our imagination.

Prayer in Heaven’s Throne Room

In Revelation 8, the apostle John records a vision, shown to him by God, of a future event that takes place in God’s throne room in heaven. The Father is seated on His throne, and seated at His right hand is the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is holding a sealed scroll written by the Father, and He has just opened the seventh and final seal.³ Immediately afterward, all of heaven is silent for about half an hour.

In heaven’s throne room, directly in front of the Father and the Son, stands a small golden altar.i This is God’s prayer altar.ii This altar looks like a gold box about three feet high and has a flat surface rimmed by a molding that looks like a crown. It is used as a place to burn fragrant incense. John watches as incense is put into a golden censer along with some fire-coals and placed on this golden altar. The fire-coals burn the incense, and the fragrant smoke rises before God. The fire-coals used in this censer are taken from God’s other altar, the altar of sacrifice.iii

In John’s vision, God the Father is about to consider a prayer and determine His answer. John sees an angel approach the golden altar and burn a great deal of incense. The fragrant smoke of the prayer incense rises before God.

While the incense is burning, the angel brings God a prayer that has been prayed by all God’s saints. The angel offers this prayer to God on the golden prayer altar along with the incense. The saints’ prayer, accompanied by this fragrant smoke, ascends before God.

The angel returns to the altar of sacrifice and fills the censer for a second time, only this time it is filled only with fire. The angel then throws the entire censer at the earth. This action begins the seven trumpets of God’s judgment, God’s answer to the prayer.

When He [Lord Jesus] opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. And he was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. (Rev. 8:1–6 NKJV)

These seven trumpets of God’s judgment clearly represent an answered prayer. In fact, using the prayer censer in such a dramatic way to begin the trumpets indicates there is an exact correlation of this prayer and God’s response.⁴

What is this unique prayer which Revelation 8 states was prayed by all God’s saints?

For the last two thousand years, all of God’s saints, including us, have been praying the prayer Jesus taught us to pray, commonly called the Lord’s Prayer.⁵

So He [Jesus] said to them, When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. (Luke 11:2–4 NKJV)

This prayer includes a very important promise: Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10 NASB). We have all been waiting for God to fulfill this promise in His time.⁶

In John’s vision, God’s time to grant His full answer to the Lord’s Prayer has arrived in an unimaginable way. At the conclusion of the sounding of the seven trumpets of God’s judgment, this prayer is fully answered. The kingdom of God has come and taken over the kingdom of this world and now only God’s will is done on earth, as it is in heaven. The following verse is shouted in heaven:

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever. (Rev. 11:15)

Notice again what Jesus taught us to pray to the Father:

Pray, then, in this way: Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Matt. 6:9–10 NASB)

The next verse finishes what is shouted in heaven after the seventh trumpet is sounded. It also reveals God’s will for the earth when His kingdom comes.

And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bondservants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth. (Rev. 11:18 NASB)

In other words, on that day we will be able to join with all the saints and shout something like, Our Father, who is in heaven, we feared Your name while on earth. Your time for wrath came, Your time to destroy came, Your time to judge came, and Your time to reward came. Your will is now done on the earth as it is in heaven. Your kingdom came!

This is the written biblical record of the answer to one of your prayers. This answer will take place in the future at a time known only by God.

As we well know, the Bible records that Jesus taught us to pray using this prayer. However, many of us do not realize that God the Father’s answer to the Lord’s Prayer is also recorded in the Bible. When we read what happens after each of the seven trumpets is heard, we realize that God will answer our prayer far beyond what we could ever imagine.⁷

This scene reveals the way God will receive, consider, and answer one of the most important prayers ever prayed by all His saints. It also reveals the way God receives, considers, and answers all prayers. Within this unique scene of God in His throne room observing the fragrant incense from His golden prayer altar is God’s secret to answered prayer.⁸ However, this truth is not easy to uncover.

Is John’s vision, which describes God’s dramatic answer to the Lord’s Prayer, just one isolated event? Does God actually receive the prayers of His people on His golden prayer altar in heaven along with the fragrant smoke of incense? King David, a man who often had his prayers answered, asked God to receive his prayers exactly that way.

May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. (Ps. 141:2)

Paul explains that while we are praying, we should consider that we are bringing our requests before God in His heavenly throne room.⁹ Remember that God’s incense prayer altar stands right before His throne.

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. (Heb. 4:16)

In addition, Paul teaches that Moses was also shown a vision of heaven’s throne room. Moses was instructed by God to build a copy of heaven’s throne room (or sanctuary) on earth. God gave Moses the pattern to follow while He met with him on Mount Sinai.iv

They [Hebrew priests] serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. (Heb. 8:5)

Because God required Moses to make an accurate copy of His throne room, He gave Moses instructions to make a copy of this unique golden prayer altar of incense.

Moses’s earthly copy of God’s heavenly throne room was called the Tent of Meeting. It was made in two parts: an outer room called the Holy Place, and an inner room called the Holy of Holies.v These two rooms, or inner sanctuary, were re-created in the temple built by King Solomon. Solomon also re-created the golden incense altar of prayer.

Zechariah’s Prayer

Let us look at another example containing God’s secret to answered prayer. This New Testament prayer was also answered beyond imagination while fragrant incense burned on the golden prayer altar. This time, however, the prayer is offered and answered at the earthly copy of the golden altar of incense.

A man named Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, had been praying a long time for a child. Zechariah was a Hebrew priest whose turn it was to burn the fragrant prayer incense at the time of prayer in the temple sanctuary.

Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. (Luke 1:8–10)

Once again, God considered and answered prayer while fragrant incense burned on the golden prayer altar. An angel appeared beside the golden altar and told Zechariah that his prayer had been received, considered, and answered. Zechariah and Elizabeth would have a son and should give him the name John.¹⁰ We know this person as John the Baptist.

When He answered their prayer, God gave Zechariah and Elizabeth a child who became one of the greatest men who ever lived: John the Baptist, God’s herald for Jesus Christ. Zechariah and Elizabeth’s answer was far beyond what they could ever have imagined. Their answered prayer blessed the entire kingdom of God.

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, (Luke 1:11–14)

The Eight Prayer Laws of Israel

In addition to instructing Moses to build an earthly prayer altar, God instructed Moses that He would grant His people the privilege to draw near to Him when they prayed. It is important for us to understand that God must be near His people in order for them to receive answers to their prayers.vi

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: (Isa. 55:6 KJV)

God granted His people the privilege to be near Him through eight prayer laws. These prayer laws gave God’s people eight different rights, which provided them unique access to Him during prayer. These eight prayer laws also contained eight prayer rules, which must be followed or God’s people would forfeit their privilege to be near Him.

What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? (Deut. 4:7–8)

The eight prayer laws were given under the old covenant God had made with Israel. These laws described the people’s rights in prayer, including the right to burn fragrant incense on the earthly copy of the golden prayer altar. God was very precise in the details concerning prayer He gave to Moses, which included how to make the prayer incense. God also described how the fragrant incense should be burned in order for the prayers of His people to be heard and answered. Without this fragrant incense burning on the golden prayer altar, God would not answer His people’s prayers.vii

God’s Old Testament righteous people, right up to Jesus’s time, ensured that God would answer their prayers by following these eight prayer laws, which contained their rights and rules for prayer.

New Testament Reality

Clearly, what we have seen so far regarding God’s incense prayer altar is compelling. But surely God does not expect a New Testament Christian to burn actual fragrant incense while praying, does He? No, He does not. We will search the Scriptures and discover God’s New Testament equivalent of this fragrant incense.

God created the Old Testament prayer laws as a symbol of New Testament reality. In other words, the prayer rights and rules given to Moses under the old covenant are symbolic of the rights and rules given to us for prayer under the new covenant.

Moses and the children of Israel were given eight prayer rights permitting them to draw near to God. Each prayer right had a prayer rule associated with it. God’s people had to follow these eight prayer rights and rules if they were to have their prayers answered. Christians have also been given eight prayer rights and rules so we can draw near to God and have our prayers answered. Our New Testament prayer rights and rules reveal the true meaning of the Old Testament prayer laws.

Why does God show us our new way to pray by following the pattern of the old? He does this to help us understand the truth correctly.

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Rom. 15:4 NASB)

We can also see examples in the Old Testament of what happened to people when they followed (or did not follow) their prayer rights and rules.

Now these things happened to them [Old Testament people] as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. (1 Cor. 10:11 NASB)

Therefore, before we can learn our New Testament way to pray, we must first briefly understand the Old Testament way to pray, which included the prayer right to be near to God by burning fragrant incense. From this we will obtain our patterns and our examples. This way we will know with certainty that we understand our New Testament truth.

Summary

God has promised to answer beyond our imagination anything we ask in prayer. We discovered that the Bible records our answer to the Lord’s Prayer and that heaven includes a throne room and a golden prayer altar of incense. On this altar, our prayers and our fragrant incense smoke rise before God. God then considers our prayers to answer them. All prayers are considered and answered in this way.

God asked Moses to copy heaven’s reality on earth as a requirement of the old covenant and gave Moses the eight prayer laws of Israel. These laws contained the prayer rights and rules for God’s people to follow, including the right to burn prayer incense. These Old Testament prayer laws establish a pattern for New Testament Christians to follow. In the New Testament, Christians are given the true meanings of these symbols so that we may follow our new covenant prayer rights and rules correctly. When we understand and follow this biblical truth regarding prayer, God will answer beyond our imagination anything we ask in prayer.

Therefore, to understand our eight new covenant prayer laws, we will first look at God’s eight old covenant laws concerning prayer. We will also answer the question: what is the New Testament equivalent of this fragrant incense? We will follow the sweet smell of this fragrance throughout God’s Word to obtain our answer and discover God’s secret to answered prayer.

Chapter 2

The Eight Prayer Laws of Israel



Answered prayer is a privilege. When we pray expecting God to listen and to provide our answer, we need to understand that the answer comes to us as a privilege granted by Him. After all, God is not required to answer prayer just because we pray. God grants His privilege of answered prayer to His people by means of a covenant He makes with them.viii In fact, each time God answers a prayer, He is remembering His covenant promise.

Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. (Ex. 2:23–25 NKJV)

Just as God gave His old covenant people laws regarding what they could eat or wear, He also gave them laws regarding how to pray. When we hear the word law, many New Testament Christians do not understand that these prayer laws granted powerful rights. These awesome rights allowed God’s people to be near Him, thus providing for answered prayer.

God’s laws are what made God’s people different from all others. Israel’s eight prayer rights gave the people the way to approach God with their requests. Along with each prayer right, the Lord provided a prayer rule to follow. Together, the right and the rule were called a prayer law.

God provided these prayer laws to His people as a privilege, not a burden. He expected His people to follow them; however, God knew His people were not perfect and would not obey His laws precisely. Therefore, it was most important to God that the people follow these prayer laws with their whole heart. When God’s people followed His prayer laws with their whole heart they were focusing on their relationship with God, which was the purpose of these laws. Hence, when God’s people followed His prayer laws out of love and respect for God, He would answer their prayers.

The eight old covenant prayer laws can be summarized as follows:

1. Name

2. Place

3. Praise

4. Light

5. Time

6. Requests

7. Fragrant incense

8. Hindrances

The Hebrew priests exercised the prayer rights on behalf of the people by carrying out the following eight tasks: Twice a day, a priest would stand in front of the golden prayer altar and burn fragrant incense. At those times, the lampstand would be lit, and the priest would pray by praising and making requests to God on behalf of God’s people, using God’s Name. In addition, the priests were responsible to protect these prayer laws from being broken. While only the priests exercised these eight prayer rights, all of God’s people were expected to fulfill their continual responsibility provided by the rule associated with each prayer law.

God at times answered His people’s prayers regardless of these prayer laws because He is sovereign. That is why on some occasions, God answered prayers even when His people did not obey these laws. However, His people needed these prayer laws to know what God expected; otherwise they would have created their own prayer rights and rules.

We will briefly look at each of God’s eight old covenant prayer laws given to His people. Each prayer law brought the people spiritually near to God.¹¹ Later, we will see the true meaning of these eight prayer rights and rules for Christians, revealed in the New Testament and explained to us by Jesus and the apostles.

The Name for Prayer

In the first Old Testament prayer law, the people of God were given the prayer right to pray in God’s name. This was the authority they were to rely on when praying to God. When the priests prayed before the golden prayer altar and offered fragrant incense to the Lord, they were to invoke this right before God would answer their prayers.

So they [Hebrew priests] shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them. (Num. 6:27 NASB)

God’s covenant with the children of Israel included the right to be called by God’s name, which means that they had the privilege and benefits that go along with His name. That included, in the case of prayer, to be near to God and have their prayers answered. God is called by many great names in the Bible. His people would have all the benefits that every name of God bestowed.¹² ix

However, it is important to understand that this old covenant prayer right was based on God’s covenant with Israel. If they obeyed this covenant, God’s name granted unimagined blessings. Why such blessings? God would show the awesome honor associated with His name by blessing the people who carried it, for all to see. The people were kept holy by obeying their covenant with God, which honored God’s holy name.

Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you. The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. (Deut. 28:10–12)

If the people disobeyed their covenant, God would give them unimagined difficulties because they had disgraced His name by their covenantbreaking behavior. Therefore, God would have to restore the honor of His name by chastising His people for all to see.

If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name— the Lord your God—the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. (Deut. 28:58–69)

Under this prayer law God granted the prayer right of giving His awesome name to His people. This right allowed the people to be near God because they carried His name. The priest’s task was to use God’s name during prayer times. Finally, all God’s people, including the priests, were required to obey the prayer rule to treat His name, the name they had been given, with great honor and respect by obeying His covenant.

The Place for Prayer

In the second Old Testament prayer law, God gave His people the right to pray in a certain place where they could come near to Him. As we noticed earlier, God required Moses to build an incense prayer altar in the Tent of Meeting.x The golden altar of incense had a rectangular shape; its length and width were about one and one half feet, and its height was about three feet. The incense prayer altar also had four horns at each of its corners.¹³ Especially important is that this altar was placed near to the mercy seat throne, which had a curtain in front of it. The mercy seat throne had two parts: a golden box called the ark