“...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16 KJV

What is the relationship between prayer and God’s sovereignty? If you’re praying for a person’s salvation, and if God has already elected or predestined who to be saved, then why do we pray?

This is a great question and we know that God is in fact sovereign based on scripture in the Bible.

We have many illustrations in the Bible where someone is praying and God withholds judgement or people praying and God bringing rain in answer to their prayers. For Christians we know that "...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."-James 5:16 KJV

God hears and answers prayer. In fact, we are told to pray without ceasing. 

"Pray without ceasing" - 1st Thessalonians 5:17 KJV

We know that God hears our prayers. 

God is sovereign, but He works through means. God saves sovereignly but not apart from faith.

God sanctifies sovereignty, but not apart from obedience. God acts sovereignly, but not apart from prayer. So God has ordained means by which His sovereignty operates.

If you don’t believe, you will not be saved. If you don’t obey, you will not be sanctified. If you don’t pray, you won’t see the hand of God.

God ties His sovereign operation to the means, and prayer is the means He has chosen.

So, even if I don't pray God may do the same thing.

This is true. If you don’t pray, He may do the same thing, but you won’t receive the benefit of it because you haven’t been involved.

If the Lord has determined to save someone, with their name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world, He will save that person.

If you pray, you become the means by which God saves that person. If you don’t, the prayers of someone else become the means that He uses, and you miss out.

Look at it this way: if you pray and pray and pray for the salvation of someone, and they are saved, you receive the blessing, right?

Yours is the joy, beyond someone who wasn’t involved.

If someone is converted to Christ and you haven’t prayed for them, you’re thankful, but not at the level you would be if you had been constantly interceding for that person.

The Lord said that when we pray according to His will, He hears us and He acts.

So it’s always according to His will. It’s always within the framework of His sovereign will. 

Praying is really taking seriously the privilege of being a means by which God does His sovereign work.

What we want to do in prayer is to line up with the purposes of God and pray according to His perfect will.

The Lord gave a promise, He said that, "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." - John 14:13 ESV

What does it mean “in My name”?  It means consistent with His will. 

So we acknowledge God’s sovereignty. We also rejoice with the privilege of being engaged in the means.

And by the way, a benefit of the application of that means is the sheer joy and privilege of communion with God.

“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." John 14:13 ESV

WHO ARE YOU PRAYING FOR TO BE SAVED?

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