Prayer and the Sovereignty of God

This a difficult one to tackle and understand.

I am in the midst of reading a book by Charles Spurgeon: The Power of Prayer in a Believer's Life. He presents the struggle in this way.

"Lest you be downcast by the thought of His sovereignty, I invite you to the text. It is a throne, and there is unquestionable sovereignty. But to every soul that knows how to pray, to every soul that comes to faith comes by Jesus, the true mercy seat, divine sovereignty wears no dark and terrible aspect but is full of love. If it is a throne of grace, I gather that the sovereignty of God to a believer is always exercised in pure grace. To you who come to God in prayer, the sovereignty always runs thus: 'I will have mercy on that sinner, thought he does not deserve it. Because I can do as I will with My own, I will bless him, I will make him My child, I will accept him. He shall be Mine in the day when I make up My jewels.' On the mercy seat, God never executed sovereignty other than in a away of grace. He reigns, but in this way: 'Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life.' (Rom. 5:21) On the throne of grace, sovereignty has placed itself under the bonds of love. God will do as HE wills, but on the mercy seat, He is under bods of His own making, for He has entered into covenant with Christ, and so into covenant with His children. Though God is and ever must be a sovereign, He never will break His covenant nor alter the word that has gone out of His mouth. He cannot be false to a covenant of His own making. When I come to God in Christ, to God on the mercy seat, I need not imagine that by any act of sovereignty God will set aside His covenant. That is impossible.

And sweetest thought of all, every covenant promise has been endorsed and sealed with blood , and far be it from the everlasting God to pour scorn upon the blood of His dear Son. The covenant is ratified with blood, the blood of His own dear Son. It is not possible that we can plead in vain with God when we plead the blood-sealed-covenant, ordered in all things and sure. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the power of the blood of Jesus with God can never fail. It speaks when we are silent and it prevails when we are defeated. Better things than that of Abel does it ask for (Heb. 12:24), and its cry is heard. Let us come boldly, for we bear the promise in our hearts.

AMEN!

I pray that this encourages you. I strongly recommend this book to anyone desiring to better their prayer life; the whys and hows.

Praise Jesus for our compassionate Creator!