Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Prayer assumes the sovereignty of God. If God is not sovereign, we have no assurance that He is able to answer our prayers. Our prayers would become nothing more than wishes. But while God’s sovereignty, along with His wisdom and love, is the foundation of our trust in Him, prayer is the expression of trust. ~ Jerry Bridges

Why write about unbiblical prayers? If God has said that we are to test all things Biblically then how important is it that our prayers be Biblical? If prayer is how we speak to God and His Word is how He speaks to us, then how important is it that our prayers be Biblical? How important is it then that they are based on what God has revealed about Himself and how He has taught us to pray in a way that pleases Him?

Much is said about unbiblical teaching and preaching and unbiblical practices, and with countless books and teachings on prayer, many of those being unbiblical teachings, I believe this to be a worthy subject to write concerning the dangers of this mass market producing untold numbers of teachings that are not coming out of a correct handling of God’s Word.

Many are writing about prayer but much of what is written and sitting on “Christian” bookstores shelves and being shared by “Christian” influencers appeals to audiences offering promised ends by unbiblical means of prayer. While many who pray some of these unbiblical prayers (as I believe most of us have) do have Scripture in mind, they have not considered that those verses are not calling for those prayers. Many such prayers (e.g. Pleading the Blood of Jesus, Praying a Hedge of Protection) have grown in popularity over time but have not come from a correct understanding of the text and while not necessarily dangerous, they are unbiblical and may discourage true faith in God. Other prayers are more dangerous (e.g. Contemplative Prayer, Centering, SOZO, Receiving Downloads) as they come out of dangerous and even heretical teachings.

With so many unbiblical prayers, it is important then to look more carefully at our prayers, the theology behind them, where we pick them up and why we pray the way we do.

A growing number of professing Christians have a real desire to make their mark in church history. They strive to do big things for God and have their names written down in history as men and women of unforgettable faith and achievement. It seems everyone and their mother today is encouraged to write a book with no consideration if their theology is sound. That doesn’t matter. If they have a story that has lows and then have some claim to a powerful experience in prayer, all the better. Don’t test it; sell it! There is a mass number of people teaching you about their experience in prayer and then prescribing for you how you should pray based on what they feel like God revealed to them.

This market is much like that of Church-Growth Guru’s teaching you how to grow your church. We don’t need Church-Growth Guru’s and we don’t need someone selling us on their subjective experience teaching us how to pray to get the results we desire. The problem here begins with the desire. The desire is not for what pleases God but for how we can get the outcome we want and that others promise we can have if we do it their way. These lead us away from God’s Word and His means. They lead us away from real faith in God and leaving the results to Him. Real faith does not demand or seek to manipulate the outcome we desire. Real faith trusts God and asks, trusting Him that He will do what is right and good.

Prayer is the means by which God’s infinite wisdom, infinite power, and perfect purpose are brought together to accomplish His will. You can’t be saved without believing. You can’t be sanctified without obeying. And you can’t enjoy the goodness of God in this life without participating in His unfolding purpose through your prayers and through your service to Him. ~ John MacArthur

How are we learning to pray? Many unbiblical prayers are fueled first by bad theology. The teaching we sit under informs what we believe about God and how we pray will be directly affected by the teaching. So, before we can begin with if our prayers are pleasing to God, we need to consider if the teaching we sit under is sound.

It has been said that “High theology produces high doxology”. That is true. However, every area of our lives will be directly affected by the kind of teaching we sit under. We need to consider if we are sitting under doctrinally sound teaching whereby God’s Word is faithfully opened and exposited each week. Are we hearing teaching that is man-centered which will lead to man-centered prayers? Are we sitting under teaching where the pastor claims to always be getting his sermons straight from God through his prayer time? Do you see the danger inherent in just the example set forth? The pastor has made plain that he does not get his messages from a disciplined time of studying God’s Word and prayer to understand and correctly handle God’s Word but from outside of God’s Word. This example is powerful and can be dangerous. If he does not need to set forth the example of the sufficiency of Scripture to preach his message then prayer now becomes the means whereby we get new revelation from God. The example of the pastor in the pulpit is a powerful example.

Sound teaching is not bringing new revelation or appealing to human desire but faithfully setting forth the Word of God, whereby the Holy Spirit works in regeneration for those who are not saved and in the sanctification of those who are born again. Sound teaching presents the truth of who God is and what His Word says. It sets forth the truth of who God is leading to prayers that have confidence in the character of God and whereby the Holy Spirit works in the believer giving the desire for what pleases God.

Man-centered teaching and any teaching that strays from sound doctrine, presents a message that appeals to man and his desires and prayer becomes a means of getting God to do what we desire.

Prayer that pleases God is the result of doctrinally sound teaching whereby the Holy Spirit works in our hearts changing our desires, our affections, our will according to what pleases God. Prayer that results from unsound teaching or false teaching is far more popular and even the lost will adopt those prayers as they appeal to the sinful desires of man and turn prayer into a formula to have all that one wants or desires (e.g. Name it and Claim it, Decree and Declare, Positive Confession, Hear God Outside of Scripture – Believe it – Claim it and Obey it, Praying God’s Will Be Done Is A Lack of Faith).

How do we end up with many of our unbiblical prayers? False teaching and our own sinful desires which turn God into a genie granting all our desires and turn prayer into a formula by which we may have what we desire.

When we do not have High Theology we can be sure that there will be many errant and even dangerous kinds of prayers.

At this point, I am reminded of what inspires false teachers and often they are inspired by those who warn them and warn of their false teaching. Why here do I think of that? I wrote “dangerous kinds of prayers” and I am reminded of how something like that is fuel to their fire to lead astray by any means necessary, even what is meant for good. False teachers will find inspiration in nearly anything except the Word of God rightly taught. Steven Furtick is a great example of this. When John MacArthur was on a Q&A panel at the 2012 Shepherds’ Conference and was asked to give a one-word assessment of a name given to him, he sighed heavily with what seemed to be grief and said, “Unqualified”. Four years later Furtick published a book: Unqualified. False teachers do not listen for correction but for inspiration to further lead astray as many as possible. Back to our subject.

So then, are we saying that if we have sound teaching that we will not adopt errant practices in our prayers? No. Even in sound churches we can find unbiblical prayers. How? They simply have been ignored or never tested. We are responsible for what we believe about God and how we pray.

Some prayers we don’t think twice about; we pray them because we’ve heard others pray that way and it sounds Biblical so we don’t test it. However, when we discover that a way in which we have long prayed is not Biblical do we become defensive or are we willing to test it Biblically? The problem is not always with the practice itself but with our willingness to conform more to what pleases God even when that means that maybe our precious grandma who set forth that example in prayer may have been a little off on that one.

We don’t need to protect grandma’s character or defend her salvation by holding on to unbiblical prayers. Far too many will hold on to unbiblical teachings, practices and prayers because “grandma believed it (practiced it, prayed that way)”. None of us have it completely right. Grandma missed it too and so will you and so will I. Maybe the example we need to set forth is that while grandma prayed that way and she erred, it does not necessarily mean that grandma wasn’t saved and what we all need to be doing is reforming our beliefs, our practices, our prayers according to the Word of God. This allows those learning from us to see that Scripture – not grandma – is the standard.

So then what are some of these unbiblical prayers? We will only look briefly at them and then consider a few of them, their claims, their dangers and how we should be careful to consider what the theology is behind our prayers and what our own motives are in why we pray the way we do.

What this is not, is a claim that if you have prayed in any of these ways that therefore means you are not a Christian.

This is not written so as to discourage prayer but rather to point to Scripture such as encourages prayer that truly honors God.

What this is for is to encourage us to think Biblically in how we pray and to consider carefully who is teaching us about prayer.

This writing is not for the purpose of going to great lengths to address every unbiblical prayer or even every prayer listed below. It is to encourage us to think Biblically, pray Biblically and to set forth the example for others to test all things according to God’s Word.

“Practices such as binding Satan, praying a ‘hedge of thorns,’ renouncing generational curses, naming and praying against territorial spirits, exorcising demons from Christians, pagans, or inanimate objects, rebuking the devil, and pleading the blood of Jesus have become virtually woven into the fabric of modern notions of spiritual warfare. The legitimacy of these practices is assumed and never questioned. These have become so much a part of the fabric of the prayers and lives of some people and churches, that to question their legitimacy, in some circles, qualifies as a ‘heretic.’” ~ Jim Osman, Truth or Territory: A Biblical Approach to Spiritual Warfare

A “short” list of a growing list of unbiblical prayers.

Pleading the Blood

Hedge of Protection

Decree and Declare

Name It and Claim It

Receiving Downloads

Private Prayer Language or Heavenly Language

Release the Anointing

Binding Satan

Take Authority

Contemplative Prayer

SOZO

Quietism

Centering

Soaking

Listening

Prayer Cards

Prayer Walks

24-Hour Prayer Rooms

The Sinners Prayer

At the end of this page you will find some resources to further look into these unbiblical and even dangerous prayers.

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We will only look at a few of these.

Praying God’s Will Be Done is A Lack of Faith: False Apostle Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding California, in response to a question about his theology on healing, said, “And I can’t pray ‘if it’s Your will’ ‘cause for me that’s a prayer of unbelief”. False Prophet, Kris Vallotton, also from Bethel Church, has taught not to pray for healing but just go heal people. Additionally, he teaches that we are little gods, that God is not in control, and that prayer authorizes God to do His will on earth. Psalm 115:3 and Psalm 135:6 teach us that God does whatever pleases Him in heaven and on earth. God does not need our permission or authorization. He is God and we are not!

They have a different Jesus and another gospel. They deify man and demote God. According to their theology it is a lack of faith to pray God’s will be done. But did not Christ pray (Mtth 26:39, 42) and teach us to pray (Mtth 6:10) that God’s will be done and that we are to pray according to God’s will(1 John 5:14)? Their theology cannot allow for God’s will to be done because then God would be sovereign over sickness, over disaster, over all. Johnson has said that he cannot allow for a theology where God is sovereign over tragedy. God says He is sovereign over the weather, over sickness, over suffering, over all things. If God is not sovereign over all things then what comfort do we have in praying to a god that we have to authorize to do his will or a god that is not in control, or a god that we can’t pray to for our sick loved ones but we must go heal? Who is god in their theology?

Why do so many buy into these false teachings? It says that God promises what they desire and that God has made them little gods so that they may create their own outcomes according to their will. It is the lie of Satan that you can be like God. If we cannot pray God’s will be done and God is not in control, consider how uncertain things really are and how terrifying that would be. Even in what we would call “times of uncertainty” we can have faith and confidence that even as bad as things are that God is sovereign over it and He is working it for good and to conform us to the image of His Son. If God is not in control and we must authorize God to do His will, there is no comfort at all in that, no assurance, and no reason for why anything happens as it does. They worship a god that is completely foreign to the God of the Bible.

Positive Confession: False Prophet, Kris Vallaton, has said, “Your prayers become prophecy and your words become worlds.”

This is the belief that we, like God, can speak things into existence. These doctrines are rooted in a perversion of creation and the fall, thus leading now to the belief that we are little gods. If God can create Ex Nihilo (out of nothing), then according to this heretical teaching we can too. Many understand that the little gods doctrine is heretical and that we cannot create Ex Nihilo, but may not realize that they have been influenced by these teachings via conferences, televangelists, “Christian” books, popular “Christian” music (e.g. Bethel, Hillsong…). One of the most effective means of sneaking in bad or heretical doctrines is via music. We must not only test their lyrics but their theology behind the lyrics.

Why would anyone believe these false doctrines? Positive Confession gives a false sense of control by the power of one’s faith-filled words. Why trust God and His sovereign will when they are taught that they can manifest their own reality by the power of positive confession? These prayers do not have God as the object of them nor trust in His sovereign will. Their faith is in the power of their own words to create their own reality and they may even believe that this pleases God.

These teachings and prayers cannot survive long where sound doctrine exists. These teachings and prayers thrive among the Biblically illiterate and where false teachers have found a home.

In Jesus Name: This phrase, by some, has been turned into a magic set of words that when spoken, whatever preceded those words, is now as good as done. If that is true and all we have to do is say “In Jesus name” then anyone can speak those words and what they desire is as good as done. It isn’t quite that cut and dry though.

The theology behind those words is often focused on how important you are, how anointed you are and because you are so special that God is just waiting to hear those magical words and ready to grant you whatever you desire. Not all speak those words so arrogantly (like Benny Hinn) but may be sitting under lesser obvious forms of false teaching that may not promise big houses and cars, but your more “humble” desires and if you will just pray that magic phrase, it is as good as done. Some, praying for things that are good and honorable, will pray those words as if they are magical and fearing that if they don’t seal the deal with “In Jesus Name” then it won’t happen. What then is their faith in? The magic of saying that phrase or in the object of those words, Christ?

But what does it mean to pray “In Jesus’ name”?

“It turns out in Biblical times, names were incredibly significant. Your reputation, your lineage, and even your spiritual calling would be attached to your name. …. Names and reputation are synonymous. So to do something in someone’s name means to do something in line with who they are and what they’re about, which means to pray in someone’s name is in accordance with who they are and what they’re all about. In other words, when we pray in Jesus’ name, we’re praying for His will to be done, which has nothing to do with getting rich quick and everything to do with His Gospel work, being content with what He provides for us and seeing His will revealed in Scripture and walking in obedience to that.” ~ Costi W. Hinn

With this in mind and with a high view of God, we are far more careful not to treat the name of Jesus like a magic formula that guarantees that we will get whatever we desire. We instead recognize that to pray In His Name is to pray according to His will and that our hearts may be changed so that we desire what pleases Him.

“A healthy theology of the Sovereignty of God is a great comfort to us as believers. God has not lost control. Nothing is taking Him by surprise.” ~ Justin Peters

A theme we find often, especially with the more dangerous ideas concerning prayer is a wrong view of who God is and who we are. If we begin with a high view of God, a right view of God, a Biblical view of God, then many of these prayers make no sense in light of who God is and who we are. Consider praying a hedge of thorns. A couple of passages in Scripture (Hosea 2:6; Job 1:10) are taken out of context to teach that this is how we should pray. But those passages have nothing to do with us praying for protection (in fact, one of those passages is concerning judgment: Hosea 2:6). Consider where our trust is when we pray for a hedge of protection as if we can erect a hedge (that we have to keep erecting) to protect us. There’s no assurance in that. Do we really believe the enemy can’t get past our mystical hedge? Our prayer for protection should be to God and trusting that anything He allows in our lives, even suffering, He uses it for good, His glory and to conform us to the image of His Son.

Here we recognize another error and danger and that is of a misplaced faith. If we examine these ideas concerning prayer, ultimately, God is not the object of our prayers but prayer becomes a formula to get what we desire. True faith is taking our desires and concerns to God, in prayer, asking and believing that He hears us as we ask according to His will and that He will do it.

Prayer is not a guarantee that God will do what we ask, but that God will do what is good and right and pleases Him and perhaps that may mean that His answer will be no but He will align our hearts and our desires to His will. He may not change what we ask Him to; it may be that He changes us.

Faith has an object and if we examine our prayers carefully, we see who or what that object really is. We may pray God’s Word and our prayers may move others to admire our great faith, but if our prayers are manipulative and using God’s Word, using the blood of Jesus to try to manipulate God to give us the outcome we desire, then that is not faith and it is not to be modeled or admired. It is to be corrected.

That which begins not with prayer, seldom winds up with comfort. ~ John Flavel

Thoughts to consider: If it sounds Biblical does that therefore mean it is Biblical? If people claim to be having experiences based on these prayers does that prove they are pleasing to God? If these prayers have been around for a long time does that mean they must be blessed by God? If they grow in popularity does that prove they must be true because that many people couldn’t be wrong? I hope the answers to these questions are obvious and that the importance of testing if what we are learning about prayer is truly pleasing to God or if it’s something new that promises the desire we want or if it’s something old that is assumed to be true because it’s widely accepted.

In prayer, human impotence casts itself at the feet of divine omnipotence. Thus the duty of prayer is not a modification of God’s power, but a glorification of it. ~ Philip Hughes

So what if you have seen the evidence, tested it, and you are convinced that the way you’ve prayed is not Biblical but you don’t want to let it go and you have a peace about praying that way? Should we ignore what Scripture says about who God is and how we should pray if we see that it’s not Biblical but we have a peace about it?

Today, many proponents of bad theology also promote an unbiblical test. They take passages that teach you to test the Spirits to say that it will “bear witness with you” if it is true or good or you’ll have “a peace about it”. Those are not objective tests. They are perfect for deception. We have an objective standard for truth so why would we rely upon what we know is fallible? The bigger problem here is our unwillingness to submit to God’s Word and holding on to what we know to be false.

A prayerless church member is a hindrance. He is in the body like a rotting bone or a decayed tooth. Before long, since he does not contribute to the benefit of his brethren, he will become a danger and a sorrow to them. Neglect of private prayer is the locust which devours the strength of the church. Charles H. Spurgeon

As important as this subject is concerning unbiblical prayers, just as important is the subject of prayer that pleases God. It is no small matter in the Christian life.

It is impossible to be a Christian who neither prays nor reads their Bible, for by one we commune with God and by the other He communes with us. To say I have no need to pray or read my Bible is to demonstrate a heart that has not been changed and of which the evidence of true regeneration is not there. One may wrestle with their lack of discipline in prayer and reading our Bible and be truly regenerate, but the evidence is in that we wrestle because we know that we ought to pray and read our Bible. This does not bother one who is unregenerate; they have no desire for prayer or God’s Word unless they need something from God.

A final thought. While we may hear someone pray a hedge of protection around us this does not mean that we should lift our heads up and rebuke them. We must use wisdom concerning if, when or how we should bring it up. It isn’t always necessary or beneficial.

At the same time, we need to work out our understanding concerning what are actually dangerous prayers and when there may be those who are inviting us to join with them in forms of ecumenical prayers, or community prayers where we may find ourselves praying with those who are leading prayers and have heretical theology.

This leads us to the importance of our need to be members of a local, healthy, doctrinally sound church where we know the beliefs and we know that the prayers are informed by sound doctrine. There are many today who are seeking to unite together in prayer and while that sounds good and may even be good in some cases, we need to be careful that we know the beliefs of those of whom we are coming together in prayer with.

Think Biblically. Pray Biblically.

If any of you should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say it is in that one word – prayer. ~ Charles H. Spurgeon

Grace and Peace

Soli Deo Gloria

April J. Buchanan

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Book Recommendations: The Valley of Vision by Arthur Bennet; Truth or Territory: A Biblical Approach to Spiritual Warfare by Jim Osman; Knowing the Spirit: Who He Is, What He Does, and How He Can Transform Your Christian Life by Costi W. Hinn; Counterfeit Kingdom: The Dangers of New Revelation, New Prophets, and New Age Practices in the Church by Holly Pivec and R. Douglas Geivett

App to download: AGTV (American Gospel TV)

Names of some of these dangerous movements bringing in some of these dangerous prayers: Word-Faith, Prosperity Gospel, NAR

YouTube Channels with content helpful to this subject: Justin Peter’s Ministries, G3 Ministries, Fighting For The Faith, LongforTruth1, All Things Theology, For the Gospel, The Messed Up Church, Famine In The Land, The Lovesick Scribe