Don't Pray?

Is there a time God tells us not to pray?

There are at least a couple times in the Bible where people's prayers actually displeased God because they were supposed to command a situation instead of ask for help.

When God gives a command, we need to go forward in faith. Jesus told the disciples to go to the other side of the lake. They received almost as stiff a rebuke from the Lord as did the wind and waves when they told Jesus the storm was going to kill them. After stilling the wind and the sea with His words, He said to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" (Mark 4:40). He was incredulous.

A similar story in the Old Testament is in Exodus 14 when Moses had received the charge to deliver God's people out of Egypt. With Pharoah and the mighty Egyptian army in hot pursuit, and the mountains on either side of them, Moses and the Israelites faced the seemingly impassable Red Sea before them. Who wouldn't have cried out to God in desperation in a time like that?

But God said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward." Then He added, "You lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it." The implication is that Moses would divide the sea as God's representative.

God wanted decisive action in both cases, based on His prior instructions. When God tells us to do something, we then have delegated authority to speak to whatever is our obstacle and command it to change or get out of the way.

We are emissaries of the Most High God. If a king issues a decree and his emissaries are sent to carry it out, they don't come back with their tail between their legs at the first sign of resistance. They have the power of the king backing them to enforce the edict.

So, too, we have the backing of all of heaven to enforce our Father's commands.