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“Whatever is good and perfect gift comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” Jam. 1:17 NLT
God never changes; He is the same through all the ages. God emphatically said in His Word, “For I am the LORD, I do not change.” (Mal. 3:6 NKJV).
James testifies, “Whatever is good and perfect gift comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” (Jam. 1:17 NLT).
However, God’s ways of dealing with humankind have never been the same. There are different dispensations in the Bible, and God’s dealings with humanity in each dispensation significantly differ.
A dispensation is simply a period in which God peculiarly deals with humanity. The revelation, manifestation, operation, or providence of God available to men differs in every dispensation.
Jesus often said in His teaching, “You have heard that it was said to those of old… But I say to you…” (Matt. 5:33-34 NKJV).
We shall miss God’s best for our lives and generations if we fail to embrace God’s new revelations and dealings with us.
Dispensation of the law started from giving the law on Mount Sinai to the children of Israel through Moses until the ministry of John the Baptist. How God dealt with people under the law’s dispensation differs from how He now deals with people under the dispensation of grace.
The New Testament started with Christ’s death and resurrection. From that time, God began to deal with humanity in a new way, according to faith in the finished work of Christ and not according to our works (Hebrew. 9:15-17).
The born-again believers live under a new and better Covenant than all the saints or prophets of God under the Old Covenant.
John the Baptist was the last and greatest of all the prophets under the Old Covenant. But according to the Lord Jesus, the least among the New Testament believers is greater than John (Matt. 11:11).
Unfortunately, some believers today still seek and strive to conform to the prayer mindsets, styles, or patterns of the saints and prophets who lived under the Old Covenant (Hebrew. 8:7-13).
There is a paradigm shift in prayer under the New Covenant. The sacrificial death of Jesus Christ has brought vast and irreconcilable differences between the Old and the New Testament’s prayers and modes of praying. Therefore, it is unwise and unprofitable to despise or ignore these striking differences in your prayers or how you pray.
Let us consider some of these remarkable differences.
First, under the New Covenant, everybody now has direct and equal access to God’s presence:
Under the dispensation of the Old Testament law, not all men had the privilege to approach the mercy seat in the holiest of holies in God’s temple. Only the high priest could enter the holiest of holies and stand before God’s presence once a year to make atonement for the people’s sins with great fear and trembling (Exo 30:10, Heb. 9:7).
As soon as the Lord Jesus yielded His spirit on the cross, the temple’s veil, which separated the holy place from the holiest of holies, was torn from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). The rendering of the veil signified that the way to God’s presence, the throne of grace, is now opened to all (Heb. 10:18-22).
Therefore, approaching God’s presence is no longer the privilege of a few people or restricted to a limited time a year. All men now have direct, equal, and unlimited access to God’s presence through Christ (Heb. 4:16).
Jesus Christ has granted every man direct and unrestricted access to God by offering Himself as atonement for our sins. We can now approach God confidently and boldly, just as a child will approach his loving father to ask for whatever he wants.
Second, prayer is no longer a burdensome or rigorous religious ritual or sacrifice:
Under the dispensation of the law, worshipping or praying to God entailed elaborate, burdensome, or rigorous rituals and sacrifices. The Old Testament’s prayer was a physical exercise involving offering animals to God to plead for forgiveness, thanksgiving, or seek His blessings (Isa. 1:11-12, Jer. 6:20, Amos 5:21-22).
But under grace, prayer is a fellowship with God, a heart communion with God. Therefore, believers can pray at any time and anywhere. The Old Testament saints mostly prayed at specific hours in the Temple or set their faces towards it while praying.
However, New Testament believers don’t need to wait until they get to any sacred place or worship center to pray. Neither do they need to pray with their faces set in any specific direction.
Beloved, as a born-again believer, you are now under a new and better Covenant than the saints under the Old Testament law. You currently have direct and unrestricted access to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help you in times of need.
You don’t have to wait until a specific time, get to a particularly holy place, or assume a particular posture or position before you can fellowship with God in prayer.
What a tremendous shift in prayer!
Discover more striking differences between the Old Testament and New Testament prayer in the second part of this piece.
Prayer:
I am a New Covenant believer, so I refuse to continue praying with the Old Covenant mindset in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Our mandates is to Preserving the faith of the Apostolic Generation.
Eniyekpemi Fidelis Oyinpreyebi.
AWH, Blogs.
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