Changing The Mind of God Through Praise

In the book of Malachi, the Lord has said that I am the LORD,  I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. [Mal.3:6] In this book, God was telling Israel that because he had covenanted with their father Jacob he would not break that covenant because of the children’s discordant and sinful behavior.

Indeed, God is a keeper of his word; he looks over it to perform it. The prophet Daniel said that God is mighty and dreadful and HE keeps his covenant and his mercy to those who keep his word and who love him. [Dan. 9:4]

And in the New Testament, the Hebrews writer tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If Jesus said that he would do a thing, his word stands because it is impossible for him to lie--his very words have the power to accomplish whatever they say; he need do nothing more than speak, and it’s accomplished! Jesus is God! [Isa. 55:11; John 1:1-3; Heb. 6:18]

So God will keep his word, as He has spoken it. But does the assurance of God to keep his word mean that, in his own sovereignty, God will not change his behavior? I do not think that the word of God supports such a notion. Indeed, those who claim that God never changes his behavior are looking at the things of God simplistically--God chides those who want simplistic solutions. For God is too complex to be rendered understandable by simple solutions and analyses. [Prov. 1:22]

Please never forget that God is sovereign and exercises his sovereign right to do as he wills, even though He has shown us that truth in the things He has made and the words He has spoken.  But we, as sons of God, we can function even as children function with their parents in persuading them to do certain things contrary to what they say they will do. Remember Paul’s words to the Roman Church: “The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made [visible].” [Rom. 1:20-21] That is a right of our sonship and position in God. And this reality is thoroughly documented in scripture; this is the ability to make God change his mind. 

As far back as under the rule of Moses, God showed a certain flexibility that is for our learning and edification. [Rom. 15:4] The daughters of Zelophehad, who were his only offspring, were about to be disinherited because they had no brothers, according to the law of Moses given by God. They went to Moses and the congregation, protesting the unfairness of that law; Moses took their case to God and God told Moses that they were right, and that the inheritance will pass down to them. [Num. 27:1-8] These daughters, who served God and boldly demanded justice, made a change in the Law for themselves and all of daughters similarly situated. These women were foreshadowing the ability of children of God in this New Testament/covenant. Remember Jesus said that the scripture of old testified of him (whether him in the flesh, him as the church, etc.). [John 5:39] The scriptures say that we, New Testament saints can come boldly to the throne of grace and obtain mercy. [Heb. 4:16] Indeed, as far back in the Old Testament, as Isaiah 45:11, God was saying that we have the power to command him as children command their parents, in a sense. 

We are all too familiar with Israel’s choice of a king. That was not the desire of God, but they insisted that they wanted a king, and God acquiesced to that desire. Their desire was flawed; they chose King Saul for his looks, but God made the best of their rejection of him for a king: He got a king in David who would do all his heart, and it was through the line of David that Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah, came to bring mankind back to God. [1 Sam. 8] 

Finally, look at the situation with Jonah. He was commanded to go to Nineveh and prophesy that God would destroy them because of their sins. At the preaching of that prophecy, the people of Nineveh repented and called mightily upon God to change his mind, as uttered by Jonah. And God did change his mind, to Jonah’s chagrin. The book of Jonah gives us no indication that he preached that God would destroy Nineveh if they did not turn and call upon God. Yet they cried out to God, asking him to change, and God heard them, and turned from his action. [Jonah 3 & 4]

It could have been that the people of Nineveh knew of Abraham’s negotiations with God, when God told him that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. [Gen.18] If could have been that the people of Nineveh knew of a child’s behavior toward his/her parents in courting those parents into changing their minds, and they reckoned that God is the father of all flesh and He, too, can be courted into changing his mind. They were bold and took drastic actions to make God change his mind. And they were successful.

God can change his mind, and He will do so if we court him right, if we praise him right, if we pray to him right, if we make the right overtures to him, if we humble ourselves and seek his face and turn from our wicked ways, he will hear from heaven.  That is the one of the messages of the prodigal son. [2 Chron. 7:14; Luke 15] 

David has given us a method that is sure: Heartfelt praises of God. For God indwells the praise of his people. When Paul and Silas were in prison, they simply sang praises to God, and God came mightily to their defense. We fail too often to see the power of praise to move God. 

My young son was placed in a war not of his choosing—Iraq. And we, along with other saints of God, prayed mightily to God, decreeing that he would come back to these shores safe and sound as he left us. Yet his tasks were one of the most dangerous in Iraq. A task that took many US soldiers’ lives—roadside bombs; he was a marine who drove unprotected along those roads of death. And Satan attempted to take this son’s life, in defiance of our prayers and decrees. But God is too faithful to his word to allow that to happen. My son was blown out of a truck by a car bomber, but as he was blown out, he cried unto God, calling on the name of Jesus and praising God with the highest praise we give unto God. And my God delivered him. He testified that he felt the very power and presence of the living God lift him and move him out of harm’s way. Sadly, all others in that truck were killed, but he witnessed the power of the living God in this miracle. He had mere arm burn and a minor facial scare. 

I stood openly in the congregation and testified that I had decreed that my son would come back to me safely and that God would not break my heart by allowing my son to be killed. And this God, whom I preach, write, and teach about is too faithful to do something other than what we have decreed and bound. We went boldly to the throne of grace and controlled all the variables and chances at work in this world that is off its foundation, even as Joshua controlled the sun, we controlled those variables by the word of God that affected my son. [Job 22:28; Psa. 82:5; Mat. 16:19; Heb. 4:16] We are sons of God with godly powers that can be used, for it’s God’s good pleasure to give us these things. 

We are sons of God that have the ability to bind things and situations on this earth and have God, our father, honor those things that we speak by faith; we have the power to change the mind of our father. But only a saint in light knows this and uses his power.

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