Prayer
God Does Answer Prayer
Psalm 86:6
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; And attend to the
voice of my supplications.
NKJV
This is often the hardest part
of our prayer life. As has been seen, the basis of prayer is our faith
in God. This faith translates into the fact that He will listen to our
prayers and will act upon them. This provides us with great comfort and
boldness.
1 John 5:13-15 13 These things I have written to
you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that
you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence which we have before
Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And
if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the
requests which we have asked from Him. NASB
When we go to God with this confidence, we know that He will answer our prayers in His Will. This provides us with the underlying principle of prayer, namely, that the answers to all of our prayers must be in accordance with God's Will.
God's answers are always there -- Yes, No, or Wait. We need to develop patience and trust God as we seek the answers to our prayers. He is sovereign. He is in control. He knows what is best. We just need to remember this all the time.
At the same time, we may find in the Scriptures some general conditions for answered prayer are
- that we have an abiding faith
in Christ
John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. NASB - that we remain obedient
to this abiding faith
1 John 3:22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. NASB - When we then abide
with Christ, God will answer any and all prayers offered in the
name of Jesus, for these
prayers will be for His sake and for His glory
John 14:14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. NASB - It is for God's glory that
we are to act at all times.
1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. NASB
Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men NASB
If then we pray in God's will, based upon the wisdom we have received, and then act upon the power of this wisdom, our prayers will be answered -- 100% of the time. And we will know and understand the answers provided by God are the only answers possible.
