Don't Always Count On Prayer
We all have had the idea that when worse comes to worst, we can always turn to God in prayer. The popular opinion nowadays is that we are “all children of God,” and there is a brotherhood of mankind.” The idea, whether it be true or false, is that we all have equal access to God.
The first thing we need to observe is that, according to the Scriptures, we are not all children of God. In talking to the Pharisees, Jesus had this to say:
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.- John 8:44
Christ was telling the religious leaders that they were not children of God, but that they were children of the devil. Thus, Jesus Himself divided everyone on the earth into two giant camps – those who are children of God (who have God as their father) and those who are children of the devil (who have the devil as their father). If you believe Jesus, then you have to believe that we are not all children of God and, therefore, we do not all have the same access to God through prayer.
GOD DOES NOT ANSWER EVERYONE’S PRAYER
The concept that God does not answer everyone’s prayer is found in both the Old and New Testament. The prophet Isaiah said this:
Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. - Isaiah 59:1, 2
This passage tells us that because of our iniquities (sin or disobeying God), God does not hear our prayers.
The same thought is repeated in the Psalms. For example:
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;- Psalm 66:18
In this verse from the Psalms, we see that God does not hear us if we hold wickedness in our heart. That wickedness may be unforgiveness resentment, selfishness, hate, greed, sexual immorality or many other things. If we hold those things in our hearts, it says here clearly that God will not hear our prayers.
After King Saul began to pursue evil rather than God, the Bible tells us that he called on God, the God did not answer him:
So Saul asked God, "Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into Israel's hand?" But God did not answer him that day.- 1 Samuel 14:37
He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.- 1 Samuel 28:6
King Solomon is widely recognized as being the second wisest man ever to live (Jesus, the wisest). In Proverbs, Solomon tells us that the prayer (sacrifice) of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord:
The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.- Proverbs 15:8
The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.- Proverbs 15:29
We also learn that if an individual is upright, God delights in hearing his prayers. Psalm 34 puts it this way:
The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry;- Psalm 34:15
Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord had this message for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah concerning prayer:
Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!…. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood;- Isaiah 1:10, 15
The New Testament also clearly addresses this subject of whether or not God hears all prayers. It gives two significant criteria for God hearing our prayers:
We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. - John 9:31
We see here that a person must be first, God-fearing and second, doing God’s will, and then God will hear him. Unfortunately, there are many people, even Christians, who are not doing God’s will, yet they wonder why God does not answer their prayers. Jesus has told us why.
Now let us proceed to see what the Bible has to say about how we
do get our prayers answered.
How To Have Your Prayers Answered
There is no 100% proof way of having our prayers answered. After God is our Lord not our servant. But here are some simply rules that should be followed....
Pray in Jesus’ Name
Praying Jesus’ name means more than just tacking His name on the end of your prayer. It means coming to God with a heart attitude of submission, recognizing that you could not come to God at all except through the sacrifices o Jesus Christ on the cross. Also, if you have not received Him as your Savior, you do not have His name. Thus, the following is for those who have Jesus Christ as their personal Savior:
In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. - John 16:23, 24
We Must Pray Believing
Over and over again, faith is stated as a requirement for answered prayer:
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." - Matthew 21:21, 22
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. - Mark 11:24
Faith is not generated by positive confession or repeating over and over again that your prayer has already been answered. Without a doubt, positive thinking has power, but it is nothing to do with faith and believing. Scriptures tell us where faith comes from:
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. - Romans 10:17 KJV
This says that faith comes by hearing “the word of God.” However, if you take the time to check the Greek New testament, this does not say that faith comes by hearing the
“logos” of God – that is, faith does not come by hearing the Scriptures. The Greek word used there is “
rhema”. Correctly translated, faith comes by hearing the “
rhema” of God.
The rhema of God is when the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart. The Holy Spirit can take a verse of Scripture and make it a rhema of God to you. However, you cannot randomly take a Scripture an start trying to make it the rhema of God for you, trying to have faith that God means that Scripture for you at that time.Once the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart concerning something, you can know that it will happen.
We Must Pray in God’s Will
In order for our prayers to be answered, we have to pray in God’s will. It may not be His will for us to be wealthy, for example. Jesus certainly was not wealthy, nor were His disciples. It may not always be God’s will for someone to be healed. This could be this case with Joni Eareckson Tada, a beautiful Christian woman who is a quadriplegic. She has had a wonderful ministry and has touched so very many lives for Christ in her glowing witness, since the accident that left her crippled. (Her spirit is not crippled!) Certainly Paul was not healed of his physical infirmity. We should all want whatever will bring
God the most glory.
Prayer should begin with the Holy Spirit. If He lays it on your heart to pray for a certain thing, then it is the rhema of God to you, and you can know that it is the will of God.
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. - 1 John 5:14, 15
If we are to pray in His will, prayer must begin with the Holy Spirit and not our own selfish desires.
Pray Without Harboring Sin In Your Heart
As we saw above, the Scriptures tells us that God will not hear sinners. That includes Christians who are sinning (unless they are repenting). Here are two verses to refresh your memory:
We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. - John 9:31
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; - Psalm 66:18
If we are harboring and enjoying wickedness and known sin in our hearts, Scriptures says that God will not even hear us, much less answer our prayers. Of course, He “hears us” in the sense that He hears every word spoken on the earth. What this means is that He does not receive our words as prayer, if we are living in a way that is displeasing to Him. (There are exceptions to this, in that out of His mercy God may sometimes choose to answer our prayers in spite of our sin, but we have no guarantee that He will hear our prayers, if we are harboring sin in or lives.)
Pray Having Forgiven All
Many of us have old, old hurts, and we have never forgiven the people who have hurt us. This may have been a hurt inflicted by a parent or a close relative. It could have happened in our childhood or any other time in our past. If there is anyone that we have not forgiven, Jesus tells us that God will not forgive us. If He has not been able to forgive us because of our unforgiveness, then we still have iniquity in our hearts. Here is what Jesus had to say on this:
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. - Matthew 6:14, 15
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your sins. - Mark 11:25, 26
You might want to pause and consider whether there, is anyone in your past who has done you wrong, harmed you or hurt you, whom you have not forgiven. It does not matter whether or not that individual has repented or asked for forgiveness; God says you are to forgive him anyhow. If there is any unforgiveness in your heart, you might want to cry out to God right now and forgive that person. There is no need to live a moment longer with that unforgiveness blocking your forgiveness and clear communication with the Father.
Pray With Right Motives
If we pray with wrong motives, selfishly or for our own pleasure, the Scriptures says that God will not answer that prayer:
You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.- James 4:2,3
Pray Not As A Friend Of The World
The world has a lot to offer, but if we are friends of the world, we make ourselves enemies of God. I do not believe that God will answer the prayers of His enemies:
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.1 John 2:15,16
You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. James 4:4
Keep On Praying
When Christ said to “ask and you will receive,” the Greek actually says, “
keep on asking and you will receive.” Williams who translated a version of the New Testament (which was initially published by Moody Press but is now published by Broadman Press), pointed out that the verbs in connection with prayer are in the continuous tense. For example, Matthew 8:7, 8 is best translated:
Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.
Matthew 7:7, 8 (Amplified)
All of the teachings of Christ on prayer portrayed this “continuous asking” form of prayer.
The Amplified Bible again reflects this well in the following passages:
Then He was praying in a certain place; and when He stopped, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, [just] as John taught his disciples. And He said to them, When you pray, say: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. Your will be done [held holy and revered] on earth as it is in heaven. Give us daily our bread [food for the morrow]. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us [who has offended us or done us wrong]. And bring us not into temptation but rescue us from evil. And He said to them, Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and will say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves [of bread], For a friend of mine who is on a journey has just come, and I have nothing to put before him; And he from within will answer, Do not disturb me; the door is now closed, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and supply you [with anything]? I tell you, although he will not get up and supply him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his shameless persistence and insistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened. - Luke 11:1-10 (Amplified)
The
New American Standard gives the continuous tense in the marginal notes for the last two verses: “
keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking” This fits in perfectly with the example that Christ gave – that of going to a friend at midnight and persistently asking. The main thing to note here is that the Greek tells us not to ask just once and then start “claiming” or “confessing” it. The Bible actually tells us to keep on asking.
Another example of the prayer that Christ gave along this same line involved a woman going to a judge:
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.’ "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' " And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? - Luke 18:1-7
Jesus wanted His disciples to keep on praying and not to lose heart, so He told them about this woman who kept coming to the judge day after day. Thus, we see that, according to the teachings of Jesus, we do not just pray once and then start claiming that we have the answer. We “keep on praying’ day after day. We should pray continually.
The Amplified Bible gives an even better feeling for verse 1:
Also [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up). - Luke 18:1 (Amplified)
This persistence in prayer is found many places in the Scriptures:
pray continually; - 1 Thessalonians 5:17
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.- Ephesians 6:18
Jesus prayed multiple times for things:
So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. - Matthew 26:44
Obey God and Please Him
Another requirement for having our prayers answered is that we obey God’s commandments and do things that are pleasing to Him:
and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
- 1 John 3:22You could think of this another way. In order to have our prayers answered, we need to avoid doing things that displease God.