When you pray how do you want God to answer your prayer? Well, you may be thinking that you can call out a prayer to God and He will spin around to answer your prayer in a moment of time. I hope that you do not expect God to be a celestial genie who, when summoned by prayer, must grant any request you ask for. Don’t think you can compare God answering your prayer to the waving of a magic wand in your life. But the biblical fact is prayer has conditions. “It is true that Jesus said, if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matthew 21:22) “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” So, Oh, I get it “if I have faith,” that is one condition to answered prayer. Also when you pray, you must pray the “Will” of God. As we read the Bible we find that there are other conditions to answered prayer.
HERE ARE A FEW BIBLICAL CONDITIONS FOR ANSWERED PRAYER:
- Pray to the Heavenly Father – Matthew 6:9KJV. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name”. This condition to prayer may seem obvious, but it is important to know. We don’t pray to false gods, to ourselves, to angels, Buddha, or to the Virgin Mary. We pray to the God of the Bible, who revealed himself in Jesus Christ and whose Spirit indwells us. And we also are to pray in the Name of Jesus, our Messiah. Praying in Jesus’ name means praying with His authority and asking God the Father to act upon our prayers because we come in the name of his Son, Jesus. Praying in Jesus’ name means the same as praying 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 the petitions that we desire of him. (1John 5:14-15)KJV. When we come to Him as our “Father” it implies that we are His children, made so by Faith in Jesus. (John 1:2)KJV “But to all who did receive Him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
- Pray for good things – Matthew 7:11KJV. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” We don’t always understand or recognize what is good for us, but God knows, and he is eager to give us, His children what is best for us. We read Paul prayed three times to be healed of an affliction, each time God said “No”. Now I guess you may think, why would a loving God refuse to heal Paul? It was because God had something better for him, namely a life for Paul that he never would have imagined, God had a mission for Paul, filled with His grace and mercy. Paul’s persecuting of God’s people and the church was brought to a halt by Jesus Christ, and God manifested His power over paul and brought him to be a servant who in the end brought many souls to God, by the writing of many books of the Bible. The affliction that Paul suffered was used to the glory of God, his new life in Jesus Christ was a prayer answered by a condition to live his life by the grace of God and It was a good thing for Paul, he said for “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Paul stopped praying for healing and begin to rejoice in his weakness, his strength was in his faith in who Jesus Christ was. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) “KJV.
- Pray for needful things (Philippians 4:19)KJV. “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. When you place the priority of God’s kingdom as one of the conditions to prayer you will see your prayers answered. (Matthew 6:33)KJV. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”. The promise is that God will supply all our needs, not all our wants. There is a difference.
- Pray from a righteous heart (Psalm 66:18)KJV. “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear me”. To go before God with a righteous heart you should – Forgive anyone you have a grievance against, forgive others as God forgave you. -If you have wronged your brother confess your faults, one to another. -Pray for one to another, if you see someone have a need for prayer, ask them if you can pray with them, or if someone asks you to pray with them you should pray. Because “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water”. (Hebrews 10:22)KJV
- Pray from a grateful heart. When praying to God, the Alpha and Omega, there should always be an attitude of thankfulness. As I walk from day to day my life is filled with the blessing of God, therefore I am thankful when I pray. “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God”. (Philippians 4:6). KJV
- Pray according to the will of God. 1John (5:14-15)KJV. “And this is the confidence we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. This is an important condition to our prayers when we pray, we must pray in the will of the Father, God expects his will to be prayed in our prayers, and He is glorified through answered prayer. Jesus always prayed the will of God, even in His most desperate time in Gethsemane: Jesus prayed “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). The truth be told, we can pray all we want, and with great sincerity and faith, for XYZ, but, if God’s will is ABC, we pray amiss, meaning God doesn’t hear your prayer.
- Pray in the authority of Jesus Christ (John 16:24)KJV. “Hitherto have you asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full”. For God to hear your prayer you will need to seal it with “In Jesus name”. Jesus is the reason we can even approach the throne of grace, God is Holy and it is only by Jesus Christ can we enter into the throne of God. The church is not a building, the church is the people gathered in the building who worship and give praises to their God, “The Great I Am”. Jesus is the Priest over the house of God, Jesus is the Christian High Priest, therefore all authority is given unto Him. (Hebrews 10:19-22)KJV. Jesus is the Christian mediator, he is the one who talks to the Father on our behalf when we pray. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and Men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5)KJV. So this is the authority of our prayer being answered, a condition of answered prayer is you pray “In the Name of Jesus”.
- Pray persistently (Luke 18:1)KJV. Jesus prayed to the Father many times, persistently. “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;” When we go to the Father praying in His “will”, God hears. He doesn’t jump and answer your prayer request on a time clock schedule, He is not a genie. Therefore you must have faith in who God Is. You must believe He will answer your prayer. You must be patient and wait on God, He will answer on time, in His timing. While we are trusting the Father to answer our prayer, we should be persistent in our prayer, and thanking Him for the things we have already asked Him when we pray. “Pray without ceasing.” “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18)KJV. So one of the conditions to effective prayer is that we don’t give up. “Jewels of Nuggets” Don’t give up on God, and don’t give up on your prayer”.
- Pray unselfishly (James 4:3)KJV. When you pray, your motives are very important to God, He sees your heart. selfishness should not be in a Christian personality. Selfishness is the attitude of being concerned about self only. It is the goal to make your empire and territory bigger, fatter and nothing else matters to you. That is the wrong attitude to have, it is evil and the Bible teaches against such. “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.(Philippians 2:3-4)KJV. “Jewels of Nuggets” when you pray to God your motives are very important. It is a condition for getting your prayer answered”.
- Pray in faith (Luke 1:37)KJV “For with God nothing shall be impossible”. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Faith is the foundation of your Christian relationship with God. Without Faith, a person can not attempt to follow after God, he can not see the works of God, or understand the works of God that were accomplished by His Son, Jesus Christ. “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” (James 1:6)KJV. So the question I will ask you “Without faith, why pray?
- Joshua’s prayer for the sun to stand still was answered, as audacious, the request was it met all the condition of answered prayer.
- Elijah’s prayer for rain to be withheld – and then later he prayed that rain would fall was answered, his prayer met all the condition of answered prayer.
- Jesus’ prayer as He stood before the tomb of Lazarus met all the conditions of answered prayer.
They all prayed to Father God, according to His will, for good and necessary things, in faith. The prayers of Joshua, Elijah, and Jesus teach us that, when our prayers line up with God’s sovereign will, wonderful things will happen. Pray and God can move your mountains. (Mark 11:23)KJV). “Jewels of Nuggets” Get your prayers lined up with the “Will” of God. Let your desires line up with God’s desire for your life, want what He wants for your life, and do not desire the things that God doesn’t want for your life”.
Godly, effective prayer has conditions, but God wants us to pray, for prayer is our fellowship and communication to our Heavenly Father. We can pray big prayers, we can pray little prayers, we can pray audacious prayers. Just pray, All the time, in season and out of season. PRAY THE WILL OF GOD.
Another “Jewels of Nuggets for the Soul” Praise the Lord!!!
JEWELS FOR THE SOUL 