Understanding Prayer

(Matthew 7:11) “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!”

How often I have heard believes pray, why is this happening? Or please make this horrible situation go away. When we become desperate in our prayer we are often in danger of losing sight on God’s will and our wants take priority. We lose perspective, but before we can pray with the right motivation we need to understand how we should pray. Our foundation to prayer must spring from our new life in the spirit. We once were dead in our trespass and sin but now have been quicken and made alive in and through the finished work of Calvary. The Lord Jesus is our example; to find an answer in a maths equation an example is normally used by the teacher to educate a scholar on how to find the result. When the student understands the theory they can then apply the formula to the problem and will end up with the correct answer. The theory is however imperative and must be understood plainly. So let us consider the basic fundamentals of this "high call" for all of us who believe and have received the spirit of adoption whereby we are able to cry “Abba Father”. To all who have understood that the price of sin has be bought with the blood of the Lord Jesus and that everyone who rejects His sacrifice will in due course face judgement and end up in the Lake of Fire (hell) for every and every. I appeal to all of us who love to fall on our knees and pray to God our Father; how He loves to hear the prayers of the saints, in fact their prayers all being stored in heaven to be used upon the golden altar in heaven. They are deeply treasured. (Revelation 8:3-4) “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.” God is happy when the saints make supplication unto Him, it honours Him as God and do we not love to exalt our God, I do! When we get to heaven and the angel offers up the prayers of the saints on the golden altar you may even hear your voice echo to the glory of God. What an overwhelming thought!

We fall into a dangerous trap when we begin to misuse this privilege that God has afforded us. I think the apostle James gives us the best teaching on the misuse of prayer and explains to us why we find life frustrating at times. He tells us that we often pray and expect an answer to prayer but we never receive our request. I have often heard people explain it away like this, “in God’s time”, but if our prayer is outside the will of God, it will never be answered to our liking, how could it ever be? The Deceiver may have permission to lure us by the deceitfulness of sin and we may even think our prayers have been approved by God, when in fact they could never have been as they are outside of His word and His will. Yet when we receive this type of grant and we benefit from it at the expense of others, our consciences tell us that something is ajar. Foundationally we must start right to end precise. Let’s look at how James puts it; (James 4:2-5)... you covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"?

We must understand and grasp that our existence now as believers is to find God’s will for our lives. So when we look at the Lord Jesus’ exemplar we see the attitude “of not my will but thine be done”. We will always be tempted to pray and ask for the wrong things until we understand the importance of God’s will. Why must it be this way? God is sovereign and therefore is in control of all things in existence, yes choice is afforded us as we can align ourselves with His will or we can run to sin. However it is only that which He has willed and purposed that will carry His blessing with honour.

Let’s look at another example; the destruction of all living through the flood some four thousand years ago. (Gen 6:7) “So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." We see that God had determined that He would judge the earth and destroy it by water through a flood. What if Noah pleaded with God to change His mind and he prayed day in and day out that God would repent. It would have fallen on deaf ears as it would be a prayer outside the will of God. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and He followed God’s instruction and built an ark. His prayers must have revolved around How to build the boat, how to gather the animals, and what provisions to take along. All these prayers hinged around the outworking of God’s resolve. How would God then not answer his prayers, how then would God not answer your prayers when we pray in accordance with His will? But how can this Almighty God Jehovah give you the desires of your heart when they are contrary to His Character and His will, you answer that! Therefore we must put others before ourselves and pray with earnestness to find grace in time of need to apply ourselves to His will in our lives and if that is our testimony, how then will we not find grace to walk in the spirit in accordance to His will. God is for us and will never be against His children, but we must learn to find His will in our lives. “How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” May His will through His blessings be our portion for today.

Signing off

Tyrone