Answered Prayers – Conditions (Part 1/2)
"Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses." (Mk 11:24,25)
Prayer is the breathing of the soul and means living dependence on God. We may have heard this before. We have also read or heard about many answers to prayer, but in our own lives we realise that we don’t experience it enough. So we ask ourselves the question: why? The Bible gives wonderful promises concerning prayer, but it also gives prerequisites before God will answer prayers. Let's think about this briefly, based on Mark 11:24-25:
"Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses."
The first two requirements for God to hear and answer our prayers are in this verse: 1. faith in God and 2. willingness to forgive others. The Lord Himself joined these two things together in these words; and what He has joined together we should not separate.
Other passages of Scripture teach us the same thing, for example, 1 Timothy 2:8: "I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;" That we are to pray "without wrath" indicates that we are not to have hard feelings toward others, and that we are to pray "without doubting" indicates faith in God.
A prayer of faith pleasing to God is always characterized by trust in God. We expect HIM to intervene and HE to answer as it pleases HIM. We may expect great things from our great and mighty God and Father, but we must trust that HE will only do what is good and right for us. We pray with unconditional faith because we are convinced "that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him" (Heb 11:6).
The 3rd requirement is that all genuine prayer must be in the Holy SpiritThe Holy Spirit is God, a divine person in the Trinity of God; in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit works, for example, in creation or on individuals. The Holy... More. "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit"; "praying in the Holy SpiritThe Holy Spirit is God, a divine person in the Trinity of God; in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit works, for example, in creation or on individuals. The Holy... More" (Eph 6:18; Jude 20). To bring this about, the Spirit must be free, that is, not grieved or quenched in our hearts or in our meetings. This is only the case when there is no (unconfessed) sinThe Bible carefully differentiates between sin and sins. • Sin: the evil power at work in man that causes him to engage in sinful activities (Rom 7:17, 18). God pronounced... More and we do not pray in self-will.
Praying in the Holy SpiritThe Holy Spirit is God, a divine person in the Trinity of God; in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit works, for example, in creation or on individuals. The Holy... More is opposed to praying in the fleshThe term "flesh" is used in different meanings in the Bible: a) as an expression of physicality or humanity, which is inextricably linked to our life on earth. Examples: “the... More. It is praying according to God's will. Praying in the fleshThe term "flesh" is used in different meanings in the Bible: a) as an expression of physicality or humanity, which is inextricably linked to our life on earth. Examples: “the... More is praying according to our own will. It is not so much what we want, but that we discern God's will for us and pray accordingly. When all self-purpose disappears from our prayers and we ask in accordance with His will, then we can expect our prayers to be answered.
The 4th requirement is that we live in fellowship with Him and His Word. The Lord says in John 15:7, "If ... my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall come pass to you." When we read the Word of God, we get to know God's thoughts and principles. We recognize God's thoughts more and more and they become more and more important to us. We want to honor God by putting the principles into practice in our lives, and by doing so, we then pray according to His principles.
There are a few other requirements for prayer, and also some hindrances to the answering of our prayers, that we will consider in the next video. But in conclusion now, I would like to point out 3 important tips in connection with our prayers: Pray specifically! Pray earnestly! Pray with perseverance!
When we draw near to God in this way, He will answer our prayers. Then we will experience the strength and encouragement that comes from answered prayers. David experienced this in Ps 138:3: "In the day when I called you answered me; you encouraged me with strength in my soul. And we can still experience this today, because our God is the same, yesterday, today and forever!"
