Answered Prayer

Guidelines to answered Prayer

1. The barriers that hinder our prayers to God.

• Sin and unrighteousness 

Isaiah 59:2-3; “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity.” (NKJV)

• Unbelief 

Matthew 13:58; “Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” (NKJV)

• Lack of knowledge 

Hosea 4:6; “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” (NKJV)

• Slothfulness 

Romans 12:11; “not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” (NKJV)

2. The barriers that hinder God's response to our prayers

• Sin 

Joshua 7:10-12; “10 So the LORD said to Joshua: "Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? 11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.”(NKJV)

Psalm 66:18;”If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.” (NKJV)

Proverbs 1:23-29; “23 Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. 24 Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, 25 Because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, 27 When your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. 28 "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. 29 Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD” (NKJV)

• Unbelief 

Matthew 17:20; “So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” (NKJV)

Matthew 21:22; “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." (NKJV)

Mark 9:23; “Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." (NKJV)

Mark 11:23-24; “23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (NKJV)

John 2:21-22; “21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.” (NKJV)
Hebrews 11:6; “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (NKJV)

Practice the following commands of the scriptures

Worship God only
Exodus 34:14; “(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)” (NKJV)
Draw near to God
James 4:8; “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (NKJV)
Depend on God
Psalms 124:1; "If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,"(NKJV)
Never stop praying
1 Thessalonians 5:17; “pray without ceasing’ (NKJV)
Remind God of His Word
Isaiah 43:26; “26 Put Me in remembrance; let us contend together; state your case, that you may be acquitted.” (NKJV)

3. Prayer

The Word of God is the main way the Lord speaks to us. The primary way in which we speak to God is in prayer. In this section, we are going to examine some fundamental principles of prayer. We shall look at these in greater detail in our course on Christian Relationships

3.1. What is prayer?

Prayer is intimate communion with God, a two-way relationship in which you spend time talking to him and listening to Him. Prayer is at the heart of our relationship with God. Through it, we have access to our heavenly Father. Prayer is not a religious routine, but a way of getting to know God personally and powerfully.

3.2. Why should I pray?

Prayer is essential to a healthy and vibrant spiritual life because it is our only means of communing with the Lord. Through our fellowship with Him, we receive everything we need for life—love from our Father, forgiveness from our Judge, comfort from our Counsellor, instructions from our General, and counsel from our Advisor.

Nobody has ever had as close a relationship with the Father as Jesus had. What was the secret of Jesus’ intimacy with the Father? One secret was His amazing prayer life. The gospels often report that Jesus withdrew to lonely places to pray. His prayer life was so powerful that His disciples eventually came to Him and asked, ‘Lord, teach us to pray’ (Luke 11:1). If it was necessary for Jesus, the Son of God who was anointed with the Holy Spirit without measure, to spend much time in prayer, how much more it must be necessary for us to spend time in prayer!

3.3. What did Jesus teach about prayer?

Not only was Jesus the outstanding example of a man of prayer, He was also the outstanding teacher of the principles of prayer. We can learn at least seven important prayer principles from Jesus’ example and teaching.

Try to identify one major principle of prayer Jesus taught or modelled in each passage below:
a) Luke 5:16
b) Matt. 6:5-6
c) Matt. 6:7-8
d) Luke 11:5-13
e) Mark 11:24
f) Mark 9:29
g) Luke 22:42

Let us briefly work through the seven principles embodied in our Lord’s teaching in the passages above.

First, we must pray regularly (Luke 5:16). The Scripture says ‘Jesus often withdrew … to pray’. He placed value on spending regular time with His Father. Many believers neglect their prayer life until they are in a crisis. Then they urgently call out to God for help. Although God sometimes answers such prayers, He is not satisfied with them. Spiritual power is the product of spiritual discipline. Influence with God is the result of intimacy with God. The people whose prayers carry weight with God in times of crisis are the people who have spent quality time with God during seasons of blessing.

Second, we must pray privately (Matt. 6:5-6). Personal prayer is your private relationship with God. It is your opportunity to meet with God. Since it is a private matter, we should find a quiet place where we can be alone with God when we pray. Your ‘prayer room’ need not be a room as such; it can be any place where you can be alone with God.

Third, we must pray simply and sincerely (Matt. 6:7-8). God is more interested in what you are than in what you say. The condition of your heart, not the content of your prayers, is what matters to Him. Prayer is a matter of the heart. The Lord loves simple prayers that come from sincere love for Him. God already knows everything about us. We do not need to impress Him with flowery prayers. God wants us to speak to Him as we would speak to our earthly fathers—in simple words, with a sincere heart.

Fourth, we must pray with perseverance (Luke 11:5-13). I have often heard believers say: ‘If you ask in faith, you only have to ask once. Then you just need to believe God for your answer.’ Although this sounds logical and spiritual, it does not agree with Jesus’ teaching about persevering prayer. The Bible paints a different picture of true faith—true faith holds aggressively onto God in prayer until it receives an answer. God blesses those who refuse to let go of Him (Gen. 32:26). God rewards faith—and perseverance shows strong faith!

Fifth, we must pray with faith (Mark 11:24). The Bible says, ‘And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek him’ (Heb. 11:6). Nowhere is the need for faith more important than in prayer. How do we reconcile Mark 11:24 with Jesus’ teaching about persevering in prayer? I believe steadfast, faith-filled prayer passes through three stages:

a)     Petition                       Effective prayer begins with a God-given burden. You pray earnestly for as long as you have the burden. This may mean that you travail before the Lord for a long time, desperately seeking His face.

b)     Peace                         Eventually, the burden lifts and God’s peace enters your heart. The Holy Spirit gives you His assurance of the answer to your prayers. You do not have the answer itself, but you have the assurance that it will come. Now your prayers change their tone.

c)     Praise                         When the burden has lifted and the Lord’s peace has come, you stop praying and start praising. You continue to give thanks until you receive the promised answer (or until the Lord brings back the burden)

We should persevere in faith-filled prayer until God gives us an answer (usually and inner assurance that He has said ‘yes’). Then we should continue to believe that we have received it (by promise) and it will be ours (in reality).

Sixth, we receive God’s power through prayer (Mark 9:29). Prayer is our source of spiritual power. Prayer changes things, but more importantly prayer changes people. When we spend time with God, we open our lives to His power. We put ourselves in a place where the Holy Spirit can work in us and prepare us so that He can work through us. ‘What the church needs today is not more novel methods, but men the Holy Ghost can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer’ (Bounds 1999, ch. 1)

Sinclair Ferguson (1988:38) puts it well: ‘Some Christians are heroes in their daydreams only. The characteristic mark of such heroism is imagining ourselves as faithful on great and public occasions and in rarefied atmospheres when others will be impressed. In stark contrast, true faithfulness in Scripture is first exercised in small things and in private. If we fail there, any faithfulness we show in public will be hypocrisy, a performance for the crowd and not an expression of loyalty to our Lord.’ Although we would all love to pray for the sick and see them healed, such powerful prayers will remain elusive daydreams unless we cultivate faithfulness in our daily prayer.

Seventh, we must pray with an attitude of surrender to God’s will (Luke 22:42). We must be humble enough to recognise that we do not always know what is best for us, but God does. In His infinite wisdom, our heavenly Father sometimes does not grant our requests, because He knows what we want is not good for us. This does not mean He has not answered our prayer. It has been said that God has three answers to prayer—’yes’, ‘no’, and ‘wait’. He always reserves the right to say ‘no’ or ‘wait’; we must be willing to accept his answer because we know that He knows best.

3.4. How should I pray?

When the disciples asked Jesus how they should pray, He gave them The Lord’s Prayer as a model prayer. The full version of the Lord ‘s Prayer is found in Matthew 6:9-13:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

The basic structure of Daniel’s prayer and Nehemiah’s prayer is strikingly similar to the Lord’s Prayer. In each prayer, the worshipper begins by acknowledging God’s greatness and goodness, then confesses sins, and finally presents his requests to God. These appear to be the three basic elements in Biblical prayers:

• Praise. Prayer should be God-centred before it is man-centred. Jesus’ model prayer teaches us to focus first on God our Father—His name, His kingdom, and His will. Our prayer times should focus on worship and thanksgiving. In worship, we praise God for who He is, while in thanksgiving we honour Him for what He has done.
• Confession. The Lord’s Prayer also places great emphasis forgiveness of sin. We must ask God to forgive our sins and help us resist temptation. Develop the habit of keeping a short account with God. When you sin, go to Him immediately and ask for forgiveness. The devil tries to use sin to drive you away from God; if you run to God rather than from Him when you sin, your spiritual life will flourish.
• Requests. Although prayer for needs is not the most prominent part of the model prayer, the Bible does command us to present our requests to God (Phil. 4:6). God is our Father in heaven. If the only time we ever speak to our earthly fathers is when we want something from them, our attitude places strain on our relationship with them. But when we place our relationship with them first, then we have every right to ask them for help with our needs. In fact, when the father-son relationship is healthy, fathers love doing things for their children and giving things to them. The same is true in our relationship with God, our Father. When we place our relationship with Him first, He delights in answering our prayer requests.

3.5. Summary

God already knows what we need before we ask (Matt. 6:8). Why, then, does He want us to spend time in prayer? He wants us to pray because He delights in our worship, enjoys our fellowship, and wants to mould our character. God shapes our character when we spend time with Him. The prayer closet is a place where the Lord searches our hearts and moulds us into the image of Christ. We must develop a habit of talking openly with God about our sins and failures, and seeking His forgiveness and help to change us. Being open with the Lord about our sin gives Him the opportunity to help us overcome it. We need not fear that He will condemn us for our sin. His desire is to deliver us from it. We can also talk openly with Him about our needs and desires, sharing our heart with the One who understands us completely, in an environment of complete trust and security.

4. Conclusion

Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. In other words, the Christian life is not about doing many religious works in the hope that we shall gain favour with God. Through Jesus Christ, we already have His favour. We are justified and forgiven; He has adopted us as His sons and daughters. Therefore, our focus is on nurturing a vibrant relationship with our heavenly Father, who has already accepted us. Our two primary ways of ‘connecting’ with Him are through His Word and in the prayer closet.

There is probably nothing as important to your spiritual life and growth as setting aside regular time to commune with God by reading His Word and bearing your heart to Him in worship and prayer.