1 John 5 v 14 -15: And this is the confidence we have in
Him, that, if we ask any thing 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."
Matthew 6 v 7: "But when you pray, use not vain
repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think they shall be heard for their
much speaking."
When we pray we see everything we ask for as urgent
before God. We demand answers and sometimes we have a long wait, impatient
wait. There is God's timing to be considered as He alone knows when its at the
optimum.
James tells us that we don't get answers because we pray
incorrectly, we pray selfishly. Its all about us and our family and our needs.
Our God's family, and therefore ours too, is just everybody, so if you want to
be heard take your eyes off yourself and pray for others.
Another block to getting answers is praying the same
prayer over and over. The heathen do this. They have formal prayers that they
pray in parrot fashion. If your child came to you every day and asked for help
from a written down request he had to say ten times wouldn't you think it
strange and stop listening?
What would it say about your relationship with your
child? You don't know each other. In
Matthew 7 Jesus says 'I never knew you' just before sending people to Hell. So
the most important thing between God and you is a proper personal relationship.
You need to talk and listen to God and follow His leading.
Think of a relationship with a friend. You get to know
each. Have time out together. Chat, probe, get into secrets and important
knowledge of each other. If you remain guarded and closed the relationship
stays on the level of acquaintance. So you may have met Jesus but never let Him
into your life in an intimate way. That's why he says I never KNEW you.
The way into God's heart is through your unselfishness,
sincerity, faithfulness, and commitment. When you meet the needs of those
around you by doing as Jesus would do, God sees and does the same for you.
Whatever we do as a love offering to the Lord He
multiplies it back most generously. If you make a commitment, don't break it,
even if it hurts. God honours us as we honour Him in what we commit to others.
He will find a way of making it up to you.
The most important thing is to ask according to the will
of God. Do not assume anything. Always check with Him and get confirmation. not
everything He does for others applies to you. If He gave Jack a car last week,
it does not make you entitled to one this week.
He knows your needs and shuns your greeds.
When you are selfish and spend only on your own needs,
you will see a loss in your earnings or an increase in your debts. Whenever you
withhold a blessing the Lord cannot prevent the enemy from putting pressure on
you. In Acts when the church began the Holy Spirit caused every Christian to
bring everything they owned into the common pool.
They sold their houses and put the proceeds into the
hands of the apostles. It was more important to spread the gospel message than
for them to live in comfort. They had
the right priorities. These days most people look after No 1 first and are
covered for every eventuality. They don't really need to trust God for much.
Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 died instantly because
they lied to the Holy Spirit concerning their contribution of proceeds of their
property sale to the Christian workers. Where is this kind of commitment and
consequence today? Fear came upon the
believers and they faced death and persecution with no compromise after that.
I am not trying to end the year on a note of gloom and
doom but on a hope that we Christians can become more powerful in our prayer
lives and commitments. Twelve men turned the world upside down by faith after
the ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Let this coming year be a time of renewed commitment and
a serious revision of our true walk before God. Forget New Year resolutions and
rather give yourselves into a reaching for and achieving the standards the Lord
has set for us. Not frivolous objectives but to turn as much of the world
around us upside down for the love of Jesus.
Prayer: Father God,
we must pray in such a way that You hear us because our prayers line up with
Your perfect will and plan for humanity. Then we will know what Your answers
are. We pray for the church to be unified as one Body and be going in the same
direction. We pray for Your family to love one another fervently. We pray for
the healing power of Jesus to heal those who are ill. We pray that throughout
the Body of Christ there will be strength, fortitude, compassion and peace
which will bless us all going forward. In Jesus' name. Amen.