Communication is a vital part of any intimate relationship between two people. In fact one can say that it is the most important aspect in any relationship; for without communication there would be no friendship. Just as two friends enjoy each other’s company, the true friend of God will seek out His companionship with a burning desire to spend every available moment sharing with Him their most intimate thoughts and concerns. We call this prayer.
Many times I have heard people claim that their prayers are never answered; that God does not hear them. But God hears every prayer that is uttered. But our prayers can be rendered ineffective if we doubt or if we cherish the sin in our lives more than pursuing a right relationship with God. When we truly pursue a genuine intimate relationship with God we will begin to possess the type of faith that will bring our prayers out of the state of being ineffective to being able to move mountains. Jesus tells us, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:22-24).
So why do we doubt when we pray knowing that God has made such a promise and that He cannot tell a lie; because He is truth itself; He is not liable to change; because all His arrangements are just and holy. At one time or another we have all had friends that were not completely truthful with us at times, but according to scripture God is not like those friends: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19)
No man, woman, or child who has ever placed their trust in God has been abandoned. He that prays with confidence according to scripture obtains whatever he asks: “I say to you; if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you” (John 16:33).
“Who therefore,” asked St Augustine, “can fear that Christ Jesus, who is truth itself, can violate His promises to hear all who pray to Him? Who shall fear deception when truth promises?”
If we know that God is not like those who promise and do not afterwards fulfill their promise, either because in making them they intended to deceive or afterwards changed their mind, when we pray we need to “ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8).
Whenever we come to the Lord in prayer and ask with confidence favors that are conductive with our eternal salvation, God will hear our prayers. On the other hand if we seek those things that can be injurious to the soul, God cannot, will not, hear our prayers. In other words, if we ask God to accomplish anything that would be offensive to Him, the Lord will not hear our prayers because we would offend God by the very act of asking.
Many times I have heard people claim that their prayers are never answered; that God does not hear them. But God hears every prayer that is uttered. But our prayers can be rendered ineffective if we doubt or if we cherish the sin in our lives more than pursuing a right relationship with God. When we truly pursue a genuine intimate relationship with God we will begin to possess the type of faith that will bring our prayers out of the state of being ineffective to being able to move mountains. Jesus tells us, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:22-24).
So why do we doubt when we pray knowing that God has made such a promise and that He cannot tell a lie; because He is truth itself; He is not liable to change; because all His arrangements are just and holy. At one time or another we have all had friends that were not completely truthful with us at times, but according to scripture God is not like those friends: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19)
No man, woman, or child who has ever placed their trust in God has been abandoned. He that prays with confidence according to scripture obtains whatever he asks: “I say to you; if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you” (John 16:33).
“Who therefore,” asked St Augustine, “can fear that Christ Jesus, who is truth itself, can violate His promises to hear all who pray to Him? Who shall fear deception when truth promises?”
If we know that God is not like those who promise and do not afterwards fulfill their promise, either because in making them they intended to deceive or afterwards changed their mind, when we pray we need to “ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8).
Whenever we come to the Lord in prayer and ask with confidence favors that are conductive with our eternal salvation, God will hear our prayers. On the other hand if we seek those things that can be injurious to the soul, God cannot, will not, hear our prayers. In other words, if we ask God to accomplish anything that would be offensive to Him, the Lord will not hear our prayers because we would offend God by the very act of asking.
When we wish to receive aid from the Lord we must first remove every obstacle that may render us unworthy to be heard. For example: if we desire His strength to preserve us from relapsing into a certain sinful habit but we refuse to avoid the occasions or refuse to keep our distance from the person or thing that entices us to sin, God will not hear our prayer. For the scriptures state, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18). And, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).
May The Peace of Christ Be With You
