The Secret To Answered Prayers (Part 1)
The Secret To Answered Prayers
Tuesday October 22, 2024
God promised to answer our prayers.
That is the basis of our praying.
Matthew 7:7-8 ESV
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. [8] For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
Jeremiah 33:3 ESV
Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Isaiah 58:9 NLT
Then when you call, the LORD will answer. 'Yes, I am here,' he will quickly reply… "
Isaiah 65:24 NLT
I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
John 16:24 ESV
Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
John 14:13-14 ESV
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. [14] If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Mark 11:24 ESV
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Sadly, too many Christians live under a bronze heaven.
Deuteronomy 28:23 (NKJV) “And your heavens which [are] over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you [shall be] iron.
Jeremiah 8:20 ESV
"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."
Nothing is more frustrating than to pray and pray and not receive an answer from God.
The frustration is aggravated by confusion… I have done everything I am supposed to do, yet, I have no answer.
Yet, God who cannot lie, always answers prayers.
Hebrews 6:18 NLT
So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.
2 Corinthians 1:19-20 NLT
For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between "Yes" and "No." He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God's ultimate "Yes," he always does what he says. [20] For all of God's promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding "Yes!" And through Christ, our "Amen" (which means "Yes") ascends to God for his glory.
John 11:41-42 NLT
So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, thank you for hearing me. [42] You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me."
What then is the problem?
What makes it difficult for people to get answers from a God who cannot lie.
The wrong kind of person, praying the wrong kind of prayer, in the wrong kind of way will never get a right answer from God.
James 1:7 NLT
Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
Solution: The right kind of person, praying the right kind of prayer, in the right kind of way will always get a right answer from God.
Who is the right kind of person?…. (standing)
What is the right kind of prayer? ….(God’s will)
How can we pray in the right way? (Humble attitude)
WHO?
“Who” refers to our standing before God…. Status, merit,
Faith is our standing in two ways… legal access and transactional faith.
Faith in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross grants us legal access, a legal standing before God, (saving faith.)
Philippians 3:9 KJV
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Philippians 3:9 NLT
and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
God is sent out an invitation to a party in John 3:16. Faith in Jesus is your RSVP.
You must be born again before God can even listen to your prayers. When an unbeliever prays and God listens, He is leading the unsaved to repentance.
Romans 2:4 ESV
Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
The issue of faith is so central to our relationship with God that the Bible makes mention of faith so many times, it’s impossible to miss its significance.
The right kind of person is the one who comes to God by faith in the work of Christ and continues to stand in faith.
God always responds to the person, before He responds to the prayer.
Genesis 4:3-7 NLT
When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD. [4] Abel also brought a gift-the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift, [5] but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected. [6] "Why are you so angry?" the LORD asked Cain. "Why do you look so dejected? [7] You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master."
Hindrances To Our Right Standing
Two things adversely affect our standing before God… a lack of faith and unconfessed sin.
A Lack Of Faith
Hebrews 11:6 NLT
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
Unconfessed Sin
Isaiah 59:1-2 NLT
Listen! The LORD's arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. [2] It's your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.
Psalm 66:18 NLT
If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
Psalm 66:18 ESV
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
Unconfessed sin is dangerous because it removes the ground on which we are expected to stand. All the promises in Christ presuppose that we are walking in His righteousness.
1 John 1:7-10 NLT
But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. [8] If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. [9] But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
What To Do prayers seem to go unanswered.
With the help of the Holy Spirit, ask yourself the following questions?
Am I praying in faith?
James Let not him who doubts think he can receive anything from the Lord
2. Is there unconfessed sin in my heart? The goodness of God leads to repentance.
Unconfessed sin will rob you of two things…
Confidence the righteous is as bold as a lion,
Let us come boldly to the throne of grace
2. Access.
God’s hand is not short
WHAT?
What is the right kind of prayer? ….(God’s will)
When the person is accepted, God answers his request according to His will.
1 John 5:14 LSB
And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
Ephesians 5:15-17 LSB
Therefore look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, [16] redeeming the time, because the days are evil. [17] On account of this, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Without understanding the will of God, how can we hope to pray the right kind of prayer?
Matthew 6:9-13 NLT
Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. [10] May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
We must understand that our assignment here on earth is to express and enforce God’s kingdom and not our own.
Hebrews 10:7 NLT
Then I said, 'Look, I have come to do your will, O God- as is written about me in the Scriptures.'"
Jeremiah 29:11-14 NLT
For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. [12] In those days when you pray, I will listen. [13] If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. [14] I will be found by you," says the LORD. "I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land."
Jeremiah 29:11-13 LSB
For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘plans for peace and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. [12] Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. [13] You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Trusting God’s plans in context.
Jeremiah 29:10 LSB
“For thus says Yahweh, ‘When seventy years have been fulfilled for Babylon, I will visit you and establish My good word to you, to return you to this place.
Jeremiah 29:10 NLT
This is what the LORD says: "You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.
The right kind of prayer is the one which asks for God’s will, with a complete trust that God’s will is the best for us.
Hindrances to praying the right kind of prayer.
Holes in our theology. (understanding)
We all practice theology to varying degrees of competence. Even the best theologians have holes in theology, gaps in their knowledge that makes God inexplicable.
A good practice of theology is best summarized as “ Faith, seeking understanding.” We know enough about God, to have faith in Him.
We don’t know everything to know about God, so cannot fit Him into the box of our limited understanding.
Exodus 6:2-4 NLT
And God said to Moses, "I am Yahweh-'the LORD.' [3] I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai-'God Almighty'-but I did not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them. [4] And I reaffirmed my covenant with them. Under its terms, I promised to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living as foreigners.
The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, knew God as El-Shaddai, the Almighty God. They were not privy to Him as Yahweh, the Self-existing One, the Uncaused Cause, the Creator and Owner of the heavens and the earth. Alpha, and therefore, Omega.
God will not fit into our theological box, so we need to expand our theology to include whatever God shows us about Himself.
1 Corinthians 13:9-12 NLT
Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! [10] But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. [11] When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. [12] Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
2. Praying Contrary to God’s will
Those who know God, only as the Almighty God, El-Shaddai, but not as the Self-Existing One, Yahweh, will find it difficult to submit to His will.
They forget that God is not part of their program, but they rather need to find their place in God's program.
They ask questions like, “If God is truly all-powerful, why did He not answer my prayer?”
Exodus 20:2-5 NLT
"I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. [3] "You must not have any other god but me. [4] "You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. [5] You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected-even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.
When prayers seem to go unanswered, review the who, what and how of your prayer life.
With the help of the Holy Spirit, ask yourself the following questions?
Am I praying according to God’s will?
Have I taken the time to study the scriptures to learn what God’s will is on that matter?
Can I trust God that whatever He chooses for me is actually best for me?
Hebrews 3:12 ESV
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
