Three More Ways to Help Get Prayers Answered

Three More Ways to Help Get Answered Prayer

We saw in the first lesson three helps to getting prayers answered: 1. Humility 2. Seeking God with our whole heart. 3. Have faith in God.??In this article, we will briefly review three additional ways to help get prayers answered.

Helps to Have Answered Prayer – Part 4

While we cannot earn God’s forgiveness by our own righteousness, He does expect a life of obedience.?I John 3:22 states: And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.??None of is totally obedient except Jesus Christ. No one of us keeps the 10 commandments perfectly. In fact, none of us keeps the greatest commandment perfectly.?Matthew 22:35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36. Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38. This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

While God does not expect perfection, He does expect an attitude of obedience toward His Word.?Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. 2. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and you have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.?The Lord chooses not to hear. Psalm 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. 19. But verily God hath heard me: he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.??Let us remind ourselves:?2 Chronicles 7:14: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and?turn from their wicked ways:?then?will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will hear their land.

John the Baptist warned those who came to him for baptism:?Luke 3:7 O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8. Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance…?The Jews prided themselves on their heritage as if their privilege would excuse them from obedience, but God expects obedient hearts.?Romans 2:4 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6. Who will render to every man according to his deeds.?

Our attitude should be the desire to be obedient, and immediate confession when we become conscious of sin.?I John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Instead, we should seek the positive – to do things that are pleasing in his sight. On the mount of transfiguration, God the Father testified of Jesus:?Mt. 17:5b This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.??Jesus testified that the Father always heard Him. When we are saved, He lives in us. We need to yield to Him and obey Him, and we can be assured that God will then hear our prayers.

Helps to God Answering Prayer – Part 5

We should ask in accordance with God’s will.?I John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us, 15. And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.?To ask according to his will, we need to know his will. His will for us is never in conflict with the word of God, which has come from the mouth of God, and has been transmitted through the Holy Spirit. Because the world system is under control of the god of this world, Satan himself, we may find that his will is counter-intuitive of the advice we will receive and even our friends may reject it. Thus, we must depend on the leading of the Holy Spirit, who not only indwells us, but is the ultimate author of the Word of God. He can lead us into all truth if we seek His guidance.?

Romans 8:26-27 Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.?The Holy Spirit can guide us as well as empower us both to pray and to do the will of God.

We find a striking example in 2 Chronicles 20. King Jehosaphat was warned that three kingdoms joined together to destroy Judah. He declared a national day of fasting and prayer. After he prayed and encouraged the people, a Levite received a message from the Holy Spirit as to where they were to gather to meet the enemy, but that they did not need to fear. King Jehosaphat consulted the people at that location and sent a choir in front of the army to praise the Lord. The enemies started fighting among themselves and destroyed themselves. The advancing army of Judah found only dead bodies, and there was so much spoil that it took three days to carry the riches back to Judah. The fourth day they held a praise service.?

Another strange guidance from the Holy Spirit was to Joshua to march around the walls of Jericho seven days, to shout and the walls fell down flat. David prayed on multiple occasions and God gave him specific directions of how to win a battle. In the New Testament, we find the Holy Spirit guiding Paul on his second missionary journey, resulting in the gospel travelling west to Europe rather than east into Asia. And countless believers have had leading from the Holy Spirit in the last 2000 years.

When we ask in His will, we are aligning our lives with God’s plans. When that occurs, we can rest assured that God will answer our prayers, directing us and empowering us to fulfill His will for us in our lives.?

How to Help Our Prayers to be Answered – Part 6 Restitution

When we confess our sins and turn away from them, we are obeying the Lord. But there is often an additional aspect we forget. We must be willing to make amends for wrongs done to others. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said: Matt. 5:23-24 emphasizes that reconciliation with our brother is more important than simply making an offering to God. Matt. 5:23 Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the alter, and there rememberest that thy brother hast ought against thee; 24. Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.?This may involve a payment as part of the reconciliation.?Exodus 22:1 If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox, or four sheep for a sheep….4. If the theft be found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep, he shall restore double. 5. If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man’s field, of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution.?

Zacchaeus was a despised tax collector, and Jesus invited himself to eat at his house. Zacchaeus recognized that he needed to make things right for any exorbitant taxes he had extracted from the populace.?Luke 19:8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. 9. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come in this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. 10. For the son of man is come to seek and save that which was lost. The Lord had made it abundantly clear that we cannot purchase salvation by good works. We cannot buy our way into heaven. But the statement of Zacchaeus demonstrates that he was truly repenting and turning away from his greed and to the Lord.?

Another situation was that of Jacob, who had tricked his brother out of his first-born right and deceived his father Isaac and stolen Esau’s blessing. When returning to his home with his wives, children, and goods, he heard that Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men. He prayed fervently for the Lord’s help in humility and wrestled with the Lord for His blessing. He then sent a king’s ransom of animals as part of his desire to reconcile with his brother, who accepted him.?

If we have knowingly deceived someone or caused them loss, it is only right that we make every effort to make things right and do what we can to recompense the damage which we have done. This may not involve money, but perhaps an open confession of our fault to restore another’s good name, etc. Otherwise, our attempts to restore relationships are incomplete, and this can hinder our prayers being answered by God.#Holy Spirit #God’s will?#reconciliation #restoration

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