If a soldier fails to aim correctly at his target and misses it, it’s unwise to conclude that his weapon does not work. Other soldiers can make use of that same weapon and hit the target perfectly well. The weapon needs no revision in its manufacture but the soldier has to be trained on its effective use. Many people have prayed to God (or they think that they have prayed when they have not) a their prayers where not answered in the ways which they expected. Some of them ended up concluding that praying does not work and either downgraded their prayer life or completely stopped praying altogether.
It’s not true that prayer doesn’t work, it’s actually one of the powerful spiritual weapons we have as children of The Most High God. The reason why many think that prayer does not work could be the fact that they didn’t pray correctly. Just like a physical weapon which needs some sort of skill in hitting your target, prayer needs some skill for it to work best. In this chapter we shall learn about some of the ways which can make our prayers effective. The disciples at one occasion asked Jesus to teach them how to pray as John had also taught his disciples (Luke 11:1). To this request Jesus did not say, just pray in whatever way you feel like but He actually took time to teach them how to pray, meaning prayer is something which can be taught or learnt. The points outlined in this chapter are not exhaustive but are meant to cover the major aspects relating to effective prayer.
Relationship with God
“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” Matthew 6:9
Jesus as He taught His disciples on how to offer prayers, He taught them to address God as their Father. It’s not just a matter of calling God Our Father but there has to be a Father-Child relationship and it comes about if we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour (John 1:12). Take note, we pray to Our Father in Heaven, not any other father. Even if there is a religious person who gives himself the title ‘father’, we are not to pray to him but to Our Father in heaven.
Christ once asked: “what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:9-11).
Earthly fathers, though being evil they give good gifts to their children. What causes them to give these good things is the relationship which exists between them and their children. God, Who is good can do more than that to His children. Accordingly, we need to consider if we are His children, otherwise we will not enjoy the full benefits of the privilege of prayer.
In the name of Jesus
“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:14
Prayers are to be made in the name of Jesus. This doesn’t just mean the simple mention of the name Jesus at the start or end of your prayers, no, it goes beyond that. We must pray in harmony with the character of Christ, in line with what Jesus stands for. You can’t pray for God to protect you so that you don’t get caught when you go out to steal and expect Him to answer that that prayer just because you concluded it with the words ‘in the name of Jesus, amen’. That is presumption, expecting God’s blessing yet going against His word. So the next time you pray, yes mention the name of Jesus in your prayer but the prayer itself must not contradict what Jesus stands for.
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).
Jesus is the ONE AND ONLY mediator who links us to the Father, there is no one else besides Him. John 14:6 tells us that Jesus is the Way (not one of the ways, but the way), we only go to The Father via Jesus. Given those scriptures, we must all the times pray in the name of Jesus, not in the name of people here on earth no matter how powerful they have been used by God. You cannot pray in the name of your pastor, prophet, apostle, no matter how well you might think of him or her. Someone can pray for you, you can also pray for other people but that doesn’t take out Jesus’ role as the Mediator, He remains the only way to the Father. Even Biblical characters cannot mediate between you and God, not even Mary the mother of Jesus, nor Elijah, Abraham or even Angels. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ only not in the name of people or angels.
The Sin problem
“Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2
God has no challenges with stretching out His hand to save us. He has no hearing problem which make Him deaf to our prayers but the glitch is on our side. Our sins can cause His face to be hidden from us and in the end when we pray He will not hear us. One may ask: What is sin? According to 1 John 3:4 "sin is lawlessness”. So when we break the law of God we have committed a sin and the end result of sin is to hide the face of God from us and our prayers become ineffective. We need to live in obedience to the commandments of God and in that way sin is avoided.
“One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” Proverbs 28:9
Prayers of those who ignore the law of God are an abomination, meaning they are disgusting to God and if they are disgusting obviously He doesn’t answer them. But perhaps you fall into sin, hope is there for you. You can confess your sins to God, ask for forgiveness, turn away from that sin and God will cleanse you. But if you don’t forgive others who did you wrong, neither will God forgive you your sins.
According to His Will
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” 1 John 5:14
When we pray, it’s not just a matter of playing with words (for we are not heard because of much speaking – (Matthew 6:7) but it’s about praying according to the Word of God which is His will. If you ask anything which is in line with the will of God, He will hear you just as 1 John 5:14 has said. The best way of knowing the will of God is to acquaint ourselves with His word, let us study it so that when we come to the knowledge what God wants and we align our prayers to His will.
We might express our desires when we pray, but ultimately we must allow the will of God to prevail for He knows what is good for us more than what we think. As Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, He expressed His desire to have the cup He was about to drink to pass from Him but in conclusion He said, “not as I will but as You will” (Matthew 26:39).
We are so short-sighted and we lack knowledge concerning many things, therefore if God gives us exactly that what we ask for, it might lead to our destruction. With this background, yes let us ask for that which we want but in our request may we also ask that The Lord’s will prevail more than our will.
Perseverance & Patience
“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart” Luke 18:1
On Luke 18:2-8 Jesus gave a parable about the importunate widow and the judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Before the parable is recorded, Luke gives the subject of it, that is “men always ought to pray and not lose heart”. You might fail to understand the parable, but the take home lesson is that we must ALWAYS pray and NOT LOSE HEART. Sometimes we give up too early, we feel like God is not answering us, but we need to persevere. There is need to continue knocking on the heaven’s door in prayer till we get an answer.
What Jesus discouraged is the issue of making use of vain repetitions in prayer (Matthew 6:7). However you can still pray for the same thing over and over at different prayer sessions.
Ephesians 6:18 says praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
Perseverance is an essential attitude in prayer and the word means to be persistent, to be steadfast, to continue in a course of action without regard to discouragement, opposition or previous failure.
God promised to answer us but He didn't specify a period in which He is to do so. Sometimes He answers instantly sometimes He takes longer than we thought. When He seems to delay we need to learn patience and be willing to wait upon Him.
Have Faith – Don’t Doubt
But let him 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 that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:6-8
It’s one thing to pray, and it’s another thing to believe that God will answer your prayers. Most people just pray but deep in their hearts (and even in their outward actions) they don’t believe that God will hear them. Jesus said on Matthew 21:22 “And whatever things you ask in prayer, BELIEVING, you will receive.” We will only receive whatever we have asked for in prayer when we believe.
Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them (Mark 11:24).
Some people do pray but after their prayers they have doubts if indeed God will answer them. To those who doubt, the Bible says in James 1:6-8 they will not receive anything from the Lord.
Before Jesus restored the sight of two blind men who had come to him on Matthew 9:27-30 He asked them a question: "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, “Yes, Lord”. Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you." And their eyes were opened. These men believed that God would grant them their desires, and Jesus responded based on their faith.
You need to build your faith in the Lord and the best way of doing this is to study His word, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)
Right motives
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures” James 4:3
One man came to Jesus with a request, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." (Luke 12:13-15)
Probably this man thought in his mind that if he was to go to Jesus, he would have a solution to the problems relating to the dividing of the estate of his late father. His motives for getting the inheritance where not to meet the basic needs of life but he was motivated by greed. Jesus being able to read and discern people’s hearts, struck right at the motive of the man’s request and gave a warning that life is not about the abundance of assets you own. Christ did not help this man in getting his share of the inheritance because his motives were not right.
As James has said when you ask amiss with a desire to just please your lusts, your prayers will not be answered in the way you want. The money that you are praying for, what is it you intend to do with it, isn’t it just a selfish desire for show off? Unfortunately God will not involve Himself in your ambitions to boast of worldly things. The reason why God is not giving someone the ability to preach well is because the person has wrong motives, they want to use preaching as a means to make a name for themselves rather than for people to glorify Jesus, so God says no to their prayers.
Revise your motives, be motivated with pure desires which the word of God approves.
Private Affair
“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” Matthew 6:6
Jesus in teaching the subject of prayer, He first denounced how some hypocrites prayed before He recommended the proper way of prayer. These hypocrites loved to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets to make an outward show of how pious they were. Their goal was to be seen by people that they were religious. To this behavior Jesus said, they have received their reward. The hypocrites, got what they wanted, that is fame of being called prayerful, but other than that their prayers where not answered by God.
After condemning such prayers of making a public show, Jesus went on to teach the proper way of praying. He said when you pray, go into your room, and shut the door behind you. After doing so then pray to your Father who is in a secret place, who sees you in secret and will reward you openly
Prayer is a private affair, of course there is public prayer, for instance when you are part of a group of people who are gathered together and you have been asked to pray for them, but if its personal prayer, then it has to be just that: ‘personal’. No need for you to try to shout at the top of your voice like Baal worshippers who thought they might be heard for their high volume (1 Kings 18:28-29), keep your private prayer private. Some do go into their private place of prayer yet while in there, they make a public show that they are very prayerful by shouting so that everyone can hear them, the whole idea of secrecy is defeated by this.
The moment we understand to whom are we praying to, then we won’t waste our time and energy trying to make a show to people whose opinions have no bearing on how our prayers are answered. Hannah prayed in her heart, only her lips moved and no sound came out of her mouth, even Priest Eli could not discern that she was praying but that prayer was answered by God (1 Samuel 1:12-14). Sometimes people try to compensate for their lack of faith by making noise when praying, but if they really understood the words of Jesus that ‘your Father who sees in secret’ they would take Him at His word and stop making noise in order to be heard.
Be Led by the Holy Spirit
“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Romans 8:26
In as much as we think that we know what we should pray for, the Bible tells us that we do not know. Sometimes we ask for things which we think are good for us, yet they will destroy us. We are so short sighted that we focus on the immediate future and pay no regards to eternal things. This short sightedness leads us to pray for wrong things and God being love, does not grant us those things because if He does, they will be a harm to us.
It is because of such weaknesses that we need the Holy Spirit to help us in prayer. The Spirit helps us by teaching us to pray, by urging us to pray and by interceding on our behalf. So we need the Holy Spirit for our prayer lives to be effective.
Fasting
“However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” Matthew 17:21
Nine of the twelve apostles had in vain attempted to cast out a demon from a boy and failed. When Jesus arrived from the mount of transfiguration, He rebuked the demon and it came out from the boy. The disciples later on approached Christ and asked Him why they had failed to cast out this evil spirit. To answer their question Jesus told them that the kind of demon they were dealing with only goes out by prayer and fasting. (Matthew 17:14-21)
There are issues which we can only overcome if we resort to this combination of prayer and fasting. If you have tried praying and things seem not to be changing, how about you combine your prayers with fasting. Fasting is the abstinence from food or fleshly desires for a time in order to devote time to pray and seeking God. It’s not just a matter of abstaining from food otherwise it becomes a hunger strike or dieting but there has to be devotion to God. Fasting puts us into a more receptive attitude to be able to understand and receive our answers from God.
Humility
“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 14:11)
Jesus once told a parable which is recorded in Luke 18:10-14 of two men who went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!'. Jesus then concluded his parable by saying that the tax collector went back to his home justified rather than the Pharisee, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
The problem with the Pharisee is that he took pride in the works which he did, he came to prayer with a mouthful of the religious rites he performed and thought to use them to gain favour before The Lord. He even went on to present himself as a better person than the tax collector, indeed he was full of himself. However, his pride didn’t help him to be justified, whereas the tax collector humbled himself and acknowledged that he was a sinner who needed mercy. The humility of the tax collector led to his prayer being answered.
When we come to God, we must humble ourselves, for on our own we can do nothing. Whatever it is that we might think of taking pride in, we must know that it is not of our own making but God allowed us to have it or do it, therefore we can’t take pride in it. Come before God with humbleness, acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of grace, and acknowledge that on your own you can do nothing, don’t just say it but mean it.
Serving two masters
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24
There is only one true God, Our Creator, apart from Him there is no one else and only to Him do we offer our prayers. Some do the right thing in offering their petitions to the true God but they then mess it up by also looking for help from other gods (small letter ‘g’) which are just a cover for satan. You cannot serve two masters, it’s either you are with God or you are against Him, no middle ground. The moment you look for help from sources which are not from God, you might as well forget that God will grant you your requests. You can’t be praying to God in one minute and the next you are going to seek help from sorcerers, wizards and occultists.
We must have no other gods except Jehovah. Elijah at Mt. Carmel once addressed the Israelites and said to them “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." (1 Kings 18:24). You have to make a choice, its either you pray to the true God alone, or you pray to satan and his gods, you can’t mix the two. After prayer don’t go around looking for answers from the wrong places, wait for Jehovah to answer you. Stay away from the devil’s territory otherwise he will mess you up.
Prayer indeed does work but its only that sometimes we do not pray according to the principles which God wants us to follow and we end up thinking that prayer does not work. Let’s follow what the word of God says with regards to prayer and we will surely hit the target.
