"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:44)
Forgiveness will flow freely to a cold world only from a heart that is warmed by God’s love. Praying for those who have hurt you proves that you are a child of God and that God’s love is in you. When you pray for others, you become a conduit of God’s love. His love flows through you to those for whom you are praying.
Prayer is the dynamic that gives you the ability to do those things you know you cannot do on your own. It is a spiritual umbilical cord to your heavenly Father! It is an act of worship, the communion of your soul with God. It is your spirit working with the Holy Spirit to make changes and fine-tune those changes so that you might "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)
Prayer is a personal experience, not a philosophy or a theology. It is to be your transcendent venture of faith and your steadfast response to the hand of God in your life and is the only way to adjust to God’s plans for you.
When you pray, you are recognizing the Lord’s magnificent grace. King David wrote, "I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day will I praise you and extol your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom." (Psalm 145:1-3 NKJ)
In prayer you should also acknowledge that God is the source of all blessings.
"Every good perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights." (James 1:17 NKJ)
Prayer becomes the expression of your indebtedness to God for His goodness to you.
As you grow in grace and nearness to the Lord, your sensitivity to sin increases. You will see your own unworthiness in the contrast between your life and the absolute righteousness of God. Because sin is ultimately committed against the Creator, there can be neither peace nor power in your life until you offer prayers of repentance. Even then the picture is not complete, for along with confession there must be the drive to mend your mistakes by forgiving and reconciling with others so that you will root your will in His will and way of life.
Jesus taught us to pray, "Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matthew 6:12 NKJ)
When you pray, as Jesus taught, "Give us today our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11 NKJ), you are petitioning for your own needs. You should always ask of the Father "and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7).
However, when you do petition for your own needs, your asking should always be superseded by the giving of thanks, confession of your sins, and intercession for your neighbors. Then your prayers will flow unhindered.
Your petitioning should be continually growing in grace. The highest type of prayer is one in which you forget yourself and intercede on behalf of others. If you follow Jesus’ example of selfless intercessory prayer as found in John 17, you will find yourself in the deepest communion with God.
Because prayer is communion with God, there are no "unanswered" prayers. The fact that you, as the created, have communion with the Creator is in itself an answer. When most people speak of unanswered prayer, they tend to think only of those things they asked for and did not receive. Not receiving something is just as much an answer as receiving it. Unfortunately, too many can’t accept "no" for an answer.
You may ask the Lord for things which He, according to His infinite wisdom, knows you should not have. Jesus taught, "How much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?" (Matthew 7:11)
Your heavenly Father not only knows what is best for you to receive, but also what you should not receive. God always answers your prayers, not as you have specifically "directed" Him, but in ways that will most magnify His name and advance His kingdom.
The Apostle Paul once pleaded with God to deliver him from "the thorn in the flesh" given that he might not become proud.
He wrote, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). The Lord refused his request, but gave him an abundance of grace which brought more glory to the kingdom and to His name than would have occurred if Paul’s prayer had been answered.
Certain spiritual conditions must be met in order to find deep intimacy with the Lord and have your prayers answered. Having your prayers answered does not mean that you can ask for anything you want or think you need and then receive it. Your requests must be in accordance with His plan and eternal purpose.
First you are to believe. "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt" (James 1:6). Then, "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer" (Matthew 21:22). You are given the assurance that "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark 11:24).
Your requests must conform and be submitted to the will of God. "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us" (1 John 5:14). Knowing His will comes through spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Wisdom and understanding come when you study and meditate on the Word of God.
"We have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God." (Colossians 1:9-10)
When you submit and surrender yourself to God, you allow Him to work in your life however He desires. Then you are ready for a revelation of His will. To demand that you know before deciding to submit is to admit you don’t trust Him. Lack of trust will always hinder revelation. Revelation comes after you seek His Word for His will, not before.
The evidence of love in the Spirit is the complete dedication of your will to His will. Jesus said that, "If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own" (John 7:17).
Your prayers must always be in the name of Jesus. "And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it" (John 14:13-14).
Praying in the name of Jesus means to pray according to His will and purpose, in direct relationship with Him.
When I was a child I used to watch old cops-and-robbers movies. During a chase, the police officer would cry out to the criminal, "Stop in the name of the Law!" He was telling the criminal that he had better stop now, because all that the law stands for was behind him when he caught him.
Praying in the name of Jesus implies unity of thought and interest. It means that when we pray, our purpose and intent should always be in direct relationship to all He is and all He stands for. Your prayers should be wrapped in His humility, holiness, righteousness, selflessness, and purity. You cannot pray in the name of Jesus and pray selfishly, for His kingdom must, and will, have predominance at all times. When any request is made to the Father, He sees your desire and position before Him as prompting the request.
We should never ask of God based upon our own works, but rather upon what Jesus has done for us. When we go to the Father in all that the name of Jesus represents, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father . . . he will give it you." Jesus wants us to "ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full" (John 16:23-24 KJV).
The Father wants us to "continually" seek Him in prayer because He wants an ongoing, personal relationship with us (See 1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Communication is the key to keeping any relationship vibrant and alive. Having an intimate relationship with God is why Jesus taught, "Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8).
These requirements for answered prayer are in the present tense in the Greek. This means continuous action, so we must keep on asking, seeking, and knocking. The use of the three words "ask, seek, knock" indicates intensity. To "seek" is more determined than just to "ask" and to "knock" is still more determined. We ask for what we need. We seek what we earnestly desire. We knock when our desire becomes of great importance.
These orders carry with them an unmistakable promise that shows how God sees us. He has ordained some prayers to be answered at once, twice, or after a thousand times asking. It could also be through corporate prayer or as a direct result of our own actions.
When we pray for the strength and ability to forgive the unforgivable, we must never stop asking, seeking, and knocking until we know we can forgive as we have been forgiven.
"The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:7-8).
