MEMORISE: O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
Psalm 65:2.
MESSAGE
If Christians can master the art and practice of prayer, this world will
definitely become a better place to live in for them. Someone described prayer
as a paradox. It is both simple and complex. It is the simplest form of speech
that infant lips can try, and the sublime strains that reach the Majesty on
high. What is prayer? John Bunyan, while in Bedford Prison, defined prayer as
“a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God,
through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such
things as God had promised according to the Word for the good of the Church,
with submission, in faith, to the will of God.” Our God is a prayer-answering
God. It is God’s will to answer the prayer of His children. However, He operates
on principles. There are conditions which activate the answering of prayers by
God. These I will refer to as keys to answered prayers. Are you a child of God?
It is the desire of your Father to answer all of your prayers (John 16:23). If
your prayers are not being answered, look inward. Are you employing the
appropriate keys to answered prayers?
One of such keys is contrition (2nd Chronicles 7:14). Contrition
describes a state of feeling or showing of sorrow and remorse for a sin or
shortcoming. Do you want your prayers answered? Examine your relationship with
the Lord. Are there sins not confessed in your life? Psalm 66:18 says, “If I
regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:”
Approach God with humility and confess your sins, iniquities and
shortcomings to Him. Repent of them and ask for forgiveness. Another key to
answered prayers is whole-heartedness (Jeremiah 29:13). This has to do with
your commitment and intimacy. How committed are you to the Almighty God and to
His work? How intimate is your relationship with God and His Word? John 15:7
says, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you.”
Do you want all your prayers answered? Be a doer of the word and not a
hearer only. The next key to answered prayers is faith. Faith is one of the
most important factors required for prayers to be answered (Mark 11:24). How
strong is your faith? To receive anything from God, you must believe that you
have received what you asked for and then you will have it. The forth key to
answered prayers is righteousness (John 9:31). Simply put, righteousness
denotes acting in accordance to the divine nature and being free from the guilt
of sin. A righteous person is morally upright. Such a person abstains from all
appearances of evil. The last (but not the least) key to answered prayers is
that you must ask in order to receive (Matthew 7:7).
ACTION POINT: Do you have any unanswered prayer? Apply the keys to
answered prayer to it today.
READ: MATTHEW 7:7-11
7 Ask, and
it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened
unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth;
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there of you,
whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish,
will he give him a serpent? 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good
gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven
give good things to them that ask him?
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: HOSEA 11:14 and MATHEW 7:1-23
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