Principles for answered prayer

Principles for answered prayer - Greg Laurie - http://www.wnd.com/2016/06/principles-for-answered-prayer/?cat_orig=faith

 

Pastor Greg Laurie discusses 'getting God's will on earth'

 

Is there a way to pray in which we can see our prayers answered more often in the affirmative? I think the answer is yes, there may be. And I think we can find some answers in what we call the Lord's Prayer.

 

This is a glorious prayer, a very familiar one that Jesus gave us. And it is a model for prayer:

 

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." (Luke 11:2-4 NKJV)

 

In all fairness, if we were to be accurate, we would not call this the Lord's Prayer. Nowhere in the Bible is it called such. This is not a prayer that Jesus would ever pray himself. Jesus would never pray, "Forgive us our sins," because Jesus was sinless. (If you want to read what could more accurately be called the Lord's Prayer, the prayer only Christ himself could pray, read John 17.)

 

It is not just a prayer to recite verbatim, although there is nothing wrong with that. Rather, it is a template for prayer, a model for prayer.

 

Notice this prayer begins with, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done." This reminds us that to see our prayers answered in the affirmative more often, we need to pray according to the will of God.

 

Jesus modeled this in the Garden of Gethsemane when He said, "Not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26:39). It is OK to pray for whatever you want to pray, but don't ever be afraid to add these words: "Your will be done." Put the matter in God's hands, and ask for his perfect will. But understand this: Sometimes God answers our prayers differently than we would like him to.

 

The primary objective of prayer is to align our will with the will of God. That is when we will see our prayers answered in the affirmative. It has been said that prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance; it is laying hold of his willingness. Prayer is not getting our will in heaven; it is getting God's will on earth.

 

And how do we know what God's will is? It is through careful reading and study of the Bible. As you study Scripture, you will discover God's plan, his purpose and his will.

 

Having aligned your will with God's will, you can then bring your personal needs before him. Next Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us day by day our daily bread." This verse is telling us that God is interested in what interests us. He cares about our needs. It is surprising, really. As Job said, "What are people, that you should make so much of us, that you should think of us so often?" (Job 7:17 NLT) Good question. I don't know, but I think the answer is that it's because God loves us.

 

Also, if you want to have your prayers answered in the affirmative, you must confess your sin. In this model prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, "And forgive us our sins. ..." A better way to translate it would be, "Forgive us our shortcomings ... our resentments ... what we owe to you ... the wrongs we have done."

 

If you don't think you need forgiveness, then you are not spending much time in the presence of God. I think the person who is really growing spiritually will be acutely aware of his or her own spiritual shortcomings. It has been said that the greater the saint, the greater the sense of sin and the awareness of sin.

 

Next, we also should forgive others: "For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us." People are going to hurt you. People are going to disappoint you. People are going to let you down. There is no getting around it. But if you want your prayers to be answered in the affirmative, if you want to live a productive life, then you must learn to forgive, regardless of whether it is deserved.

 

Another principle for answered prayer is this: As much as possible, stay out of the place of temptation. This template for prayer in Luke 11 closes with the words "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" (verse 4 NKJV).

 

There is no way to completely remove ourselves from temptation. There is no escaping it. It is like the bumper sticker that says, "Lead me not into temptation. I can find it myself." We do a pretty good job of that. So the idea here is to pray, "Lord, don't let me be tempted above my capacity to resist. Help me not to get myself into a situation where I will be vulnerable."

 

A final principle for answered prayer can be found a few verses later in Luke 11, where Jesus said, "And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you" (verse 9 NLT).

 

Sometimes in prayer we ask for something once, perhaps twice. Then, when we don't get the answer in the affirmative, we conclude that it must not be God's will. But Jesus was effectively saying, "Keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking."

 

As J. Sidlow Baxter once said, "Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers."

 

So don't give up.