Effectual Prayer

Our Lord says that what we pray believing will happen (Mark 11: 24). In 1 John 5:14 John says that God hears our prayer when we ask "according to His will". If that is true why doesn't God answer our prayers? Why does it seem that He is silent at times? Does God really hear all of our prayers?

Why Doesn't God Answer?

God doesn't promise that He will hear and answer every prayer we make. To hear our prayer there are some things required of us. In Psalm 66:18 the Psalmist tells us one thing that causes our prayers to go unheard. Regarding iniquity. What does it mean to "regard iniquity"? Quite simply it refers to harboring known sin and not repenting or turning from it. So if you are doing something sinful on Saturday night, for example, and not repenting and turning away from it, then Sunday, when you sit piously in the pew in church, the Lord will not hear you.

Abide in Him

Our Lord tells us in John 15: 7 that "if you abide in Me" then what you ask from God will happen. To abide means to receive, trust and believe in the words of Jesus. In 1 John 3: 22 he tells us we receive what we ask from God because we do what pleases God. Obedience and loving others is necessary for God to answer our prayers. So the reverse is also true. We will not receive what we ask for when we don't keep His commandments and when we don't do what is pleasing in God's sight.

Obedience Requires Study

Psalm 119: 15-16 tells us,

"I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word."

To be obedient so our prayers will be heard requires us to "meditate" and "contemplate" God and His ways. This is not just a casual reading of a verse or two of scripture, this is focused and intense study, even memorization so that we will "not forget your word".

Effectual Prayer Requires Confessing Your Sin

James 5: 16 says that a righteous man is one who has confessed his sins. His prayer is an effectual prayer. His prayers are fervent, meaning full of feeling, passionate. The fervent prayer is not one that is just recited words or saying what sounds "holy". It is a prayer sent up with the intensity of the Holy Spirit.

To quote A.W. Pink on this topic he says,

"If we walk not in separation from the world, if we deny not self, strive not against sin, mortify not our lusts, but gratify our carnal nature, is there any wonder that our prayer-life is cold and formal and our petitions unanswered?"

I am not suggesting legalism here, but simply acknowledging that Jesus's sacrifice on the Cross was not done so we could willfully continue sinning.

Asking Amiss

For God to hear us we must also be sure that the request is indeed the will of God and the reason behind the request is just. James 4:3 reminds us that we don't have answered prayers because we ask things that are not the will of God. He says we ask because we want to "spend it on your pleasures." We need to search our hearts to know, are we asking to make ourselves look more important or are we asking for God to be glorified in our request?

Humble Requests - Not Demands

Are we truly servants of the almighty God? Do we really pray as Jesus did in the garden "not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22: 43)? Are we submissive to God's will over our own? Many today it seems want to command God. Instead of demands we need to be sending up our "humble requests". Elijah is a wonderful example of someone who prayed humbly. Paul tells us this in Philippians 4: 6

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;"

Only The Desires of The Master

Remember just as Jesus came into the world in the "form of a servant" (Philippians 2:7) so we are to have a servant's heart. Our heart should desire only that which the Master desires. Can we tell God that we have been a faithful servant as David did in Psalm 119: 22? When our conscience is clear and our souls have the witness of the Holy Spirit that we are asking something that is the will of God, then we can know that God hears us and will come to our aide with all of His strength and power.

Length Isn't What Matters

Is your prayer short and to the point? Don't be afraid that such a prayer won't be answered. Don't think that your prayer must be lengthy and full of words. Most prayers in the Bible are actually quite short. God hears us when we are His humble, obedient servants regardless of the length of our prayers.

Effectual Prayer