Conditions for Prayer 8

There is a great promise and another condition for praying effectively in I John 5:14-15, which says, "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us; and if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we desired of him."

Ron Dunn was preaching on prayer one Sunday morning, and he said we could ask God for anything. After the sermon a lady who had been in the service approached him and said, "Brother Dunn, you lied in your sermon this morning." Ron asked the lady in a shocked voice why she would say that. She answered "You said people could pray about anything, but Scripture tells us to pray according to God's will." Ron's wise reply to her was, "Well, if something isn't God's will, you wouldn't want it, would you?"

How about you and me? Would we really want to pray against God's will? It has been well said that the purpose of prayer is not to change God's mind but to lay hold of the highest willingness of God.

Many people claim the promise in Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." But if we truly delight ourselves in the Lord, His desires will become our desires. In other words, He may not change our circumstances to fulfill that promise. He may change us instead.

God hears and answers prayer, but He may say "wait awhile" or "no" or answer in a way we did not expect. Martin Luther said, "All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired, although not in the hour or in the measure, or the very thing which they ask; yet they will obtain something greater and more glorious than they had dared to ask."

Ephesians 3:20 describes God as "him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine." All too often we want to limit our gracious and generous God to our small, self-centered requests. But remember--God gives the best to those who leave the choice with Him.

Father, thank You that You do hear and answer our prayers. Thank You that You do not always give us exactly what we have asked, but You instead give generously and wisely Your best for us. Amen.