Did you ever pray to God and not get an answer to your prayer? Well if you fall into this category, I hope this helps.
If you earnestly desire to get an answer to any prayer that you offer to God, I’d like to suggest the following steps:
- Decide what it is you want
- Concentrate really, really hard on it
- Then pray
Maybe you have already tried this. Do you see any problem here? All right, I’m sorry, I am being a little bit silly with all this. However, I do not doubt that this would probably describe the prayer life of many Christians. Many Christians are what might be referred to as “God Pushers”. They decide what it is THEY want (Step #1 above) and then they attempt to make God bend over backwards, do back flips, etc. and provide this for them. And then, to top it all off, if they do not get an answer they get angry with Him!
Can you see the arrogance of it all? Let me explain. It Is Written in I John 5:14,
“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.”
The key here is that it says, “according to HIS will”. All prayer has to be according to what the Word of God makes available. It is not up to you and me to decide what it is that God should do for us and then strain in prayer to force God’s hand. If you do not know from God that something is available, then all the straining, concentrating or praying will be to no avail.
Now, here’s the part most people do not like to hear. So, how do I know what I can pray for? The answer to this is quite simple, check God’s Word. You mean I actually have to read? God forbid! You would not for one minute think of ordering an item from a store catalog without first checking if such an item existed. Yet when it comes to God, we think God should do whatever it is WE want. How arrogant.
All prayer has to be bound by what God’s Word makes available – seems like such a simple little principle, doesn’t it? I’m sorry to be the one to have to inform you, it is. Just check with God’s Word. I promise you that it won’t hurt.
So, with all this let me revise the steps in order to get answers to prayer:
- Check what God’s Word says is available
- Believe what the Word says
- Pray
And stop pushing God around!