Prayer is petitioning God and receiving from Him
Welcome, dear friends! Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
We are still talking about a very important topic: “Organization of effective prayer life”. Let’s discuss some more aspects of effective prayer.
- Prayer is petitioning God and receiving from Him.
I want to add the word ‘receiving’, because Jesus says that everyone who asks receives. When we talk about prayer then the first thing we need to do is to ask God to reveal His will to us.
«Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened» (Mathew, 7:7-8).
This passage of Scripture reveals three levels of praying. I really want you to see it. There are quite many places in the Bible where God has made known to us His desires and His will and promises. We can ask in prayer when the will of God has been revealed and made known.
«Now 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, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him» (1 John, 5:14-15).
You cannot ask anything that comes to your mind; you must ask according to His will. Many people do not know this truth and imagine that they can ask anything; they then complain that prayer does not work. No, that is not true! Prayer works! But it is essential what you ask God in prayer! If what you ask is not God’s will, then God won’t give it to you. And He will not give it to you, because He loves you.
But if we ask according to His will, then we know that He hears us. And if He hears us, then we know that we receive what we ask for. How do we know that God hears us? Where do we find this confidence to ask Him? Confidence and boldness in prayer comes when we know from God’s Word that our petition complies with His will. It applies to material, spiritual and every other area of our lives. If God says that His will for us is that we mature in Christ, then we can pray for our spiritual growth and be confident that we will get it, because God has explicitly revealed it in His Word.
Let’s look at one more component of effective prayer life.
- Prayer is seeking of God’s will.
Let’s look at the next part of Mathew (7:7): «…seek, and you will find». You must not only ask, but also seek. What is prayer? Prayer is the search for God’s will. Sometimes the will of God is not totally revealed to us. If God’s will is not revealed to you, but you know that you can ask and be confident of the answer only when you know God’s will, then prayer moves to another level; it is the level of seeking God’s will. In this case you are asking God for His perspective on your need. God says in the book of Isaiah that if you ask Him you will find Him, if you search for Him with your whole heart.
“Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah, 29:12-13).
Search for God in prayer! Seek those things that are above! Search out the will of God! And you will surely find!
God bless you!
Pastor Rufus Ajiboye
