Episode 4
Week 4: Pray Boldly: Understanding God's Requirements for Answered Prayer
Today's episode dives into the vital topic of prayer, focusing on Matthew 7:7, which emphasizes the importance of asking, seeking, and knocking. We explore how to approach prayer in a way that aligns with God’s will, stressing that our motives matter significantly. It’s crucial to understand that our prayers should not stem from selfish desires but rather from a heart that seeks to do good and serve others. We also discuss how immersing ourselves in God's Word can shape our prayers and help us align our desires with His. Lastly, we remind ourselves that even when we struggle to pray, the Holy Spirit is there to guide us, ensuring our prayers are heard and understood by God.
Takeaways:
- Prayer is a powerful tool, but we must align our motives with God's will for effective communication.
- Being immersed in God's Word helps us pray in accordance with His desires and intentions.
- To receive answers to our prayers, we need to remove negativity and focus on serving those in need.
- The Holy Spirit actively aids us in our prayers, particularly when we don't know what to say.
- Maintaining a joyful and thankful attitude while praying continually is vital for a fulfilling spiritual life.
- We are encouraged to boldly approach prayer, recognizing it as a privilege that can transform our lives.
Transcript
Good morning, I'm Yvon Prehn and I'd like to welcome you to Monday Devotions for Church Communicators. This podcast will start your week with Prayer and A Challenge from God's Word.
Our topic for today, Week #4 on Verses on Prayer comes from Matthew 7:7, where it says, ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it will be opened unto you.
We love to read this passage on how God answers prayer, but with this verse, as with all the Bible, we must put this promise in the context of the entirety of God's Word. The next three passages remind us that for God to answer our prayers, he has specific requirements for us.
First, we cannot expect prayers to be answered based on wrong motives or selfish desires. James 4:2-3 says, "You do not have because you do not ask God when you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."
Second, we need to be in His Word and allow His Word to saturate our lives.
When we do that, and our desires are based on God's Word, we know we're praying in a way that if God chooses, He can then answer. In John 15:7, it says, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask what you wish and it will be given you."
Third, the following passage shows us that to expect answers to our prayers, we must put away malicious talk and accusations of others, even the silent ones in our mind. The Lord hears those.
Instead, we must spend ourselves helping those in need because before we can come to the Lord in our prayers, Isaiah 58:9-10 tells us,"Then you will call and the Lord will answer, you will cry for help and he will say, here am I.if you do away with the yoke of oppression, the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will shine in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday."
The verses above may be a bit intimidating and we might think we'll never get an answer to our prayers if we don't pray properly.
But we aren't left alone to do that. We are to pray regardless of our fears and always the Holy Spirit helps us pray in ways that are pleasing to God.
And the Lord wants to hear our prayers. Remember it tells us in Romans 8:26-27 "The Holy Spirit helps in our distress. We don't even know what we should pray for or how we should pray, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying. For the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will."
And then in first Thessalonians 5:16-18, remember that it says,"Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you."
In Christ Jesus we are told to pray continuously and from that continual conversation with our Lord, he can help transform our lives into ones pleasing to him and in which he can answer our prayers.
And having talked about prayer, let me pray for you as you go into your week.
Lord Jesus, help us to realize the extraordinary privilege that we have in being able to pray to you. Lord, make us bold in our prayers.
Help us to check our lives to make sure that we aren't doing anything that's displeasing to you that would hinder our prayers. Help us to truly give ourselves on behalf of those that are in need and to live lives that are pure, clean, and holy that you can delight to bless.
Lord, I pray for all of the people that are working today in church communications that you give them wisdom and I pray that you would give them joy and peace as they serve you. In Jesus name, Amen.
For links to lots more materials to encourage you and help you be a better church communicator, go to the website www.effectivechurchcom.com.
The book that the devotions are from is available on Amazon and it is entitled Devotions for Church Communicators.
Hopefully that's kind of easy to remember and I would encourage you to keep listening each week for more encouragement and prayers for you as you do your incredibly important work.
