Effective Prayer?

February 6

Gaining the answers to our prayers can sometimes be a frustrating endeavor. Who of us, who call ourselves believers in Christ, have not experienced at some time or another the disappointment, the devastation of walking away from the Throne of Mercy and Grace without the answer for which we asked.

In James 4:3, we are given an insight as to why we may find ourselves empty handed, why our prayers sometimes seem to bounce off the ceiling. Here, the Lord’s brother shares some revealing information, “Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

We are not to ask anything of God simply that we may be aggrandized, but beyond the admonition as to why we don’t receive, there are some truths that suggest how we may receive. Jesus said, for example in Matthew 21:22, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask in prayer.” Sometimes, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that we take our supplications before Him but we doubt that He actually hears. In John 16:24, Jesus tells us that effective prayer must be in His name.

There is a power attached to praying in the authority He has Himself given to believers. The Lord wants to answer our prayers so our joy, “will be complete.” In Romans 8:26, Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit will help us to know how to pray effectively, that He will intercede in our behalf. Applying these three basic steps may just set us on our way to the answers for which we seek. May we employ them in faith and may He glorify Himself in the answers that He supplies.