The Godly Gazette (How Should we Pray?)

How Should We Pray?

John 14:13-14 - And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. NIV

When Jesus says that we can ask for anything, we must remember that our asking needs to be in His name. This means that you must be asking in accordance with God's character and will. God will not answer prayers that are contrary to His will, which means you can't pray in His name as a magic formula to fulfill your own selfish desires.

Jesus repeats this simple condition of " asking in His name " many times throughout the Bible, giving us encouragement and the promise of answered prayer. However, this does not make our prayers answerable by God just because we add - " in Jesus name " - to the end of them.

The main objective of prayer, as stated by Jesus, is to bring glory to the Father. Thus, prayer should not be about our own wealth, success, prosperity, enjoyment, advancement, or popularity, but only in Christ's name, for His sake, and for His glory.

Before you can pray effectively " in His name " you must believe in the atoning death of Christ. It is important to remember the place and work of the shed blood of Christ, or prayer becomes ineffective, and a delusion. For we are " justified by His blood " (Romans 5:9), and " in Him we have redemption through His blood " (Ephesians 1:7).

1 John 5:14 - This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. NIV

The emphasis here is on God's will, not our will. When we pray and talk with God, we should discuss what He wants for us, rather than our own wants. We can not be sure we are praying " in His name " unless we learn His will for us. As we align our prayers to His will, we can be confident He will give us a definite answer.

James 4:3 - When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

There is nothing wrong with wanting a pleasurable life. In fact, God gives us many promises of a good life, and many gifts for us to enjoy. But if we are seeking pleasure by disobedience to God's Word, or pleasure that keeps us from pleasing God, then we have fallen into sin.

To pray " in His name " is to pray in His character, according to His will; to have His approval in our asking, to seek what He seeks, to ask for help to do what He Himself would want to be done, and to desire to do it not for our own glorification, but for His glory alone.

To pray " in His name " requires identity of interests and purpose. Our aims and desires must be entirely controlled by God's Holy Spirit, so that our wills are in complete harmony with Christ's will. We can never prevail in prayer unless we are studying God's Word to find out His will for us.

Romans 8:26-27 - ... the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words can not express...
... because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. NIV

As believers, we are not left to our own resources. Even when we don't know the right words to pray, the Holy Spirit prays with and for us. With God Himself helping us pray, we need not be afraid to come before Him.

If we ask the Holy Spirit to intercede for us "in accordance with God's will," then we can bring our requests before God, knowing and trusting that He will always answer, according to His will, always doing what is in our best interest.

How God Answers Prayer

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