Let's Start Praying More (Part 7)

PRAYER ACCORDING TO HIS WILL


“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully,” (Psa 24:4).


Let’s face the facts, most believers have a pretty cavalier attitude when it comes to prayer. Either we do not pray, pray infrequently, or do not have the right heart in our prayers.


“The Gemara says that prayer stands at the very heights of the world, yet it is ‘looked down upon and degraded by man.’” (Praying With Fire, Rabbi Heshy Kleinman)


We either do not approach the Lord in prayer because we do not perceive a power in prayer or we approach in any condition and believe our prayer will be effective. Even a brief examination of scripture will indicate that this is not the case. James tells us “a righteous man” can pray an “effective prayer,” (James 5:16). The implication is that many prayers are not “effective” because the person praying has not properly prepared himself for prayer, i.e., is not “righteous”. Believers, “may not realize how very much the quality of their prayers really does matter.” “But no person should refrain from praying because he feels himself undeserving of a response; he should persevere with his prayer.” (Praying With Fire)


The heart and condition of the person praying comes into the equation because, “the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer,” (1 Pet 3:12). As an example, the petition of Zacharias was “heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,” (Luke 1:13), because “Zacharias and Elizabeth were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the LORD” (Luke 1:6). Although we have imputed righteousness from Jesus Christ, James indicates an obligation to mirror the righteousness of the Son to achieve “effective prayer”. From Everyman’s Talmud we read,


“For a prayer to be heard by God not only must it be sincere, but the person who offers it must be worthy of his petition being answered. ‘Whoever performs the will of the All-present and directs his heart to Him in prayer is heard’ (Exod. R. XXI.3).”


A familiar passage is often referenced to help explain the ineffectiveness of the average prayer.


“This is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” (1 John 5:14-15)


A common response to unanswered prayer is the notion that the prayer was not “according to His will.” While this concept is true, the average believer has a limited scope of what praying “according to His will” encompasses. In addition to the providence of God’s plan, praying “according to His will” includes a heart that seeks to know the LORD and a life that lives in obedience to the commandments of God, i.e., the prayers of “a righteous man,” (James 5:16).


“Praying according to His will” (1 John 5:14), is predicated on a lifestyle lived in obedience to will of God, as David said, “I delight to do Thy will, O my God!” (Psa 40:8), and Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 4:34).


(It was good seeing our friends in Austin - Scott)