PRAYER ANSWERING GOD – PART 4
1 JOHN 5: 14 – 15: 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.
In 2 Chro. 7: 14, God promised that “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (NIV). This is another evidence of God’s love and faithfulness towards man. The Almighty has proven over and over again that while men may not be faithful, He is faithful in His love towards men, which is why He is always willing to give men another chance at all time.
From the Chronicle passage, we see that the problem is not about whether God does answer prayers, but rather whether we are in a good standing for Him to answer our prayers. In the passage, God is saying I don’t have problem with answering prayers, but I require certain conditions to be fulfilled before I am obliged to answer your prayers. The first condition from this passage is that God must be able to recognise you as one of His people. What does it mean to belong to God’s people? Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us an indication of those who are His; that is those who can be considered as God’s people in Mat.7:21 where He stated that "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (NIV). So, from this we can see that a characteristic of God’s people is that they do the will of God. Thus, you can only qualify as one of God’s people if you do His will.
Also, it is important that you are called by His name. However, you can only acquire this status by giving your life to Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ says in Luke 6:48 "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? (NIV). This confirms the fact that it is not just enough for you to profess to be a Christian or to attend Church services, but much more important is your relationship with God the father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit. In order to be called by His name, you must have at one point or the other have given your life to Christ and confessed Him as your Lord and saviour, and then continue to do the will of the father. That is when you can have the confidence that He would hear you when you call
The second condition from this passage is humility. In Jam. 4:10, the bible says
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up” (NIV). What does it mean to be lifted up? Praying to God is an act of humility. When you pray, what you are you are saying is that you have no power of your own and as such cannot help yourself; you are acknowledging your powerlessness and surrendering your plans and cares unto God. It shows that you do not trust in your strength but in the power of God. You are saying that you have no power of your own; you are saying that you cannot help yourself but depending on Him. This is an act of humility. It is only the humble that can recognise their limitations in the affairs of their life and seek God’s face to direct them. When you pray to God it should normally signify an act of absolute surrender. If you are His and have humbled yourself to seek his face, then you can be rest assured that no matter how difficult the matter may be He would show forth His glory through it.
In addition, another condition that you must fulfil for God to answer from heaven is to turn away from your wicked ways. Proverbs 6:12 – 16 describes the characteristics of the wicked. It says “A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth; He winks with his eyes, He shuffles his feet, He points with his fingers; perversity is in his heart, He devises evil continually, He sows discord. Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly; suddenly he shall be broken without remedy” (NKJV). Are any of these found in you? If the answer is yes or you are not sure, then you need to repent today, and the Lord would hear your cry as call unto Him today in Jesus name.
Shalom.
Dr. Yinka Okude
Pastor-in-Charge
RCCG Jesus Sanctuary, Northampton
HYMN: ALL TO JESUS I SURRENDER