The Challenge
Spend a few minutes reading, praying, and meditating on the following verses:
1 John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Challenge: In your journal (or here https://www.quiettime.today/journal) write down 1 or 2 things that you are unhappy, angry, or anxious about. Then apply the following acronym:
P our out your feelings towards God in prayer, tell Him how you feel about it
R ealize that God can change everything, including the things you do not like
A lign your will (thinking and emotions) with God’s, see things from His perspective
Y ield yourself to do God’s will, no matter how hard or difficult
Bonus verse:
John 16:24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
More information: https://www.quiettime.today/blog/challenge-3
More Information
The topic of day 3 is prayer. Prayer is amazing. It is mindblowing to realize that we can communicate, one on one, with the Creator of the universe and everything that is in it. What an incredible privilege. And there are some strong promises attached to our prayers, about God hearing them and answering them, giving us the things we ask Him.
John 16:24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Mark 11:24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Psalm 102:17 He shall regard the prayer of the destitute, and shall not despise their prayer.
Does this mean that God will give us everything we ask Him? That is certainly not my experience, and it is also not what the Bible teaches. The condition for getting your prayers answered is that they are actually in line with God’s will. See the following verses on the conditions for getting your prayers answered:
1 John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
James 4:2b Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
John explains that God hears us when we pray according to His will, and if we do so, He will give us what we ask. James tells us that we don’t receive things because we don’t ask. But then even if we ask, if we ask for things for the wrong reasons (to fulfill our own pleasure), we will still not get what we want.
God will give His children good things when they ask Him. That is what a loving father does as well. If you love your children, you will not give them a Mercedes Benz convertible for their 16th birthday. That will spoil them. So even though they may ask you for one, you would not give it to them. But if they ask for something that is good for them, like healthy food when they’re hungry, you would totally give it to them. That is how God deals with us as well.
Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Compare this with the same version in Mark:
Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
The best thing God can give us is the Holy Spirit, because it is having God inside of yourself. It is becoming a partaker of the divine nature, having God Himself guide and direct you. If you ask this in faith, without doubting, you will get it. But if you doubt God, if you do not trust Him, He will not give you anything.
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
Now what to do when God does not immediately give you what you are asking for? Perhaps you should ask it again. Both Jesus and Paul prayed three times when they really wanted something from God. Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39-44) and Paul with regards to his thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). For both these super saints, the answer was no. It was not God’s will and thus they did not get what they asked for. But in both cases, it was best that God did not give them what they asked.
So how do we know what we should pray for? For one thing, when we are in trouble, we should call out to God and ask His help.
Psalm 50:15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
When God saves us out of a challenging situation, and we praise Him afterwards for His deliverance, we bring Him glory (make Him look good). This is one of the most important purposes of our prayers, to bring glory to God.
John 14:13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
(Asking things in Jesus’ name is similar to asking things according to God’s will.)
Paul tells us that we should pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and that whenever we feel anxious, we should pray to God (Philippians 4:6). Praying without ceasing means that we are in communication with God on an ongoing basis. We walk through life with Him and pray continuously throughout the day to Him, about big things, but also about small ones. That is how you build up a track record with God, which is the foundation for your trust relationship with Him.
It is of course also good to pray for others, for their physical and spiritual wellbeing. If you are righteous, it will go a long way.
James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
John 9:31 Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.
Psalm 34:15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.
Many of these principles about prayer are summarized in the following acronym PRAY, by my former pastor Bill Cobb (source: http://truthbase.net/sermons/title/prayer-in-the-garden/):
P our out your feelings towards God in prayer, tell Him how you feel about it.
R ealize that God can change everything, including the things you do not like.
A lign your will (thinking and emotions) with God’s, see things from His perspective.
Y ield yourself to do God’s will, no matter how hard or difficult.
Comments
Respond to this Post