And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. Part 5
Mathew 21v22
Another companion verse to Mathew 21v22 is:
This is the (remarkable degree of) confidence which we (as believers are entitled to) have before Him: that if we ask anything according to His will, (that is consistent with His plan and purpose) He hears us. And if we know (for a fact, as indeed we do) that He hears and listens to us in whatever we ask, we (also) know (with settled and absolute knowledge) that we have (granted to us) the requests which we have asked from Him. 1 John 5v14-15 AMP
This verse sums up all we’ve been talking about over the last few days. God’s Will is sovereign, but He is not a distant despotic ruler demanding total obedience or else, but is our loving Heavenly Father, offering us the opportunity to join the “family business” of reaching this lost world with the wonderful news of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
His Will is perfect, and His Will, will prevail. When we come to Him through prayer, the purpose should not be to get what we want, but to hear what He has to say about the matter and then, joining our hearts and minds with His we pray, “Thy will to be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.”
God expects us to use our intellectual ability and understanding in our walk with Him. We need to search the scriptures to know what they mean and how to apply them to our lives. We cannot just pick one verse out of scripture and build our own doctrine around it. As we grow up in God and mature spiritually, we will put away childish thoughts that prayer is all about getting what we want from God.
Too many people have abandoned The Faith because of poor teaching about prayer. They’ve had a false picture painted that God is somehow our personal assistant, ready to do our bidding if we just have enough faith. The other extreme is that we just pray “Thy will be done” without any fervent desire to know God’s Will in the matter. Lazy, passionless prayer is as bad as over excited misguided prayer. Neither result in spiritual growth and intimacy with God.
Prayer is communion with God. An attitude of prayer is not bowing our head, putting our hands together and asking God to do what we want Him to do by repeating verses or passages of scripture that line up with our doctrinal views on what He should do. Prayer is rising up to receive understanding from Our heavenly Father on what His purposes are. It is coming into the throne room and having an audience with the King of Kings. It is baring our heart to Him, and bowing our heart to Him. Sometimes this results in great blessing and abundant provision, but sometimes it will result in a period of hardship and suffering. Both can be His Will in a given situation. Both can be a position of faith. Both can bring glory to God.
