answered prayers | truthandlove

How do we know that our prayers will always be heard and received by God?

We know here in America, when we send a letter to someone, before it reaches the addressee, the letter must be properly stamped, guaranteeing its assurance of delivery . Without the proper stamp there will be no delivery.This is a requirement to send any mail in America or other Countries in the world. This is one of our methods of communicating to people away from us. There are some other methods to communicate to others like telephones, telegraph, text, email, radio, television, etc. Regardless of the methods we use, there is always a prerequisite before we can communicate to others who are far away from us.

Amazingly, when it comes to prayer, many people have also different belief of how God will hear and receive our prayer. Some believe that God will always hear and receive our prayer, because he already knew before we ask Him. (Matt.6:8) says--"Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him". It is so obvious that our Father knows what we need before we ask Him because He is omniscient-meaning - He is all -knowing. There are countless of verses in the Bible that God knows things before it happens. Sometimes He just lets it happen and sometimes He interferes according to His will.

When it comes to prayer sometimes God will hear the prayer and sometimes He will not hear for some reason. (Psalm 66:18) says-"If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened". Here we could see that sin disqualifies the petitioneer and God would not listen if we hide sin in our heart. But a blameless heart gives assurance that God hears our prayer.

Also some people say that God will always answer our prayer. It could be Yes or No or Wait. But the Bible says the opposite. How can God always answer prayer that He never heard and received because we are asking for wrong motives. (James 4:3) says- " When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motive, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures". God will always hear and receive the prayer of a blameless heart.

If we are honest to ourselves, many times when we pray, we just force ourselves to believe that God will give what we ask for, and sometimes we become frustrated when we are disappointed. Some people just keep on praying, and sometimes God answers their prayer and sometimes He does not. But the key is that they do not have a concrete knowledge why God sometimes answers and sometimes He does not. Therefore, it so critical that we should know the proper way of prayer which is the only way to communicate with God. There is only one proper method of prayer --that is--"We pray in the Holy Spirit to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ".

(Ep.6:18a) says--"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Praying in the Holy Spirit is not turning in a grocery list to God. It means that we recognize our enemy and that we lay hold of God for Spiritual resources. We lay hold of God for that which is spiritual that we might be filled with all the fullness of God. Paul here distinguishes between prayer and request. Prayer is general. Request is specific. All effective prayers must be in the Spirit.

We have to realize that once we are born again in the family of God, there starts the spiritual warfare. The enemy will never stop confronting us to break our walk with God. In this case we must stand firm and be filled with the Holy Spirit consistently in order to win the battle. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit once we are born again, and that is permanent.The Holy Spirit leaves in us and He will never leave us. But filling with the Holy Spirit is conditional and subject to our obedience to God and it is not permanent. It comes and goes. When ever we quench or grieve the Holy Spirit we become helpless in our Spiritual warfare against the enemy, because the Holy Spirit does not fill us when we sin. Therefore, we must always confess our sin right away in order to be connected with God again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. (1John 1:9) says- "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." It is very important then that before we pray we must be sure that we are filled with the Holy Spirit in order to say an effective prayer in the Holy Spirit.

(Rom 8:26) says--"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 cannot express." The Holy Spirit helps our weakness (Our inability to pray intelligently about situations) by praying with unutterable groans. Such intercession is in accord with Gods will. (Rom. 8:27) says--"And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with Gods will." Here we can see clearly that our prayer will always be heard and receive by God the Father thru the intercession of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Whenever we are filled with the Holy Spirit our prayer will always reach God the Father.

When our prayer reaches God the Father, Jesus who is the mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5) will speak to the Father in our defense (1John 2:1). He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins (1John2:2). That is why we always end our prayer in Jesus name because Jesus speaks to the Father in our defense.

Jesus Himself said (John 14:13:14)--"And I will do what ever 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. " What does it mean to us in the name of Christ? To pray in his person means to be standing in his place. It means to be fully identified with Him, joined to Christ. It means that you and I are pleading the merits of his blessed son when we stand before God the Father. God hears our prayers when they are in the name of Christ. Praying in Jesus name is presenting it in his merit and for Fathers glory. A prayer that enable God to be glorified in the son is the prayer that He will answer.

I truthfully believe when we pray in the Holy Spirit to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, we could see the three persons of the trinity talk to each other in agreement. This is how we know that our prayers will always be heard and received by God.

When our prayer is heard and received by God what answer then will we expect from Him? There is only one answer that we expect --that is--God will always answer what we ask for according to His will or better than we ask for according to His will.

Written by Osmundo Sabado

Edited by Orman Sabado