“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector"
Luke 18:10–11
God answers all prayer. Sometimes we think that isn't the case. The truth is that sometimes God will say no to our prayer, and we just don't like the answer. God answers all prayer with yes, no, or wait.
So how can we have our prayers answered more often in the affirmative? Is there anything that we can do to cause God to say yes instead of no?
We can start by making sure that we are actually offering our prayers to God. You might be thinking, That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Isn't all prayer offered to God? Actually, no. Haven't you ever prayed and had your mind wander? While you or someone else are praying, you are thinking, Did I turn the iron off when I left the house? I don't know if I did. Oh, I need to call so-and-so. You know, for lunch I think I am going to get a hamburger. . . .
You can be praying with your eyes closed and hands folded, but not be praying at all. By the way, you can pray with your eyes open too. In the Bible, we read of people praying with their eyes open, their eyes closed, and their eyes lifted to heaven. We find them on their knees, laying on their faces, and lifting their hands. Any posture for prayer is acceptable. But the main thing is that our prayer should be to God.
Jesus told the story of the Pharisee who "prayed thus with himself" (Luke 18:11), meaning his prayers basically went no higher than the ceiling, because there was no thought whatsoever of the God he was addressing.
That is why, when the disciples said to Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray," He began His model prayer with the words, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name" (Luke 11:2).
So how can we have our prayers answered more often in the affirmative? Is there anything that we can do to cause God to say yes instead of no?
We can start by making sure that we are actually offering our prayers to God. You might be thinking, That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Isn't all prayer offered to God? Actually, no. Haven't you ever prayed and had your mind wander? While you or someone else are praying, you are thinking, Did I turn the iron off when I left the house? I don't know if I did. Oh, I need to call so-and-so. You know, for lunch I think I am going to get a hamburger. . . .
You can be praying with your eyes closed and hands folded, but not be praying at all. By the way, you can pray with your eyes open too. In the Bible, we read of people praying with their eyes open, their eyes closed, and their eyes lifted to heaven. We find them on their knees, laying on their faces, and lifting their hands. Any posture for prayer is acceptable. But the main thing is that our prayer should be to God.
Jesus told the story of the Pharisee who "prayed thus with himself" (Luke 18:11), meaning his prayers basically went no higher than the ceiling, because there was no thought whatsoever of the God he was addressing.
That is why, when the disciples said to Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray," He began His model prayer with the words, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name" (Luke 11:2).
So to be answered more often in the affirmative, our prayers need to be offered to God.
"Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church"
Acts 12:5
Martin Lloyd Jones said, "Of all of the blessings of a Christian's salvation, none is greater than this. We have access to God in prayer."
Think about the daunting challenge the church of the first century faced. They had no political base, no voting block in the Roman Senate, and no emperor of Rome who was sympathetic toward them. The first Christians did not outargue the pagans; they outlived them. Christianity made no attempts to conquer paganism and dead Judaism blow by blow. Instead, the Christians of the first century outfought, outlived, and outprayed the nonbelievers.
That is because they recognized that their weapons were not physical, they were spiritual. We don't read that the Christians armed themselves and led a revolt against Rome. Rome had the most powerful military on the face of the earth at that time. The first-century believers essentially said, "Let's fight fire with fire. Let's recognize this is a spiritual battle, and let's use spiritual weaponry."
In Acts 12, we find the early church facing an incredible difficulty. Herod had James, who was one of Jesus' disciples and the brother of John, executed. Then he decided to throw Peter in prison. So what did the church do? Did they undertake a campaign to have Herod overthrown? No. We read that "constant prayer was offered to God for [Peter] by the church" (verse 5).
What is the spiritual weaponry that God has given us to fight the battle today? It is primarily prayer and the preaching of the gospel.
The problem is that we don't use this weaponry. We use political means or other avenues to try to solve the problems, and we end up like a person trying to put a forest fire out with a squirt gun. Let's use the spiritual weapons that God has given us.
Think about the daunting challenge the church of the first century faced. They had no political base, no voting block in the Roman Senate, and no emperor of Rome who was sympathetic toward them. The first Christians did not outargue the pagans; they outlived them. Christianity made no attempts to conquer paganism and dead Judaism blow by blow. Instead, the Christians of the first century outfought, outlived, and outprayed the nonbelievers.
That is because they recognized that their weapons were not physical, they were spiritual. We don't read that the Christians armed themselves and led a revolt against Rome. Rome had the most powerful military on the face of the earth at that time. The first-century believers essentially said, "Let's fight fire with fire. Let's recognize this is a spiritual battle, and let's use spiritual weaponry."
In Acts 12, we find the early church facing an incredible difficulty. Herod had James, who was one of Jesus' disciples and the brother of John, executed. Then he decided to throw Peter in prison. So what did the church do? Did they undertake a campaign to have Herod overthrown? No. We read that "constant prayer was offered to God for [Peter] by the church" (verse 5).
What is the spiritual weaponry that God has given us to fight the battle today? It is primarily prayer and the preaching of the gospel.
The problem is that we don't use this weaponry. We use political means or other avenues to try to solve the problems, and we end up like a person trying to put a forest fire out with a squirt gun. Let's use the spiritual weapons that God has given us.
