Listen to Nancy’s answer recorded live on Moody radio program Mornings with Kelli and Steve.

 


God is God and there is absolutely nothing that passes Him by. He knows everything we are going to say before a word comes out of our mouth.

Psalm 139:1-4 “O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold,O LORD, you know it altogether.”

God is under no obligation to any of us as to how He responds to our prayers. He sees the bigger picture as to how He wants to teach us and how He wants to use us in the midst of our trials.

Here are some of what we do know about prayer:

  • God wants us to pray with a pure heart. Prayer is our line of communication with the Lord. He wants to pray as we read the scriptures as the Holy Spirit teaches us. He wants us to pray for needs to be met according to His will and to His glory. God loves a humble heart. John 5:14 “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
  • God will not answer those with selfish motives. James 4:3 “When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
  • If we are in the midst of living intentionally in sin and will not confess and repent, God will not listen to your prayers. Isaiah 1:15 “When your spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood.”
  • God is not Santa, He is our Savior. God wants us to develop a real and meaningful relationship with Him. Do we spend our time in prayer reading Scripture, praising God for who He is and thanking Him for what He has done for us and for others?

He wants to bless us in many different ways. The key to all prayer is to diligently seeking HIS will so that whatever we pray it will be in alignment with His will and will bring Him all the glory.

Philippians 4: 1, 4-6 “Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved…Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”