How long oh Lord will You forget me
How long oh Lord will You hide
Hide Your face from me
How long must I wrestle with me
And everyday have sorrow in my heart
Sorrow in my heart
I will wait on You
I will wait on You
I will wait on You
Look on me Lord and answer me
Give my eyes light or i will sleep in death
I will sleep in death
My enemies say “I will overcome him”
And my foes rejoice even when I fall
I don’t want to fall
For I will trust in Your unfailing love
My heart rejoices in Your salvation
I will sing to the Lord
by Steve Fuller, Living By Faith blogger
What do you consider prayer for? Are you praying / wishing for things, for material items? Are you praying / wishing for ways to better your work/life balance? Are you praying / wishing out of malice or ignorance, because you don’t know enough about God’s Word to know His will?
What do you do in moments when your heart urgently longs for something, but you have no control over whether or not you get it? Do you wish or pray?
You’ve heard the phrase “Prayer Changes Things”, but you’re not sure how that happens. You have to ask yourself several questions.
First, have you asked? Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Under certain circumstances, like that car you’ve been eyeing is not likely to be answered in the way you would like. We are blessed by what the Lord grants and denies. It may not be a Cadillac but instead a Chey, something to get your where you need to go and accommodate the job you need doing.
Second, do you have unconfessed sin? Psalm 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” Proverbs 15:29, “The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.” Proverbs 28:9, “One who turns his ear from the hearing of the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” God wants you to be restored. We are all sinners and have come short of the glory of God. But through confessing our sins and asking forgiveness, we walk right into the light of God. We put off the old ways and become new from the inside out. Get rid of your junk and don’t look back for it again.
Thirdly, is your mind unbelieving? Are you praying without believing that God will do what He says He will do? James 1:5-8 says, “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. 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. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Next are your motives unrighteous? Our motives when we pray, are they for God’s glory or for our self interest. We must pray in faith and according to God’s will in any situation. Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Pray “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10. We have to weigh the motives of our hearts, people don’t get what they ask for because they are asking for the wrong reasons. It’s not that we can’t pray for that car but when we use that car will it be for God’s glory. 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.” The key is according to His will.
Then you ask, do I have any unresolved conflicts? Is there someone we have failed to forgive for something they might have done to us. Mark 11:25 says, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.” The Lord’s prayer again says in Matthew 6:12, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” When we have bitterness or resentment in our hearts, it is self-destructive. God gave us forgiving hearts so when we pray to Him we pray in a spirit of grace.
Ask yourself, do I have an uncompassionate heart? There is a lot of need out there in the world. Some of which we can give aid to. But Proverbs 21:13 says, “Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard.” And 1 John 3:17 tells us, “Whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” If someone needs our help and we refuse, we are neglecting them, and in turn we are disrespecting our fellowship with God and it blocks His answers to our prayers. 1 John 3:22, “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”
In a nutshell, when you pray if the request is wrong…the answer is “NO”. If the timing is slow…the answer is “WAIT”. If something needs to be fixed…the answer is “GROW”.
If the request is right; if the timing is right; if you are right;
God’s answer is “GO”.
Keep praying, if you don’t ask you won’t get. We always must pray and not lose heart.
If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus and would like one, with an open heart, pray your first prayer to Him by praying this little prayer and invite Him in as your Saviour
Now you can pray anytime, anywhere, about anything…He is waiting and listening. There is never a busy signal or internet interuption. Just being able to talk to Jesus is comforting. God hears every prayer, that’s assuring.
May God Bless You