Acceptable Prayer

When a person runs into trouble in his or her life they are often counseled to pray. That is usually one of the very first things that are done and most certainly we ought to turn to God in our times of trouble. James says, "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray." (James 5:13 NAS) The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us to "draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. 4:16 NAS)

What we often fail to consider is that both writers are writing to Christians, not just anyone but to God's own people. Let us take a look at some passages.

Prov. 15:8, "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord." (NASU) Prov. 15:29, "The Lord is far from the wicked." (NASU) And, now get this, Prov. 28:9, "He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination." (NASU)

God does not listen to just anyone's prayer (in the sense of heeding it). In Isaiah chapter one God is speaking to his people, people who have departed from him, through the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah says of them, "They have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away from Him." (Isa. 1:4 NASU) Then he follows up in verse 15 speaking for God, "So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen." (Isa. 1:15 NASU)

For a person's prayer to be found acceptable to God one prerequisite is to be a faithful child of his. Actually there are two prerequisites in that - (1) be a child of God and (2) be faithful. Does this mean God will not hear the prayer of one who is not a Christian?

That depends. Is the person one who is seeking God and who will, as quickly as he can learn it, believe and obey what God has to tell him? If so, like Cornelius in Acts 10, God will listen. It is said that Cornelius "prayed to God continually" (Acts 10:2 NAS) and then when the angel appears to him the angel says, "Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God." (Acts 10:4 NAS) As soon as Peter arrived and told Cornelius what God would have him do he believed and obeyed what he was told.

However, if you are one who is not truly seeking God, but only one who is seeking to get out of a tight spot, and there is no true repentance, then you fit into that class mentioned in Prov. 28:9, "He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination." (NAS) One must be willing to hear what God says and be willing to follow God to have his prayer considered.

Now, please do not misunderstand. One can truly repent and turn back to God even though in days gone by he had turned away. Peter told Simon, a Christian, after Simon's sin to repent and pray (Acts 8:22 NAS), the prayer coming after the repentance. The main point here is that one must be seeking God sincerely and be willing to obey him if he is to have hope that God will look favorably upon his prayer.

We know God always heard Jesus' prayers. Jesus himself said, speaking to the Father prior to raising Lazarus from the dead, "I know that You always hear Me." (John 11:42 NKJV) Elsewhere he says, "And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him." (John 8:29 NAS) The blind man who Jesus restored sight to, while not an inspired man, yet says the truth in John 9:31 "We know that God does not hear sinners; but if any one is God-fearing, and does His will, He hears him." (NAS) This was the settled belief of the Jews of that day and was more than just that, it was the truth. The next verse makes it certain this conclusion is correct.

John says, speaking to Christians, "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight." (1 John 3:21-22 NAS)
Now, why is it we have our prayers answered? Because we keep his commandments and do those things that please God.

So far we have seen that to have effective prayer we must (1) be a child of God or one who is sincerely seeking him as Cornelius was and who will become a child of his as soon as he learns what is required, (2) be faithful if already a child of his or be one who is truly repentant from the heart, and (3) be one who is actively involved in doing the things that please God (the "be faithful" of 2 above), keeping his commandments.

The purpose of this article is to help and not to create despair thus I want to emphasize that even though a Christian has not always been faithful that does not mean God will not hear his prayer provided he sincerely repents. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." (Psalms 51:17 NASU)

What are some other things that might hinder our prayers? Well, one is what you ask for and why. "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures." (James 4:3 NAS) We hardly ever see things that way for to us all our requests are needs, not pleasures. We develop an expensive lifestyle and have many bills to pay and thus we consider prayers to maintain all of that as necessary and proper.

One way to measure whether or not your prayers will be pleasing to God is to ask yourself how your prayers would compare to the prayers of Jesus and the prayers of Paul. If I want my prayers to be answered I need to, as much as I can, pray like they prayed and pray for the same kinds of things. The emphasis needs to be on the spiritual.

This assuredly does not mean it is wrong to pray for the things of a this worldly existence as flesh and blood men. Jesus in teaching his disciples how to pray included this - "Give us this day our daily bread." (John 6:11 NAS) John said, "Beloved, I pray that in all respect you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers." (3 John 2 NAS) [Do not let yourself get led astray with the word "prosper" here for it must be read and considered with James' passage on prayer (James 4:3). It would not be improper to pray for prosperity if it was to be used for godly purposes rather than to spend it on our pleasures. It all involves the motive. What will you do with the prosperity when you receive it?]

Then Peter tells us, as Christians, to cast all of our anxiety upon him "because He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7 NAS) Oftentimes that anxiety that hits us is because of the problems other loved ones are having. Did you know it is sin not to pray for others?

Samuel said of himself in reference to the children of Israel, "Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you." (1 Sam. 12:23 NKJV) Jesus says, and this is in the form of a command, "pray for those who persecute you." (Matt. 5:44 NAS) Does that leave you with a choice? Paul says, "I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity." (1 Tim. 2:1-2 NAS)

Paul says we are to imitate him, "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." (1 Cor. 11:1 NAS) When we do that we will pray for others. Read 2 Cor. 13:9, Phil. 1:9, Col. 1:9, and 2 Thess. 1:11. Paul continually prayed for others and we are to imitate him.

Did Paul think those prayers would make a difference? He surely did for he asks others to pray for him. Why do so if there is nothing to be gained by prayer? He says, "Brethren, pray for us." (1 Thess. 5:25 NAS) Then in Rom. 15:30 we read, "strive together with me in your prayers to God for me." (NAS)

Prayer is actually a Christian work or labor as suggested by the word "strive." Paul, speaking of Epaphras, says to the Colossians, he is "always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers." (Col. 4:12 NAS) So prayer is a labor when we pray for others. It is a striving.

Prayer is also considered a sacrifice to God when given properly. The Hebrew writer says, "Through Him (Jesus - DS) then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name." (Heb. 13:15 NAS) We must remember prayer is not just about asking for things. It is also a time to give thanksgiving and praise and glory to God.

While generally speaking we have a good idea of how to give thanksgiving to God we do not always have a good grasp on how to praise him and give him proper glory. I offer this as my personal opinion only but read the book of Psalms time and time again for it is full of David giving God glory and praise which is the very thing we all need to incorporate in our prayers. He is worthy and we are beholden to him. If one wants to learn how to pray the book of Psalms is a great place to learn. David spoke by means of inspiration and inspiration knows how to give God glory and praise pleasing and acceptable to him.

"Pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (I Thess 5:17-18 NAS) "In everything give thanks" is a necessary part of acceptable prayer. We have all been around people that seem to be ungrateful. They are not naturally likable people. On the other hand find some one who seems to be exceedingly thankful and it is a joy to be in their presence and we remember them with fondness and, if possible, we find ways to do them even more good knowing they will appreciate it and we will be rewarded by their thankfulness even yet again. We are made in God's image. Do you think God does not find joy in thanksgiving to him for his kindness and blessings to us?

And then in the same passage Paul says to "pray without ceasing." Jesus had said this earlier for Luke says of him in Luke 18:1, "He (Jesus - DS) was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart." (NAS) As you recall this parable was the one of the widow who went to the judge continually until he finally granted her request "lest by continually coming she wear me out." (Luke 18:2-5) We should never give up in despair on prayer.

If one only prays once for a thing how badly does he want the thing or how badly does he need it which is a better way of phrasing it? Why does God not respond to a prayer immediately granting one's request? Since the Bible does not say we can only make a man made observation and tell the reader to take it for what it is worth which may or may not be anything.

If God was to answer every prayer immediately and positively would that not lead to him being diminished in our own eyes? Would we not have less respect and reverence for him leading to less dependence? It would be like we snap our fingers and God jumps to answer our prayer immediately and positively lest we become angry with him. In a sense we would replace him as the one who was Lord for it would be like we were giving the orders and he was our servant to serve us up with our requests as quickly as possible.

We have all seen parents who spoiled their children and we have generally seen where that leads. The kids have less and less respect for Mom and Dad. The kids come to see Mom and Dad as two individuals they have power over to manipulate anyway they desire for anything and everything they want. Would this not happen with us in our relationship with God if we were to immediately receive every request we make and that immediately?

This is not to say we ought to pray with doubt in our hearts as to God granting our request for the Bible teaches just the opposite. We must pray believing God will respond to our prayer. James says of the man who prays for wisdom but doubts that he will receive it will not receive it. Why not? Because he did not ask "in faith without any doubting." (James 1:5-6 NAS)

But, God is not to be seen as just a give me machine, a sort of ATM machine where you can make withdrawals continually without making deposits. In fact, if we want our prayers to God to be answered it is required we do our part. We cannot pray for food, clothing, and shelter and then do nothing on our part to acquire those things without work. I think James may well have been speaking of the spiritual gift of wisdom in James 1:5 (see 1 Cor. 12:8) but if I was to pray for wisdom today could I have it? Yes, but it would be granted on the basis of my commitment to study long and hard the word of God.

I recently wrote an article on healing for the brokenhearted. Of course prayer is a part of that, dependence on God. But even in that can healing be expected to be granted instantly and without effort on our part, effort to help ourselves by getting back out and socializing and making an effort to rebuild our lives?

Yes, God answers prayer but we need patience to wait on the answer rather than to expect an instant miracle. Furthermore, we should expect to find the answer through the working of God's providence in our life and there is a time factor built into that.

Space is rapidly running out so I mention briefly only a couple of other things. We cannot expect God to answer our prayers if we hold ill will toward others and will not forgive. He will not forgive our own sins if we will not forgive others. If I make myself a sinner before God by refusing to forgive others can I expect to have my prayers answered?

We have to pray for things, if we expect our requests to be answered, that are in accord with God's will. He gives only what is best as "every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above." (James 1:17 NAS) Why pray for myself that God grant me a new half million dollar home? I don't need it and neither do you and we know what he has said about those who desire to be rich in the book of 1 Timothy (6:8-10).

What I am getting at is that if we want our prayers to be answered we need to learn to pray for the kind of things we know would please God if we asked for them. Solomon's request for wisdom to rule God's people is a perfect example of this (2 Chron 1:7-12).

Finally, it may be God's will, because it is best for us, to delay answering, in at least the way we want, for a time, for our own good. Peter says, "it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong." (1 Peter 3:17 NAS) There are lessons to be learned and character to be built in suffering that can be learned in no other way and sometimes it is God's will for our good, the greater good.

On the other side of that present suffering there are blessings to be had that cannot be gotten to without first going through the suffering. Joseph could only save his family from starvation by first going through the suffering of being sold into slavery.

Suffering is a part of the Christian life to be expected. Paul suffered, Christ suffered, all that live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim. 3:12). Suffering is not the failure of prayer so we should not see it as that.

Books have been written on the subject of prayer. There is much more that could and should be said but this article is already too long. Do not give up on prayer. Strive hard to live a righteous life for "the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." (James 5:16 NAS)