Second, we must pray believing, for God said, "And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Mt. 21:22). "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6). An essential ingredient in prayer is to come believing that God hears prayer and that He is a prayer-answering God. A good practice is to make a list of our requests and, after we have prayed for them, to mark down the date of the answer. Many never expect to see God work miracles in answer to prayer and because of their lack of faith, they never get their prayers answered.
A third ingredient for prayer is that we pray in His will. "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us; and if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him" (1 Jn. 5:14-15). Prayer is to be in God's will, according to His will, for Him to answer our prayer.
In all three of these instructions God makes blanket statements that whatsoever we ask, we will have. For results, we need to be sure prayer has these three ingredients.
Application. "Pray for all that are in authority...that they may be saved" 1 Tim' 2:1-4. Now this staggers me. Who are these? I do not know but they have big time influence, for they are "in authority". When have you heard this prayed in any church and yet it is in the Bible. Don't fuss about those in authority if you have not prayed for them like God told us. Pray for all men, that is some 7 billion people but not all are in authority. These in authority will impact our country. Pray "they might be saved" and "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Make sense? Love you, ABC Sumner
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"The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart" over their sins or needs. Ps 34:18
