BY GREG CRUM
“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” I John 5:14-15
Want a productive prayer life? It’s simple, just pray the known will of God and whatever you ask along those lines will be done! I John 5:14-15 makes a big promise concerning prayer, so big in fact that many try to explain away its open-ended inclusiveness. Yet, I believe both in its literalness and in God’s ability to fulfill His promises. God is not a leprechaun that you have to trick out of his treasure. He’s a loving, actively involved Father that is looking to intervene in the lives of His children in positive ways. He wants to answer prayer and joys in the trust we show in Him when we bring our fellowship and petitions to Him.
Last week we wrote of the occasional stink in life. We mentioned that from time to time the devil, fallen man, and our unrenewed minds and fallen nature conspire to try to fill our lives with the dirtiest of diapers and sweaty armpits. While a lot of people just accept these situations as necessary evils of living on the Earth, there is a Godly solution to this stink. There is a spiritual equivalent to air freshener, deodorant, and scented candles—it’s the prayer of God’s children. Our prayer can sweeten the smell of the environments that we live in. It is one avenue God uses to make our lives “smell” better.
This spiritual air freshener called prayer was a well-utilized tool of the saints of old. Think about Daniel, one of the greatest heroes of the Old Testament. Sure, he is famous for his Godly leadership, courage, and faithfulness to God in the lion’s den, but don’t forget what got him there—it was prayer. Some would say that it was prayer that got Daniel thrown into the lion’s den. I propose that it was the determination to pray in the face of an ungodly edict that got him out! Daniel risked his life to pray. Why? He understood its power and he wasn’t willing to put up with the stink of life even for a month.
Now, some might say, “Well, it may have worked for Daniel, but it doesn’t work for me. My prayers don’t get answered.” Friend, there are reasons for that. Just correct the problems and your prayers will start to be answered. God doesn’t arbitrarily answer some prayers and not others. He’s the epitome of fairness in every situation. If our prayers aren’t getting answered it’s because we’ve not followed God’s written Word on the matter.
“You mean there’s information in the Bible on how to get our prayers answered?” Bingo! For example, in John 15:7 it states that the Word of God needs to be in us if we expect our prayers to be answered (in other words, we need to pray the promises we see in the Bible). In James 4:1-3 it warns against praying with the wrong motives. We’re not going to have success praying for things just for our benefit so we can consume it out of our own lusts. Finally, in Luke 22:39-42 we read that if we fail to pray according to God’s will in a matter, we can’t expect God to intervene in the way we desire.
The solution? Know the Bible. It’s God’s written will, and then pray along those lines!
Brothers and sisters, God desires you to live a good life and “see good days.” (I Peter 3:10) Prayer is a tool that we can use to change the environments that we live and work in. Don’t let the stink in life stop you from enjoying what God has provided for you in this life. Use prayer to freshen every room you walk into, and not only will you be bettered, but so will the people in those places you dwell.
Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.