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Most importantly, when we pray we must have a right standing with God.\u00a0 We cannot expect God to heed our requests if we are living in rebellion to Him.<\/li>\nRight Standing<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
The privilege of approaching God with our supplications rests on our relationship with God through His Son: Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Only those who are part of God\u2019s family can claim Him as their Father (John 1:12-13<\/a>) and expect Him to honor his pledge to answer our prayers (1 John 5:14-15<\/a>).\u00a0 He makes no such pledge to the unsaved, except in regards to those who accept Jesus and ask for forgiveness of their sins (Romans 10:8-9<\/a>).<\/p>\n To know God\u2019s will our spirit must be submitted to God (James 4:7<\/a>) and we must release the outcome we desire and be willing to accept His plan.\u00a0 We come to know God\u2019s will by studying the scriptures.\u00a0 This is where God speaks to us, helping us learn about Him and His plan for our life (2 Timothy 3:16-17<\/a>).\u00a0 We must pray in agreement with God\u2019s purpose, (Romans 8:26<\/a>) not seek selfish desires.<\/p>\n Does this mean we cannot pray for our own desires?\u00a0 Certainly not!\u00a0 But we must not approach prayer as though God were our sugar daddy<\/a>.\u00a0 It would be inappropriate for me to pray for a shiny new car just because I want to impress my friends.\u00a0 But if my car just died and I need one to get to work, to church, and to do the things I do in the community; it would certainly be appropriate to pray to God for a solution.\u00a0 But I must be open to His solution.<\/p>\n There are some things that never fit with God\u2019s will: such as revenge, or willing harm to come to others.\u00a0 Requests prompted by pride, ambition, or anger are out of bounds.\u00a0 Nor should we pray over trivial matters such as what color shirt to wear today.\u00a0 Nor common-sense issues like whether we should call in sick so we can go fishing instead.<\/p>\n As long as we have a right standing with God and are praying in agreement with His will, we can and should pray with confidence.\u00a0 We should depend on the Holy Spirit to help us align our prayers with the Lord\u2019s will, but our prayers should never be timid.\u00a0 James 1 says, \u201c6<\/sup>\u00a0But 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.\u00a0 7<\/sup>\u00a0For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;\u201d<\/p>\n In His sermon on the mount, Jesus uses three verbs to describe prayer: ask, seek, and knock.\u00a0 You will notice the changing intensity of these actions.\u00a0 They go from a request, to a search, to a physical action.<\/p>\n We ask (make a request), seek (search the Word for what He has said on this topic) and explore all possible solutions (knocking on doors) instead of focusing on one solution, or on the problem itself.<\/p>\n Prayer is not simply demanding things of God.\u00a0 If we are dissatisfied with the results of our prayers or wonder if God hears us, we need to reexamine the points listed above: are we walking with Jesus, is what we\u2019re asking aligned with God\u2019s will, and are we open to alternative answers?\u00a0 If so, then it\u2019s a matter of patience and persistence.\u00a0 Continue praying and watching, assured that He will answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Prayer is a Christian’s most powerful means of effecting change in our own life, the life of those around us, and in the world. Having said that, there are some caveats to bear in mind. Most importantly, when we pray we must have a right standing with God. We cannot expect God to heed our … Continue reading “Ask, Seek, Knock in Prayer”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[78],"class_list":["post-16807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matters-of-faith","tag-christian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16807"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20451,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16807\/revisions\/20451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Aligned with God\u2019s Will<\/h2>\n
Pray with Confidence<\/h2>\n
Progression of Prayer<\/h2>\n
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<\/a>Prayer is more than holding up a list of desires.\u00a0 Praying to God involves two way communication: we speak to God through prayer and He speaks to us through His Holy Word, and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 We must be attentive if we are to hear Him.<\/p>\nSummary<\/h2>\n