1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
As much as the above verse is assuring, it also throws many into confusion. How do we pray ‘the will of God’ in crucible circumstances? Jesus explained the simple formula to understand and pray His will in John chapter 15. The beautiful analogy that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches explains the connection and closeness that will reveal the mind of Christ to us. The branch gets the supply of sap from the vine. The sap, ‘God’s will’, is revealed in His Word. To pray effective prayers we must first read His Word. We must never jump into narrating our prayer requests without meditating on God’s word. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you (John 15:7). Praise and worship must always be followed by reading the scriptures.
We can read any excerpts of the Bible but meditating on the book of psalms is like making a local call to Heaven. When your mind digresses into distractions, read the Word and pray the Word. When we repeat scriptures in our prayer we cannot miss the will of God. For example if we are praying about brokenness, barrenness or bondage, read and repeat Psalm 147:3, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds”. Praying the scripture is praying ‘the will of God’.
Three ingredients of effective prayers:
- Connectivity: When we make a phone call and we cannot hear the person on the other side, we know that we have connectivity problems. Our prayer is a phone call to Heaven. Hannah’s countenance was no more sad (1 Samuel 1:18) after she prayed a powerful prayer – “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery..but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 1:11). God quickened her heart and she pledged her promised child back to Him. The assurance of good connectivity in prayer is ‘the peace’ that will flood our hearts after a divine conversation. Communication is complete when the connectivity is good.
- Closet: Close the closet. “When you pray, go into your room and shut the door” (Matthew 6:6a). We can pray when we cook, clean or drive but it is important to have a prayer closet. Daniel prayed in his upper room facing Jerusalem, Jephthah’s prayer closet was Mizpah (Judges 11:11); Jesus went to a lonely place, the mountain top or the wilderness to pray. Communication is clear in the prayer closet.
- Concentration: Prayers with a wandering or worried mind is only a waste of time. Before we are distracted by FaceBook, instagram posts or WhatsApp messages, we must spend time with the Lord. We must switch-off the phone, put the dog out and tune our first few minutes/hours of the day to a ‘prayer mode’. Concentration brings closeness.
Pray the will of God; pray the Word of God.
Matthew 6:6 Pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you”.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, teach me the power of effective prayer by repeating your Word back to you. Amen.
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