Confidence In Our Prayers
Devotion 5 - Confidence in our Prayers
Prayer is one of the most
important things a Christian can do. It is the vehicle for daily dialogue with the One who
created us. It is so important that it was mentioned over 250 times in the
Scriptures and it should be
taken very seriously.
Ps.145:17-18 – “The Lord is righteous
in all his ways, gracious in all his works.
The Lord is near to all
who call upon Him, to all who call upon him in truth.”
Yet many people feel that their
prayers are not heard by God. They pray and pray but it seems that God is not
listening and thus, not answering their prayers. However, the Bible clearly tells us that God
is near to those who call upon Him in truth. Hence, He hears us if we are
sincere in our prayers.
However,
if we still live a sinful lifestyle and are not ready to obey Him, or if we
still want to walk in our own ways and refuse to heed His teachings, then our
prayers will probably not be heard by God.
Isa.59:1-3 – Behold, the Lord’s hand
is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.
But your iniquities have separated you
from your God; and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not
hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with
iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity…”
Here
Isaiah rebuked the Israelite nation – though they have made sacrifices and
prayed to God, their prayers were not heard by God. From these verses, we learn
that even if we call upon the Lord in truth but still persist in a life of
sins, our prayers will not be heard. We have to depart from sin and live a life
of righteousness according to the word of God.
Our
confidence of God listening to our prayers is in the fear of the Lord.
Acts 10:1-4 – “There was a certain man in Caesarea called
Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and
one who feared God with all his
household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God
always. About the
ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in
and saying to him, “Cornelius!” And when he observed him, he was afraid, and
said, “What is it, Lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for
a memorial before God.
The Bible tells us that Cornelius was a man who feared God and
prayed to God even before he knew Jesus.
He was mentioned again in Acts
10 where he was described as a man who feared God and those who served in his
household described him as a just man.
Acts 10:22 – “And they said, “Cornelius the centurion,
a just
man, one who fears God and has a
good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a
holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you.”
So, in our lives, if we want
our prayers to be heard by God, we too must fear God. It was also promised in Psalm
145:19 that “He
will fulfil the desire of those who fear Him; he also will hear their cry and
save them.
In the book of Hebrews, it even says that Jesus’
prayers were heard because of His fear towards the father.
Heb. 5:7 – “who, in the days
of His flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement
cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and was heard because of his godly
fear…”
We are who we are because
of the grace of God and we draw the grace of God upon our lives through our
prayer life. Our life and ministry cannot be bigger than our prayer life! If we
want to be effective and fruitful for the Lord, we need to learn to walk in
fear of Him.
A Book of Remembrance
Mal.3:16 – “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance
was written before him. For those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name.
This
is a metaphorical expression and the expression is to convey that God takes
special notice and gives special honour to those who fear Him and who encourages
each other in the fear of the Lord.
Prayer of
those who do not fear God
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