While praying for some specific blessings, people isolate themselves, like Monks, fast, make great promises and vows to God, while adopting various postures while praying. Many think that promises will be reconsidered once the answers are received from God. But does God really care about or consider our such vows before answering or rejecting our prayers and supplications? What must one do to be counted worthy by Him to hear and answer or prepare us for better blessings in His time and place?
Finding the right way to seek answers to prayers – Moses had to flee from Egypt to the wilderness after killing an Egyptian supervisor who was harassing the Israelites. There he was married to Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, the Midianite priest. His forty years spent in caring for Jethro’s sheep, transformed him into a humble and a real leader to lead his people out of the Egyptian bondage. God appeared to him in and through the ‘Burning Bush’ to send him back to Egypt for this mission. Moses had experienced the attitude of his people, to say to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them’ (Exodus 3:13-15).
Whatever we ask in prayer, we hope and have faith that God will answer our prayers. Keeping fast, making vows and using various postures in prayer are all aimed at getting an answer. Moses’ question was about knowing the real essence of God as revealed in His name to be able to convince his people. God revealed His name as ‘Ehyeh asher Ehyeh’ or I AM who I AM’, thus revealing His eternal existence, without beginning or end. With this revelation Moses could go, perform all those miraculous deeds in Egypt and lead his people to freedom. He received the Ten Commandments from God as a guide for all the people to live in the ways of God.
He then expressed his desire to know God more intimately. Moses asked God, ‘Please, show me Your glory’ (Exodus 33:18). God proclaimed the essence of His name to him, ‘The LORD, the LORD GOD, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and children’s children to the third and the fourth generation’. All these are the characteristics of God by which He must be known. The first aspect of praying for answers is to know the God we seek, intimately. We have a promise from our Lord Jesus, ‘whatever you ask in My name, that I will do’ (John 14:13). But is the name of Jesus Christ a key to open the doors to heaven, to receive answers to prayers? To know Him is about aligning our lives and prayers in line with His character and for that His knowledge is essential.
The second part is to know your own position in relation to God. Every believer receives the right to be a child of God and has a right to be in His presence in faith (John 1:12). Apostle Peter had undergone every possible situation in faith, to follow Him, walk on water, deny Him, return and be restored, reach out to believers all over and finally be ready and accept martyrdom. He has identified every believer as of ‘a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light’ (1 Peter 2:9). With this personal position clearly established in relation to our God, we can draw near in faith and confidence, expecting answers to prayers.
However, there is the third element in the world, who opposes every move that we make to draw near to God. In Scripture, he is called Satan, the accuser, the roaring lion, the deceiver, the morning light, which he claims to be, and much more. Apostle Paul terms the forces of evil, the one third of angels who followed the devil and had to leave heaven, as ‘rulers of darkness of this age’ and ‘spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places’ (Ephesians 6:12). These are not flesh and blood entities with a physical form but spiritual beings who use a body, of man or beast, to afflict mankind. They hinder our prayers as well as create obstructions in receiving the answers from God.
God answered Prophet Daniel’s fasting prayer of twenty-one days, for salvation of his people from slavery in Babylonia. Angel Gabriel was sent by God, with the answer but was stopped by the evil spirit working in the ‘prince of the kingdom of Persia’ (Daniel 10:11-13). Finally, Archangel Michael was sent from heaven to help so that the answer could reach the fasting Prophet. Like Prophet Daniel, one may have a close relationship with God, the Father, through and with His Son, yet the forces of evil may interfere in the answers reaching the one who prays.
We are assured of protection and strengthening from God, against the devil and his forces of evil. Apostle Paul suffered much for the Gospel, but could declare, ‘But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one’ (2 Thessalonians 3:3). Therefore, praying for answers is a complex phenomenon where the indwelling Holy Spirit guides us at every step.
The right next step to Prayer – The Israelites were held in bondage to the Egyptians for a long time and in their pain, they cried out to the Lord God. Moses was sent by God to lead them out to freedom by performing various miracles. The mightiest nation of that time was ruined in every aspect, for God punished Pharoah’s stubborn attitude. Deliverance is always a miracle of God but that is just one step in the journey of life to the Promised Land of abundant blessings. After crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites rejoiced and danced but when Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments, they forgot all that and made a golden calf to worship as God (Exodus 32:4-5). Along the journey of life, God reveals His way, that He desires His children to follow.
Lord Jesus, the Messiah, ‘went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their Synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people’ (Matthew 9:35). For three years He taught His Word, faced the temptation of the devil with the power of the Word, to prepare people to draw near to God to receive salvation. The Son of God called out to Simon and his brother Andrew, ‘Follow Me’ (Matthew 4:19). The Greek word ‘akoloutheo’ is translated as ‘follow’ but it also implies ‘accompany and assist. The call to follow is not to listen and believe from a distance but to come close, join in and help in His mission. This is to be fully engaged and committed to Him in both learning and doing the work of God.
Abraham was blessed and so were his descendants, the Jewish people. Moses told them that they are called to be ‘a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself’ (Deuteronomy 14:2). They faltered repeatedly not because of lack of knowledge but due to lack of inner strength to follow. Moses was commanded by the Lord God, ‘Send out for yourself men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. Send one man from each of their fathers’ tribes’ (Numbers 13:2). The command was to send leaders from each tribe. Living in their own strength, all of these leaders, except Joshua and Caleb, saw the giants and the fortified towns in the land and caused fear in the people. The Holy Spirit was not in them but over them and His fullness was not given to them by God.
The Saviour Lord was well aware of this weakness of mankind and He prayed to the Father in heaven to ‘give you another Helper, who will abide with you’ (John 14:16 & 26). The Greek word ‘allos’ means ‘another of the same kind/type’. In this He termed Himself and then the Holy Spirit as a Helper to guide, strengthen and lead all disciples in the right way. We are then told, ‘the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you’. The Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit join, in ensuring that a believer is able to learn, understand and walk in obedience to God’s Word. All these blessings are spiritual in nature and not easily discerned except by faith.
God revealed His plan to Joshua to lead his people into the Promised Land. The first test was crossing the flooded River Jordan and the Levites carrying the Ark were to first step in and at this ‘the waters which came from upstream stood still’ (Joshua 3:14-16). Moses prayed to the LORD God, ‘If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here’ (Exodus 33:15). The prayer was for God to lead them into the Promised Land. When God is given the first place in everything, His Spirit moves to ensure the opening of doors.
Prayer is getting close to God laying a claim before Him. Lord Jesus has taught us to pray, ‘Our Father in heaven’, thus first declaring a closeness and a relationship (Matthew 6:9). We are to follow God and His plans, but how can we follow Him and ask Him for something if we do not or hardly know Him? Asking in Lord Jesus’ name is to ask as per His ways. Without getting close to Him, how can we ever expect an answer, for why should He answer the prayers of someone who is far from Him in his ways. Apostle Paul has further clarified the role of the Holy Spirit in us, all believers. Living a life of ignorance, ‘we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered’ (Romans 8:26). We submit to the indwelling Holy Spirit for guidance not only in teaching us to pray but also to pray for us. Then we can hope for an answer from the Father in heaven.
Reaching God for answers – Our Saviour Lord is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, a place of honour, authority and power. He is our High Priest who makes intercession for us before the Father (Hebrews 7:25-26). On earth, we have God the Holy Spirit in us making intercession for us and helping us to pray. In heaven we have Lord Jesus our High Priest who receives our prayers and as our Advocate makes them presentable before the Father. The Father approves the answers and Lord Jesus blesses us. He has promised, ‘whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father be glorified in the Son’ (John 14:13). The Messiah ascended into heaven, from where He had come, to receive the glory of God the Son, the glory that He always had before anything was (John 17:5). He is ‘at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him’ (1 Peter 3:22). Despite all this authority, He does not do anything on His own but presents our prayers to the Father for approval to give Him all the glory for the answers.
When we pray, the first and foremost request must be for the fresh anointing of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We are blessed for ‘it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure’ (Philippians 2:13). He reveals His plan for our lives, bit by bit, and then equips us to fulfil that. Any desire that leads us to be a blessing for someone by preaching the Gospel message or otherwise is from God. We must pray to God for all provisions to fulfil that.
Our Lord went out to solitary places to pray to be filled with power from above, for in every work, this power went out from Him. When He needed this daily filling, how much more must we. Since God is always present in us, we must be fully aware of His presence and moderate our talk and behaviour in a manner worthy of His presence. God spoke to Moses through the Burning Bush and commanded him, ‘Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground’ (Exodus 3:5). But God visited Adam and Eve every day and there was no such restriction for them till such time sin entered their lives (Genesis 3:8). Every believer is now granted free access to God as His child but even a child must honour his Father through his day-to-day conduct.
The child can confidently ask his Father in heaven anything that he needs to do better in his life of obedience to the Father. David could confidently declare that God as his ‘Shepherd’ will meet all his needs, lead him into safe places, reveal His support before his enemies and will ensure an overflowing measure of all blessings (Psalm 23:1- 5). David was full of faith after having lived a life of closeness to God and witnessing His work in his daily life. It was this same faith in the Son of God that He could look up to heaven and say, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me’ (John 11:41-42). Hearing is a sign of an assured answer and He could say even more, ‘And I know that You always hear Me’. Can we confidently pray like this? Lord Jesus desires us to have that confidence for He has taught us, ‘whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them’ (Mark 11:24). He lived exactly what He taught us to call out to the man who had been dead for four days, ‘Lazarus, come out’ (John 11:43).
Apostle Paul had suffered greatly for his ministry to the Gentiles and could declare, ‘faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God’ (Romans 10:17). It is all about having a close relationship with God and in such, the fullness of the presence of the Holy Spirit is manifested. Then their prayers are about sharing all that is in the heart, with God and thus seeking His response. David was called ‘the man of God’s heart’ for he could lay bare all that he felt before God and then surrender it all to His will. We term prayer as a way to turn God towards our way but it is about turning our way towards Him. Such prayers seek His glory and always receive an answer.
Prayer is a way to reach God with all that we seek from Him, all that which is beyond our own means. Filled with fear, they cried out to Moses to speak to God on Mount Sinai and they will obey all that He commanded. Till we are closely connected to God through His Word, neither can we know Him intimately nor ask and receive answers. This is a daily filling of His love in us on priority and then we will see all that He does in our lives!
