Answer to Prayer

Answer to Prayer

“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” Matt. 6:6.

God does everything according to laws, and He has resolved to remove sin from man according to these same laws.

Away with all hypocrisy and all desire to be seen; go into your Father who is in the secret place, and He will reward you openly!

You must not be anxious because you are not acknowledged, but rejoice, having faith in the word that says that the Father rewards you and that He will reward you openly.

We must learn from what happened to Joshua when Achan stole from the accursed things and hid the spoils underground in his tent. “So the Lord said to Joshua: ‘Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I have commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.’” Josh. 7:10-12.

Something else had to be done here besides praying; Israel was accursed, and this required cleansing. It was impossible for God to answer Joshua’s prayer; His adherence to His own laws forbade Him from answering Joshua’s prayer. It was not only in Joshua’s days that God acted like this. He always acts according to His own laws. If there are matters in a person’s life that are not cleared up, or if he leads a sinful life, it can be enough of an obstacle to cause God not to answer his prayer.

Joshua listened to the Lord and dealt with the matter so that the Lord could be with Israel again.

We must listen to what God says and act accordingly, so that He can hear us and do what we ask of Him.

Jesus says, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:13-14.

Here the condition is, “In My name,” which must be fulfilled so that the prayer can be heard. “In My name”? Many people are used to saying, “In Jesus’ name” when they are about to read from the Scriptures, but perhaps they have no understanding of the significance of that expression.

“In Jesus’ name” means that we believe the Scriptures and live according to them, so that we do His will in all things to the extent that we have light.

“And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” 1 John 3:22. And also in Chapter 5:14-15: “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”

The condition is that we hear and know what God’s will is and that we act accordingly; then the Lord can give us what we are asking of Him.

James says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But 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. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” Ch. 1:5-8.

Here faith is the condition, and James upbraiding a wavering faith that makes man unstable in all his ways.

“So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Matt. 21:21-22.

Jesus helps and hears the person who is poor in himself, just as He helped the disciples when they were about to drown in the Sea of Genesaret because they had no faith. He raises up the poor and gives him what he needs; it is His desire that we should all be rich in God, because He became poor in order to make us rich, also in faith. It is these riches in Jesus Christ that put us in the positon of having our prayers answered regardless of what we ask of Him. God must be able to trust us—that we can stay humble—if He is to give us the greatest gifts and the most abundant grace.