5 Ways to Increase the Power of Prayer

 

 

“And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matthew 21:22

This verse is in red letters in most Bibles– Jesus’ words. Is this your experience – “whatever we ask for in prayer He gives us?  It is a source of frustration for many Christians but God does give us an understanding of why He does not always answer prayer.

Following is a list to examine if we are not experiencing answered prayers:

1. Sin. Sometimes we are caught up in sin that prevents the Lord from hearing our prayers. Isaiah 59:2 says, “but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” Most of us think if we aren’t committing murder or adultery that we’re ok with God. He has a higher standard. Is there an idol in your life, something you consider more important than the Lord? Is there a call on your life that you ignored? Has God convicted you of a sin you have refused to turn from? I John 3:22 says it in the positive, “and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.”

2. Unforgiveness. God says if we want Him to forgive us we must forgive others. Forgiveness is good for the forgiver and opens the way for the Lord to hear our prayers for forgiveness of our own sin. Mark 11:25, “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

3. Motives. As we each examine our own prayers the questions we have to ask are, “Does my prayer glorify God? Am I seeking Him so I will look better or so He will look better?” John 14:13  instructs us, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” James says it in the negative, 4:3, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” Are our prayers all about us or all about the Lord?

4.  Be thankful. The Bible is pretty clear that we are to be thankful for what God has given us, for the circumstances He has placed us in (even when they are not all that great in appearance), and for the time we live. If we fail to be thankful He is not glorified by us in life, no less in prayer.  Philippians 4:6 says, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” and Colossians 4:2 says, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”

5. The best. This one may  be caught up in the others but it’s worth mentioning so we look for it. Sometimes we look for good things from the Lord but not the best things from the Lord. We ask for good things, i.e., we will get a certain job or have the door opened in a certain ministry or relationship. We don’t get our way and we think God – or Satan – has somehow done us wrong when what God is doing is showing us that He has something better for us. His plan is better than ours, always! We need to examine our motives to see if what we want is for our pleasure or to increase our own name. Be thankful that He prevented us from taking the wrong road rather than believing that Satan has kept us from a fabulous thing God wanted us to have. (He does does not have the power to do that.)

Perhaps it is not obvious what is hindering your prayers, or if they are being hindered. Pray about that, the Lord will answer the one who sincerely seeks to right her relationship with Him. He delights in answering those prayers.