Are you confident when you pray? Do you believe you will receive what you ask from God? How is your heart? Does it belong fully to God? Are you keeping his commands? Are you doing what pleases him?
Our prayers can be powerful, extremely powerful. After all, God is the all-powerful God. He can do anything. There are no restrictions, no limitations, no impossibilities. What limits the power of our prayers? Us.
It is not our asking that limits our prayers. God has the ability to do whatever we ask. It is our hearts and our actions that limit our prayers. Our hearts must belong fully to God. They cannot be divided among God, our personal desires, and worldly desires. This is our first hurdle to clear. Our commitment to him must be complete.
The second hurdle is much easier once we clear the first one. We must obey his commands. If our hearts are fully committed to God, obeying him isn’t nearly as difficult. Our struggle in obeying him is a heart that is torn between our selfish desires and our desire to obey him.
Have you ever wondered how the apostles were able to miraculously heal people? It was not simply because Jesus gave them power to do so. He gave them power because they were fully committed to Him. Being fully committed, they knew God’s will and were filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit.
No, there is no magical formula to have our prayers answered. It is simple and yet very difficult. We must turn our hearts completely to God so they do not condemn us with guilt, then obey his commands, doing what pleases him. We can do it if we make up our mind to do so.
I pray we all commit completely to God. I pray we rid ourselves of the guilt of disobedience. I pray each one of us will decide to have a heart for God and obey his commands. Know that prayer can be powerful. Commit your heart to God. Obey God’s commands. Do what pleases him. Set aside your personal desires.
1 John 3:21-22 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
Marty Pressey 