[Editorial Note: The following is the first of a nine-part series on Seven Conditions for Answered Prayer from the teachings of Derek Prince.  You can subscribe to the daily devotions here and receive the remainder of the 8 teachings delivered right in your inbox.]

Prayer is one of the greatest opportunities, one of the greatest privileges, and one of the greatest ministries available to all Christians. I don’t believe Jesus ever taught his disciples how to preach, but He did teach them how to pray. Any everyone who desires to be a disciple of Jesus Christ should seek to learn how to pray effectively.

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To understand prayer, we must be assured of God’s attitude toward our prayers. When I was growing up in the Anglican Church in Britain, I had a very bad and confused impression of God. I’m not blaming the Anglian Church, because I think it’s not uncommon for people to have the attitude that God doesn’t want to be bothered too much with us and our prayers and our needs. But nothing could be further from the truth. The Scripture teaches the desire of God to hear our prayers and His willingness to answer our prayers. So we’re going to deal with some verses that confirm God’s willingness to answer prayer.

Proverbs 15:8 tells us, “The prayer of the upright is [God’s] delight.” The word “delight” indicates “strong pleasure, keen interest.” Remember, if we are upright and sincere when we come to God with our prayers, He delights of hear us, and He wants us to receive what we pray for. The revealed will of God for the believer in Christ is that we should pray and expect to receive what we prayed for. Anything less than that is below the will of God. Consider how this thought is upheld in the following Bible passages.

Song of Solomon 2:14 says, “Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet.” This verse depicts the relationship between Christ as the Bridegroom and the Church as His Bride. God desires to hear our voices lifted up to Him in believing prayer.

Matthew 7:7-8 says in six different ways that God wants us to get what we pray for. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”  Notice that there is not one negative suggestion in all those words.

Note also Matthew 21:22 – “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” What could be more inviting than that? And the list continues.

Mark 11:24 – “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

John 15:7 – “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”

And let’s also consider James 4:2: “You do have because you do not ask.” That’s the main reason Christians don’t “have.” They simply don’t “ask.” But then James goes on. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” In other words, James said, “Your prayers are self-centered. Your motives are wrong. You’re simply aiming to get something for your own creature comfort and personal satisfaction and indulgence.” James is being practical. He urges change, so our prayers may be answered.

To have a fruitful prayer life, we must consider our motives. Why are we praying? According to Scripture, God has always searched for His peoples’ motives. And what is the correct motive? Jesus already stated it. “And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13, emphasis added) That’s the motive for which God answers prayers – that the prayer is prayed sincerely that God may be glorified, through Jesus Christ, in answering that prayer.

What is the purpose of coming to God and claiming His promises? That God may be glorified. The more we claim of God’s promises, the more we glorify Him. The more we fail to claim God’s promises, the less we glorify Him. The one who glorifies God the most is the person who claims God’s promises, in Christ, the most. To summarize, the acceptable motive is that God may be glorified in answering prayer that is offered in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Points to Ponder:

• Ask God to help you think of Him as a loving Father who delights to hear you pray and desires that you pray, expecting answers. If this hasn’t been your concept, reread the devotional thoughts above. Yield your heart and mind to Him and to the Word of God, and you will watch your faith grow.
• Ask God to search your heart concerning your motives in praying. This may be painful, because we are so often unaware that our natural desires may be selfish and self-centered. But God is loving and gracious to help us purify our motives.
• Frequent advice from older Christians to younger ones is to keep a prayer journal and some systematic method to document one’s life experiences in Christ. Mark the date that you prayed for a specific need and leave room (in faith) for when and how God answers your prayer.
• At the same time, invest a few minutes to record the Scripture verses offered in these daily devotionals.

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