The promises of prayer

The word promise means ‘To give an assurance of something to someone’. A promise is a guarantee that what you say you will do. Unfortunately we also use the phrase ‘take it with a pinch of salt’ quite a lot – which means that to many the word ‘promise’ is not always taken literally.

However, the Bible tells us that ‘The Lord is faithful to all his promises’ (Psalm 145: 13). Therefore, whatever our experiences with man, we need to disregard them as far as God is concerned. He will never renege on his promises. The promises of prayer include the following:

God will always hear us
Sometimes Debby (my wife) talks to me and I haven’t heard (I’m either losing my hearing or in a world of my own – or both). I used to have a dog that had selected hearing. He heard when it suited him ie food or walk. But when it came to bath time he went deaf.
God always hears us – that is the promise of prayer. 1 Peter 3:12 ‘For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer’

God will always answer us
What we have to realise though is that it may not be the answer that we want! The Bible tells us that ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord’. Therefore we trust God’s wisdom as he truly sees the big picture.
But whatever the outcome, we can rest assured that he will always answer. ‘So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer’. (Ezra 8:23)

God will always bless us
Jesus said ‘You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it’. (John 14:14). Many Christians use this as a promise from God, and in order to bring it about, all they need to do is produce a shopping list of ‘wants’. However, we cannot take a verse out of context and so it has to be harmonised with the rest of Scripture. It has to be in accordance with his will.
God may want to challenge us, but even that is a blessing, as it is for our own well-being and spiritual development that he chastises us.
‘Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!’ (Matthew 7: 9-11)

Stewart Bloor

www.sicm.org