The Next Time You Pray

My Utmost For His Highest

 

“Have I been asking God to give me money for something I want, while refusing to pay someone what I owe him? Have I been asking God for liberty while I am withholding it from someone who belongs to me? Have I refused to forgive someone, and have I been unkind to that person? Have I been living as God’s child among my relatives and friends? (see Matthew 7:12).

 

I am a child of God only by being born again, and as His child I am good only as I “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). For most of us, prayer simply becomes some trivial religious expression, a matter of mystical and emotional fellowship with God. We are all good at producing spiritual fog that blinds our sight. But if we will search out and examine the evidence, we will see very clearly what is wrong— a friendship, an unpaid debt, or an improper attitude. There is no use praying unless we are living as children of God. Then Jesus says, regarding His children, “Everyone who asks receives . . .” (Matthew 7:8).” CHAMBERS

How do you pray?  Sometimes we approach prayer like coming to the dinner table with dirty hands.  Your mom would never let you get away with that … “Go wash your hands!”  We often treat approaching God like that …. casually .. without reverence … without much thought to His character and demand for us to be clean to even approach Him … but typically we are so focused on ourselves we don’t think about those things … only what we want or need at the moment …

 

The Word tells us to pray … 1 Thess 5:17 ‘pray without ceasing’.  Phil 4:6,7.  We are told to let our requests be made known to God.

 

Jesus modeled prayer for us.   In Matt 5:44 Jesus said, ‘Pray for those who use you and persecute you’.  James 5:16 says “the prayers of a ‘righteous’ man are powerful and effective” Righteous doesn’t mean that since you are a Christian you can approach God no matter what the condition of your heart is.  In Matthew 5 Jesus also said that if your relationships are not right, don’t approach the altar until you have done all you can do to set that relationship right.   Romans 12:18  ‘If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.’

 

Just because you say the words ‘in Jesus name’ does not mean that God hears you … Matthew 7:22-23  “Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'”

 

The next time, before you pray, examine your heart … make certain that there is nothing in your life that would prevent you from approaching God.