Prayer is not unfamiliar to believers, as it serves as a means of communication with God and a way to establish a normal relationship with Him. Hence, we pray to God and seek His guidance every day. However, you might have experienced the perplexity of praying often but not feeling God’s response. What could be the reason behind this? How can we pray in a way that aligns with God’s will to receive His response? If you wish to understand this, the following content can be helpful. Please read on.

Thoughts on Today's Verse…

The Lord Jesus said, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). This was the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was crucified. Knowing that He was going to be crucified and shed His blood until death, and must endure immense suffering, the Lord Jesus was deeply distressed. He prayed to God the Father three times, seeking His will. Jesus perfectly understood the Father’s will, and despite the immense agony, He willingly submitted to it. In the end, He was crucified, fulfilling the Father’s divine purpose. From the prayer of our Lord Jesus, we can see that He didn’t make any demands of God and He was without personal choice. Instead, He prayed to God with a complete attitude of seeking and obedience. The Lord Jesus is Christ, and even in the position of a created being, He prayed to seek God’s will, showing Christ’s humility. But how do we pray to God? “Lord, You have great power. My family member is sick, please heal them…” “Lord, I am facing difficulties in my business, please help me overcome these challenges…” “Lord, bless my family so that we lack nothing…” In our prayers, we often try to force God to act according to our own desires, making demands of Him, as if we are creditors of God, without showing rationality and obedience. That’s why our prayers often go unanswered by God. God says, “People who believe in God cannot do so without prayer and reading God’s words. If they just keep attending meetings, but rarely sincerely pray, they will find themselves farther and farther away from God. All of you seldom genuinely pray, and some people still don’t know how to pray. The fact is that prayer is primarily about speaking from your heart. This is opening your heart to God and opening up simply before Him. If a person’s heart is of the right kind, then they are able to speak from the heart, and in this way, God hears and accepts their prayer. Some people only know to beg when they pray to God. They continually beg God for grace, saying nothing else, and thus the more they pray, the more dried up they feel. When you pray, whether you yearn for something, seek something from God, ask God to grant you wisdom and strength in a matter you are handling which you can’t see clearly, or ask God for enlightenment, you must possess a sense of normal humanity. Without sense, you will fall to your knees and say, ‘God, I beg You to give me faith and strength, I beg You to enlighten me and allow me to see my nature, I beg You to work and grant me grace and blessings.’ There is a compulsory note in this ‘begging.’ This is a way of putting pressure on God, of telling Him this matter must be done, as if it was predetermined. This is not sincere prayer. To the Holy Spirit, when you have already set the terms and have decided what you are going to do, are you not just going through the motions? Is this not cheating God? One should pray with a seeking, submissive heart. When something has befallen you, for instance, and you are not sure how to handle it, you might say, ‘God, I don’t know what to do about this. I wish to satisfy You in this matter and to seek Your will. I wish to do as You will, not as I will. You know that human will is entirely contrary to Your intentions, entirely resistant to You, and does not accord with the truth. May You enlighten me, give me guidance in this matter, and allow me to not offend You….’ That is the appropriate tone for a prayer. If you say, ‘God, I ask that You help me, guide me, prepare the right environment and the right people, and let me do my work well,’ after your prayer, you will still fail to grasp God’s intentions, because you are asking God to act according to your will. Now, you must ascertain whether the words you use in prayer are sensible, and whether they are from the heart. If your prayers are not sensible, the Holy Spirit will not work on you. Therefore, when you pray, you must speak sensibly and with a suitable tone. Say, ‘God, You know of my weakness and my rebelliousness. I ask only that You give me strength and help me endure my circumstances, but only according to Your will. I don’t know what Your will is, and I just make this request. Nevertheless, may Your will be done. Even if I am made to do service or serve as a foil, I will do so willingly. I ask that You give me strength and wisdom, and allow me to satisfy You in this matter. I wish only to submit to Your arrangements….’ After such a prayer, your heart will particularly feel at ease. If all you do is beg, no matter how much you say, it will all be hollow words; God will not work in response to your plea, because you will have decided what you want in advance. When you kneel in prayer, say, ‘God, You know of man’s weakness, and You know man’s states. I ask that You enlighten me in this matter. Let me understand Your will. I wish only to submit to all that You arrange, and my heart is willing to obey You….’ Pray thus, and the Holy Spirit will move you. If your intention is wrong when you pray, and you always make demands of God based on your own will, your prayers will be dry and barren, and the Holy Spirit will not move you. If you just close your eyes and spout off some hackneyed platitudes to muddle through with God, will the Holy Spirit move you like that? When people come before God, they must behave in an obedient manner and have a pious attitude. You are coming before the one true God, speaking with the Creator. Should you not be pious? It is no simple thing to pray.”

The words of God reveal that our prayers often involve hoping to gain things from Him, making demands, and presenting our desires. This form of “begging” is aimed at having God fulfill our extravagant wishes, which amounts to compulsive demands from God rather than praying to Him with a submissive attitude as His creations. Such prayers lack rationality, so how can we expect to receive God’s approval? As created beings, we have no entitlement to make demands of God or negotiate with Him. In our prayers to the Creator, we should be rational, carry a heart of reverence for God and magnify Him. Instead of presenting our requests before God, we should pray to God with the attitude of seeking and obedience, patiently wait for God’s will to be revealed to us and then faithfully follow it. This way, our prayers will be in line with God’s heart.

If you want to learn more truths of prayer, please contact us through the online chat window at the bottom of our website. Let’s study God’s word together and have online communication.