Are there any conditions to answered prayer?

We want to look at a few particulars. There are certain conditions upon which God answers prayer. We often ask for things which are not expedient for us. If a wrong thing is urgently asked from God, and it is at last given, it always ends in sorrow. "He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul" (Ps. 106:15). Our petitions must be in accordance with His will. His will is perfect, and when our prayers are in harmony with that will, in a line with it as it were, we know that we have our petitions. "Very well," you say, "how am I to ascertain what is the will of God? "There are various ways of finding out. Take the promises that God has given — "exceeding great and precious promises." I have never yet counted them, but it might be a profitable occupation for any who wish to do so. Anyhow, every promise that God has given us is a declaration of His will. He means that we should claim and have it. Therefore if you bring your request on the ground of a promise of God you have a sure foothold.

Even where we have no special promise God has given us broad promises, as in this passage, "Ask, and it shall be given unto you." You are all familiar with Paul's words to the Philippians, "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." There is always some indication to be found, and where we know we are asking on the ground of a promise we may he certain our prayer will be answered, for all God's promises are sure and they are all confirmed in Christ Jesus. Even where He gives commands, does not the very fact of His giving them imply that He intends to give the help and strength needed to fulfil them? I do not, of course, refer here to the law, which we know to have been given for another purpose — "that the offence might abound." You can always turn a command into an indication of God's will. Then, too, we have the help of the Holy Spirit, as is seen in Rom. 8:26-27. When He prompts a petition it will come up acceptably before God. We know not what to pray for as we ought, but we have the Spirit to help our infirmities.

1910 43 The promises to prayer, of which the following are some of the more prominent, are, in general, dependent on specified conditions: — (1) "All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matt. 21:22). (2) "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7). (3) "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight" (1 John 3:21-22). (4) "If we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us; and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him" (1 John 5:14-15). (5) "If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:19-20). (6) "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him" (James 5:14-15). (7) "Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you" (John 14:13-14; John 15:16; John 16:23).

1910 58 4. "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us; and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him" (1 John 5:14-15). We have already seen that the formative power in the heart, of the words of Christ dwelling there, and an upright uncondemning heart with confidence in God, are the conditions of successful prayer. In the present verses, all that is assumed. It is supposed that we are asking according to His will, and what we have here is that, so asking, God always hears us. "He is not like man, often occupied so that he cannot listen, or careless so that he will not." It is a precious and wonderful thing for the creature, man, notwithstanding the fall, to be so restored to moral harmony with God as to be able, under the guidance of the Spirit, to ask according to His omniscient will. We do not read that angels have this privilege: They indeed "do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word" (Ps. 103:20), but the intimacy with God which prayer affords is, apparently, conferred upon man only. Surely this bestowment is a proof of God's desire that man should enjoy communion with Himself. Do we prize this privilege as we should?

But first, as to the limits on which formal promise of answer rests besides special faith. The first passage I may refer to is "If we ask anything according to his will he hears us … and we know that we have the petitions." This supposes the demand according to His will, and then we can reckon on His power accomplishing it. This is the general christian confidence, a great boon to be assured of the acting of Him who is Almighty in the way of His will. Next it is said, "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will." Here I do not doubt there was special reference to the twelve, but in principle it applies to all Christians. Where the mind is formed by the words of Christ, when they abide in one who lives in dependence on and confidence in Him - one thus abiding in Him, having Him in spirit, and his mind guided by Christ's word, his will is (so to speak) Christ's - he asks what he will, and it will come.

We will turn to the Scriptures and see. Look first at Psalm 66:18. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." If we would have our prayers answered we must be right with God in secret. Our private life must tally with our public profession. Sin concealed, like a serpent in the bosom, takes all vitality from prayer. A bad conscience is a certain barrier in the way of our petitions being granted. God will not pour His blessings into unclean vessels. So the first condition for prevailing prayer is a good conscience.

Now read James 4:3. "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." From this we learn that those who ask anything of God for a selfish reason will assuredly be disappointed. God will not be a party to self-gratification. The prayers recorded in Scripture, to which such wonderful answers were given, were prayers on behalf of others, or prayers that had God's glory in view in connection with those who uttered them. A second condition, then, is a pure motive.

Then see James 1:6-7. "Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." Unwavering confidence is necessary, then, if we would have our prayers answered. To doubt is to dishonour God, and to deal a death-blow at our own petitions.

Look now at 1 John 3:22. "Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight." Obedience on our part is another condition. We are not left in ignorance as to what things are pleasing to the Lord. But it is not enough to know them. We must do them if we desire to receive of Him the things we ask.

Once again, turn to John 16:23. "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you." Here is a fifth condition. If prayer is in Christ's name it will be answered. What is it to pray in His name? It certainly does not mean to pray about any and every thing that we please, and then wind up by saying, "All this we ask in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ." It means that what we ask for must be something to which the name of Christ can truly be attached, something which He would ask for were He in our circumstances. This calls for spiritual discernment, which can only be acquired in nearness to the Lord. So asking for any thing in His name implies that we are in close communion with Him.

I leave this scripture with you, and I would have all bear in mind these five conditions: — (1) Accordance with the will of God; (2) the name of Jesus; (3) faith; (4) importunity; (5) a right state of soul. God grant we may all enter into these things with more real zest and fervour, to His praise and glory! R.K.

Prayer and the need of it may be a great mystery to us, but it is the way that God takes to bless. In His ways with men and in His moral rule in the universe the blessing comes down as the prayers of the saints ascend. Hence it is His "will that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting" (1 Tim. 2:8). Mark the conditions — personal rectitude, holy hands; no unchristian feelings towards others, without wrath; and faith in God to whom we pray, no doubting. "Ask and ye shall receive."

Here, then, we have pressed upon our attention the important moral condition of perseverance. "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint." This is intimately connected with the definiteness and importunity to which we have already referred. We want a certain thing; we cannot do without it. We importunately, unitedly, believingly, and perseveringly wait on our God until He graciously send an answer, as He most assuredly will, if the moral basis and the moral conditions be duly maintained.

But we must persevere. We must not faint, and give up, though the answer does not come as speedily as we might expect. It may please God to exercise our souls by keeping us waiting on Him for days, months, or perhaps years. The exercise is good. It is morally healthful; it tends to make us real; it brings us down to the roots of things. Look, for example, at Daniel. He was kept for "three full weeks" waiting on God, in profound exercise of soul. "In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three full weeks were fulfilled."

(Vv. 14, 15). This confidence in God finds its expression in prayer in the every-day life — “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” And if we know that He hears us, we also “know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” He, according to His perfect love and wisdom, reserves to Himself to answer our petitions in His own time and way. In the confidence in God that is the outcome of the new life, it is our privilege to make known our petitions to God, but not to dictate to God as to His answer. He may see fit to keep us waiting, but in the meantime we have the consolation of knowing that He listens to everything that we ask that is in accordance with His will.