HOW TO PRAY AND GET THE ANSWER
Dr. William W. Orr
Part 1. - God Wants to Answer
You do not have to implore God to answer your prayers...
He wants to answer. It is His earnest desire to bestow good gifts. God is not a selfish tyrant. It is not His pleasure to torment men by first creating them with needs to be satisfied, and then failing to meet those needs. God is wise, loving and beneficent. (weldadig) His storehouses of treasures are bursting at the seams. Giving good gifts unto men is the joy of His heart, and no good thing will be withhold if...
Men wil pray... really pray...
For you must understand that God has brought together all the multitudinous (menigvuldige) lines of prayer’s operation and has tied them into one simple thread. This thread is placed within the reach of every human being, old and young. No one born into this world is denied the privilege of using prayer. Nor is the switchboard of heaven ever too busy to hear the simplest prayer. Does that mean that every petition, wise or foolish will pe promptly answered?
Absolutely not....There is more to prayer than asking...
There’s the answer. And the answer to the prayer lies with God. But have we not said... God wants to answer? Yes, and it is gloriously true. How then will we be able to pray effectively and secure the answer? What is the secret of true prayer?
Ah, that is the purpose of this booklet! To suggest in the very simplest terms the secrets of prevailing prayer. And lets start with this ... you can pray and get the answer, for God wants to answer your prayer.
Part 2 - What Prayer Will Do For You
It will lead you into a life which acknowledges and honors G
od. What folly it is for man, who is a ceature of God, to utterly fail to honor his Creator. How right it is for God, to expect His creatures to acknowledge Him. So, the very exercise of prayer is in itself a mark of respect which the creature pays to his Creator.
But prayer will make God real to you. No one has seen God the Father at any time. But we can know Him by His works. Nor can anything make His presence and interest more real in our lives than to receive the answer to our petition. God’s personality in this way becomes an actuality to us. We know He is real because He answers our prayers.
Prayer also promotes growth in grace. When we pray to God we become conscious of the character of the One to whom we pray. We come to know that He is great in holiness as well as being great in power. We realize that His righteousness is absolute as well as His wisdom being incomparable. And in this realization, we begin to conform our lives to His standards. We seek to know Him better by the means which He has provided, the death of His well beloved Son. Thus, we enter into grace by the grace of God.
In grace we find that we might be a channel of blessing. This, we learn is the goal of life. But prayer is the doorway to the channel. As we continue to look to God in prayer, so He continues to make us channels of the fountains of living waters to others.
As a child of God too, we find that we have a threefold enemy in life. There is the world system which is selfish and opposed to God’s principles. There is the flesh in us, which comprises everything we were before we met Christ. There is also Satan, himself, who is the Christian’s accuser and adversary. How can we face such strong, supernatural foes? Prayer is the answer. As we pray for courage and wisdom God abundantly provides it.
Above all, prayer will make our lives Christ-centered. Effective prayer is in His Name. We learn to ask as if He were asking. So by prayer Christ becomes the centre of our lives. Our petitions are fashioned so that they might honor and glorify Him. In this way we grow into Gods ideal for His children.
Part 3 – Prayer is Natural
Let’s understand right from the beginning that in order to be proficient in prayer, one does not require
a special course of schooling or even a wealth of practical experience. Prayer is just as natural as breathing. It’s just as normal as eating or walking. It’s part of life.
Deep in the heart of every human being is the basic instinct to call upon its creator in times of need. Just as babes cry for their mothers when needs arise, in the same manner men and woman quite instinctively look up into God’s face to meet difficulties and emergencies.
Here we are, creatures of God, placed upon a world which He has created. Our lungs are filled with the atmosphere which He has made. Our hearts beat rhythmically with the speed which He has set. We daily feed from the bounties of His good earth. We are dependant upon God for everything. We naturally look to Him.
Is it not right then, that God, after having given us the instinct of prayer should also stand in readiness to answer our petition? Is it not consonant with God’s righteous character that having caused us to ask from him, He should plan to supply our needs?
But that doesn’t begin to tell the story for the Christian. For he is now a child of God. He has not just a creature- creator instinct, but he has a child-to-his-Father relationship. God has undertaken toward the Christian the Father’s part. God has become to the Christian his nearest and dearest Relative. While earthly fathers may be more or less ideal in the performance of their responsibility, God is overwhelmingly an ideal Father. He assumes the Father’s part perfectly.
Consequently, it is the most natural thing in the world for the true Christian to call upon his Father. For small needs as well as great needs. For blessings upon others as well as personal wants. The Christian may call unceasingly and in response the Father hears unceasingly. For the child of God, prayer is breath, prayer is food, prayer is life.
Part 4. Prayer is Simple
Far too often we feel that prayers must be meticulously planned and majestically phrased in order to be acceptable to God. Not so. Actually, such ‘magnificent’ prayers, unless they have also the desirable qualities of humility and sincerity, are entirely unacceptable to Him. Prayer is a simple matter. Its just telling God what we need. It’s asking for Him to meet that need.
One doesn’t have to use “big” words or fancy phrases. God wants genuineness. He wants us to be honest with Him. He wants us to tell what’s on our hearts. Perhaps some of the greatest prayers that ever entered the ears of God had no words at all…. (Moeder Theresa?) They were just inarticulate heart- cries of the desperately distressed. Nor do repetitious prayers avail, that is, endlessly repeating a phrase. Such man-made devices are utterly unavailing and an insult to God’s love.
The posture of prayer is not too important. It’s good to pray on one’s knees if that’s convenient. Perhaps that promotes the earnestness of prayer. But it’s more important that our hearts kneel.
Nor is the place of prayer all important. Great cathedrals are not a requisite nor stained glass windows. Just a simple corner in your home or an appointed desk or chair in your study will do just as well. There’s value in united prayer but the numbers need not to be huge. Just two or three fulfill God’s requirements. However, in a busy day its ofttimes impossible to even get alone, not to speak of entering into one’s “closet.” Then one may pray from the street corner, the restaurant, the bus, the store, the schoolroom. God hears your earnest cry from anywhere.
A wonderful aid to simplicity in prayer is a warm acquaintance with the Bible, especially the Psalms. This incomparable book of praise is also a thorough handbook of prayer. Many times the very innermost cries of your heart, which you find extreme difficulty in putting into words are beautifully and clearly expressed in God’s own “prayerbook.”
God is greatly interested in you. He doesn’t care for liturgical magnificence if that’s all it is. He wants your heart to talk to Him. That’s prayer.
5. Getting On Praying Ground
Lets understand each other carefully here. In order to pray and get the answer you ought to be a Christian. If you’re not a true Christian you’re trampling under foot the thing which God holds to be most precious, the sacrifice of His Son.You’re holding the blood of Christ to be unimportant, which God holds all-important. You’re defying the edict of God which commands that without the shedding of blood there is no remission, but death only. How can God answer your prayers when such is your attitude
But, thank God, it’s only a step over to praying ground. Do you know the story? (Gen 3:1-17) Way, way back when our first parents came upon the scene they deliberately, willfully chose their own way in place of God’s way. Even though God has done all He could to make them want to choose the right, they chose the wrong. Consequently, God was forced to bring upon them the dire results of their wrongdoing, and they became sinners by choice. Every baby that has been born from that day to this is tainted by that sin.
What was God to do? Someone must pay the penalty of His broken law, and that Someone must in Himself be free from the curse of sin. But there was One, and this One was God Himself. It was God, the second Person of the Trinity. This then was God’s own answer to the problem of man’s terrible predicament. God would Himself take the penalty and die.
In the fullness of time there came a day when the Son of God was to take on human flesh. Born in Bethlehem of a virgin mother, Jesus of Nazareth entered the world. His life was beautiful, His words was such as never man spake. His deeds incomparable. Thirty-three years He lived to demonstrate fully and conclusively His claim to Deity in human flesh. Thousands saw Him, hundreds believed in Him, a few wrote about Him. Their testimony is united, Christ is God.
Then one day as the son hid its face, the earth shuddered, He gave Himself to die on a cross of shame. Hanging between heaven and earth He poured out His blood to become a fountain of cleansing. Buried, He rose the third day ascended into glory, plans to return someday soon, This is God’s answer to man’s sin.
All of this is a matter of record. In years gone by, millions have believed this record to the salvation of their souls. Today there are other millions who gladly testify that their whole life has been changed when they placed their entire heart confidence in Christ’s sacrifice for them.
There must be a personal individual, heart acceptation. One does not regard Jesus Christ as merely a person of history. You do not believe about Him as you do about Alexander the Great. To believe in Christ is to make Him your closest Companion for all the days of your life.
First of all, the meeting place is the cross. There you take your place as the one who deserved death. You were the sinner. You were the rebel against God. The guilt was yours, the penalty belongs to you. But you look up, and you see One dying for you. He who knew no sin took your place and stead. He became your Substitute. He took your shame, your agony, your nails, thorny crown, spear, thrust, death.
But your reception of Christ must be an absolutely personal one. It is true that He died for the sins of a world of men. But for you, He died for your sins. And your personal, individual forgiveness is dependent upon the fact that Christ is your own Savior. For you it’s Christ died for me.
When you truly come to this place and see Christ as your own, and His sacrifice as your sacrifice, then you are born again, this time from heaven. God takes you into His family… for Christ’s sake you share in all the marvels of this new relationship. There’s a home in glory for you, you become an heir of wealth incalculable, you are now the possessor of eternal life. These things are instantly and eternally yours… when you take Christ.
Then too,you have access to the throne of grace. You can now really pray. You can pray knowing that at the other end is your Father. This Father now loves you, and the
scepter of His favor is continuously extended to you. He desires your best and will most certainly see to it that you receive the best. All has been changed.
YOU ARE NOW A SON OF GOD. THIS IS PRAYING GROUND - STAND UPON IT - PRAY UPON IT
Part 6 - Praying in Jesus’ Name
The most marvelous promises given on the pages of Scripture are those which are linked to the “name” of Christ. The truth is, that no prayer today is genuinely efficacious unless it is prayed in that name. But to pray in the Name of Christ is a far different matter than to merely append to our prayers the words … in Jesus’ name.
To pray in the Name of Christ is to pray as He would pray. It’s like standing in His stead and pleading before the Father’s throne for the answers that would please Him. It’s keeping in mind the purpose He has in the world, and seeking to work out that purpose. It’s just simply praying His prayer.
But this does’nt limit our prayer . . . it enlarges. Tell me truly, would you as God’s child desire something which your Lord would not approve? Would you knowingly ask your heavenly Father for something out of His will? Would it be in your heart to petition God for blessings on you or your loved ones that might hinder your Christian life or detract from your testimony? I’m sure your answer to these is “no.” Therefore, your every supplication should be in Christ’s name, for Christ’s prayer includes your highest . . . as well as His highest. He wants your truest success.
But the greatest thing about prayer in His dear name is that such opens the doors to heaven’s answers. God has promised to hear such petitions. There isn’t the slightest doubt about such a prayer being accepted before the throne of grace. The name of Christ is sweet on earth, but it’s the quintessence of perfection in heaven. When prayer is offered in His name, it’s as sure of an answer as there is a God in glory. Prayers in Christ’s name cannot fail.