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If we abide in Christ and pray according to God's will, we can expect answers to our prayers ... and much more. But we must first confess our sins and repent … and we must not waver but persevere in our faith.
The above statement is supported by the following verses.
If
you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will
be done for you (John 15:7).
This
is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according
to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask,
we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him (1 John 5:14-15).
Beloved,
if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever
we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things
that are pleasing in His sight (1 John 3:21-22).
“Ask,
and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened
to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who
knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks
for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give
him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is
good to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:7-11).
And
all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive (Matthew 21:22).
You
do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask
with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures (James 4:2-3).
And
my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ
Jesus. (Philippians 4:19).
Now
to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works within us … (Ephesians 3:20).
Abraham
did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was
strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God (Romans 4:20).
Now
He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and
not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not
fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept
coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ For a while
he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear
God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal
protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’” And the
Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; now, will not God bring
about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay
long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly.
However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:1-8).
And
we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the
full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but
imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises (Hebrews
6:11-12).
Of
course, God may not give us an immediate answer. Sometimes we may have to wait.
If we are truly God’s children walking in the light and seeking to
know and do His will, how can our heavenly Father refuse to hear our prayers? Will
He not act for believers who are His children (even the unrighteous judge acted
to vindicate the widow)? Surely we can expect better treatment from a loving God
than from the heartless judge in Luke 18.
Apart
from unconfessed sin, what is one crucial limiting factor to answered prayer?
It is faith, or rather our lack of faith, a quality Jesus lamented about in the above Parable of the Widow and the Wicked Judge (Luke 18:8).
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