Luke 22:42 “saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”
We have seen that our Lord spent much time in prayer, and we know that God always heard our Lord’s prayers. In the previous section we mentioned that one of the reasons that Jesus’ prayers were always heard, was because Jesus never sinned. The fact that Jesus never sinned however, was not the only reason that the Father heard our Lord’s prayers. Another reason that our Heavenly Father always heard our Lord’s prayers was because Jesus always prayed in line with the will of the Father. In the above quoted passage of scripture we have the account of our Lord praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. We can clearly see from this passage that in the natural, Jesus was reluctant to go through the suffering that lay before Him. Nevertheless we see in this prayer, that Jesus submitted His will to the will of the Father. And so although this is an extreme example, it nevertheless demonstrates the truth to us that Jesus always prayed according the will of the Father, and it was for that reason that His prayers were always heard by His Father.
1 John 5:14-15 “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (15) And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
If the Lord’s prayers were heard because He prayed according to the will of the Father, then we are no different. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostle John, plainly reveals to us that if we ask anything according to the will of the Father, that He hears us. Conversely it is therefore true to say that if we ask for anything that is outside of the will of the Father, that He will not hear us. But what absolute assurance we have from God, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us! But the Holy Spirit doesn’t stop there, for He goes on to tell us that we know (not we believe, but we know!), that we have the petitions that we ask of Him. Clearly it is foolishness to pray outside of the will of the Father.
James 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle James confirms this same truth to us, for in this passage James teaches us that if we ask for things to gratify our fleshly desires then we can be assured that God will not answer those prayers. Clearly to ask God to gratify our fleshly desires is to pray outside of the will of God for our lives. And so we see that scripture teaches us that if we want to be assured that our prayers are heard by God, then before we pray we should take time to find out in His word what God’s will is regarding that issue. For it is then that we can in confidence bring our petition to Him knowing that He will hear us.
Michael E.B. Maher
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