The Secret of Effective Prayer

UV 914-10,000 The Secret of Effective Prayer He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination. Proverbs 28 v 9 Many people often wonder why their prayers are not answered. If we turn away our ear from hearing the Word that contains the laws that govern our moral and spiritual universe, He too would find our prayers hateful and turn His ear away from us. When we delight in His Word and pray according to it or on the basis of His promises, by declaring our faith in His ability and willingness to fulfil His amazing promises, He will incline His ear to hear us. We need to ask in His Name or the name of Jesus for we are thereby acknowledging that we are coming before the throne of grace by the blood and authority of Jesus. We need to pray with adoration in our hearts and thanksgiving on our lips. The other reasons our prayers are not acceptable sometimes to the Lord is if we treasure or cherish sin in our hearts instead of confessing it and trying to make a clean break with it. If we turn our ears from hearing the cry of the needy and poor, then too the Lord will avoid hearing our prayers. If we are violent or deceitful, the Lord would not find our prayers pleasing. If our conversation is in vain and we indulge in malicious banter, then too the Lord would not delight in our prayers. We need to be persistent in the spirit of prayer. When we humble ourselves before God and lead upright lives, then our prayers delight the Lord. If we give bread, both physical and spiritual, to the hungry, He would rush to our help. When we delight in a particular rhema verse or unique promise verse and run it over and over in our minds like a person would smack his lips again and again after a delicious meal or a connoisseur of objets d’art would run his eyes over and over again lovingly over a particular work, He would fulfil the very details or specifics of our prayers. Our prayers are effective after we have spent time studying, analysing and meditating on the Word. It will then not fall short off its mark but reach the very heart of God. We would be praying in accordance with the expressed will of God and we believe that He is able to do exceedingly far above what we can think or imagine or ask. Prateep V Philip