1 | The First Psalm: What Makes an Answered Prayer?

What Makes an Answered Prayer?

I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, Here I am, here I am, to a nation that was not called by my name. (Isaiah 65:1 ESV) It is Gods nature to be around His people and to be near them (e.g. Adam and Eve;) it is Gods nature to respond when we call (Psalms 91:15.) One thing we should know is that we can call on God and seek Him through our prayers. We might be asking havent we prayed enough? Of course, throughout our Christian life, we surely have prayed enough. Even so, we may already have prayed more than enough prayers. However, every Christian can attest to the fact that there are times when we fervently pray and yet we dont have the confidence that our prayers are being heard or answered by God. Prayer is supposed to give us relief and comfort. Then during these times, we tend to ask God why? Sadly, there are times when we pray to have that answered prayer and then we find ourselves with a bruised heart. There are 3 things that make an answered prayer.
I. A heart that believes.

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. (Mark 11:23 ESV)
Prayer is an act of faith. The very thing that makes a prayer move God is faith. Our prayers then must be founded in faith. Not all prayers are founded in faith. For a prayer to be founded in faith, it must be in alignment and agreement with the Word of God.

2 | The First Psalm: What Makes an Answered Prayer?

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17 ESV) And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease. (Mark 5:34 ESV) The faith of the woman in this bible passage came from the fact that the healing wonders Jesus has done for so many people came to her knowing. She heard that Jesus heals and so she believed it. II. A heart that does not hold offense. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. (Mark 11:25 ESV) The offenses that we tend to hold in our hearts can come from other people and it can come from ourselves. On certain times, we get offended when God does not seem to have answered our prayers.

a.

When the offense is from another person, there is only one way to deal with it-

forgive. Forgiveness is now. Forgiveness is not bound on what we feel. It is a command from God to forgive. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15 ESV) While the scripture may seem to say that forgiving others is a prerequisite to achieving Gods forgiveness, a deeper meaning to this scripture serves for our good. We will not be able to understand and to grasp the goodness of God when he says he has forgiven us when we do not know it for ourselves.

3 | The First Psalm: What Makes an Answered Prayer?

This breaks the mindset that revolves around not being able to forgive. The more we hold grudges against people, the greater the unforgiveness there is that eats up our hearts. The more this happens, the more we cannot understand and believe that the Lord forgives us.
We also need to understand that we are given the strength to forgive others not because it does not hurt anymore. We forgive because God has given us the grace to do so. Forgiveness is grace at work. A heart that forgives other people is essential in intercession. Only when we allow the grace of God to work so that we can forgive will we start to have the heart of God. That is only when we will feel how he feels for the lost. That is only when we will start to see other people through his eyes of love and mercy. That is only when we can pray for others in spirit and in truth.

b.

When the offense is from ourselves, it is commonly from the times when we have

looked down on ourselves. A good way to counter this is not only to accept yourself as who you are but to stand in what the Word of God says you are. We are surrounded by a lot of voices- we have our own voice, there is the voice of the Lord and there is the voice of the enemy. And our choice on which voice to listen to makes all the difference. We should listen to the of the Lord when it comes this manner. The Lord does not lie. His voice is soft and still. At the same time his voice is authoritative and truthful as the Lord does not lie. The voice of your past may say that you are a sinner. The voice of the enemy may stop you from drawing closer to God as it tells you you are worthless and unworthy of the blessing of the Lord.

4 | The First Psalm: What Makes an Answered Prayer?

In these times, the Lord calls us and commands us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. This means that all these thoughts and voices should be shunned and placed under what the Lord actually says about us. Here is a good list of some of the great things the Lord says you are according to his word. c. When the offense is due to a previously unanswered prayer, we should learn to

know and understand that God only wants the best for us and He knows better. For my thoughts are not your thoughts,neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.(Isaiah 55:8 ESV) Another thing is that, there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer, There are, however, prayers whose answers are no and wait. When God says no remember that he sees the future and he knows where you are headed to with that which you ask. When God says wait what he means to say is that He has prepared something better for us. God is telling us not to settle for less but to wait and be patient because something far more wonderful is on its way.
III. A heart that obeys. A heart that obeys and that listens to what the Word of God says will always ask for things that the Lord approves. These are then the things that the Lord will answer yes to.

5 | The First Psalm: What Makes an Answered Prayer?

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you ask, and it will be done for you. (John 15:7 ESV) Obedience in prayer has a lot to do with achieving an answered prayer. We should understand that even when prayers are a way for us to commune and ask God. However, prayers are not ultimately about us. A prayer is about God. It is about believing in Him that He will. A prayer that moves God is not one that is not extravagant but one that is true. One way to pray a true prayer is to seek what he wants us to pray for. We can do this by dwelling on His word and yielding to what he wants us to pray, whom he wants us to pray for and to pray for the things that he reveals to us even when those items are not originally the things we wanted to pray for. Think: A father will respond quicker if what his child asks from him is something that he approves. A child can never ask anything from his father unless he knows that his father will give whatever it is that he asks for. Only when we have a heart that believes, a heart that does not hold offense and a heart that obeys and yields to what the Lord wants, that is only when we will find joy to the answer that He will provide for our prayers. The best thing about the Lord is that when we have sought for what he wants, he promises us in Isaiah 65:24 I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!