Know This

2 Chr. 7:¹⁴ “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”

To have power with God and man, you have to Learn To Pray By Yourself Without Relying On Someone Else To Pray For You. You have to Pray To Your Heavenly Father And Not To Anyone Else. You have to Pray In The Name of Jesus. You have to Confess Your Sins. You have to Abide In Him & Let His Words Abide In You. You have to Please Him and you have to Be A Fruit Bearing Christian. You have to Have Faith Every Time You Pray and Be Persistent. To have power with God and man, the tenth thing is, you have to Make Sure You Do Not Ask Amiss. James4:³ “And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.” To have power with God you need to sort out your motive. Why are you asking what you are asking? Why are you asking for a private jet, when you do not even have a bicycle? What is the motive? Is it so that you can be better than this person or oppress that person? Even if you do not put it that way, the motive is wrong and that is asking amiss.

Now when we say, pray in the Name of Jesus, we need to understand that it is not the nomenclature that opens the door, it is the relationship. We call Him, Jesus, the Jews call Him Yeshua, and some call Him Jesu. Imagine someone who cannot pronounce the letter ‘s’ properly attempting to pronounce the Name of Jesus. The question is, will God not respond because the person did not pronounce the Name properly? He will because that heart is connected to the source and that is the most important thing. Someone asked, how about people who pray in the name of Mary, does God answer their prayer? The truth is that God is God. Believe it or not, there are prayers of non-believers that God answers. God answers the cry of our hearts. The difference is that in our case, by God’s grace, we are certain that He has promised that He will answer. But they cannot say that; if He answers, it is a case of rain falling on both the righteous and the unrighteous. God answers prayers, as He chooses to because He is God.

God responds to different expressions; some expressions are not in the faith, in the covenant of Jehovah particularly in the Abrahamic covenant. But those expressions are from God. Even though the purest form is for us to be in the Abrahamic covenant through Christ. Balaam heard accurately from heaven, even though he was not a prophet. So, what happens if one of the ten things we have enumerated is absent, does it nullify the prayer or negate influence with God? For instance, you pray to the Father by yourself in the Name of Jesus and you are a fruit-bearing Christian, but you did not acknowledge your sin, what happens?  The first thing to note is that this list is not exhaustive. If there is unanswered prayer, check if you have been praying amiss. Something is wrong somewhere. So, do not approach it legalistically, but rather diagnostically.

Prayer [hymn]: Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness, take it to the Lord in prayer. Amen!