Introduction: In Psalm 20, David reminds us repeatedly that God hears our prayers and answers our prayers. We know from personal experience that God answers our prayers, and almost always gives us what we ask for. For example, in our missionary prayer time on Sunday mornings, we continually ask God to protect and provide for our missionaries, and we constantly get prayer letters about how God has answered. But there are conditions for answered prayer. If we want God to grant our requests, how should we pray?
I. We should pray with worship and respect, not with dis-respect.
A. The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. He responded in Matthew 6 with the Lord's Prayer.
B. In this prayer, Jesus tells us to praise God for His holy name, to pray for His will to be done on earth. To give Him glory.
C. We must not go into God's presence without respect (Eccl. 5:1-2).
Eccl 5:1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
Eccl 5:2 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
II. We should pray "in Jesus' name" (John 14:13-14), not for our own selfish ends. That means we should pray as Jesus would pray, asking for what He would ask.
John 14:13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
John 14:14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
III. We should pray from a righteous life (James 5:16-18), not from a sinful life. Elijah was a righteous man. So God listened to his prayer.
James 5:16b The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
James 5:17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
James 5:18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
A. Jesus said that if His words lived in us, then our prayers would be answered (John 15:7).
John 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
B. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says we must humble ourselves, and turn from our sins, and then God will hear and answer prayer.
2 Chr 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
IV. We should pray with faith in our hearts (Mark 11:24; Matthew 9:29; Matthew 15:28; Hebrews 4:16), not with doubt.
Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Mat 9:27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
Mat 9:28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied.
Mat 9:29 Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you";
Mat 15:22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."
Mat 15:23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."
Mat 15:24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
Mat 15:25 The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
Mat 15:26 He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
Mat 15:27 "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
Mat 15:28 Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Heb 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence (faith), so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
V. We should pray with perseverance (Acts 12:5; Ephesians 6:18), not with impatience.
Eph 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
Acts 12:5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
Acts 12:6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.
Acts 12:7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.
Acts 12:8 Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him.
Acts 12:9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.
Acts 12:10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
Acts 12:11 Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."
Acts 12:12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.
Acts 12:13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door.
Acts 12:14 When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!"
VI. We should pray for God's will to be done, not ours (Luke 22:42 and 2 Cor. 12:7-9).
Luke 22:42 "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."
2 Cor 12:7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
2 Cor 12:8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
2 Cor 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Conclusion: It is not difficult to get God to answer our prayers. Even as you love to grant legitimate requests from your children, even so God loves to give His children what they ask for. He doesn't want to say "No." But we ought to pray....