Ask, Receive and Give ThanksSample

Day 4 - An important thing to know so that your prayers are answered: know the Bible

An important thing to know so that your prayers are answered: know the Bible. That way we will know what things are good to ask for. Also, by putting it into practice in your life, you will discover what is invisible and make it become visible.

REFERENCE VERSES: 

Isaiah 55:8-11

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

REFLECTIONS:

Read Isaiah 55:8-11 and take a moment to answer the following questions: 

➤ Reread Isaiah 55:8. What is the importance of understanding this verse in our prayer life? 

➤ In the light of this text from Isaiah, what are the teaching points that we can take for our prayer life? 

CONTENT:

When God speaks, things always happen. God never speaks into the void, or if He does, it is to change the void into something else. The first chapter of the book of Genesis reminds us of this truth. Also, the Bible clearly tells us that God is not a man who lies (cf. Numbers 23:19). This is why when we base our prayers on the will of God and on His Word, we have the assurance that they will be answered. However it is important to truly understand that God’s will is not what we think is just or useful, as we often have the tendency of thinking. It is by revelation, through our personal and intimate relationship with God that we discover His will. Our intelligence, our experiences, our goodwill and our desires cannot be measured in comparison to God’s will, because His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts (cf. Isaiah 55:8). 

It is for this reason that when we pray we need to bring our captive thoughts to obedience with God and to know how to turn over the reasonings that rise up against our knowledge of God (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:5). In reality it isn’t complicated, it is simply a question of life discipline where we regularly take authority over our thoughts and we do this every time that they are not in accordance with God, to submit them to Christ. If we don’t do this we strongly risk praying in accordance with our own desires and not according to His will. Knowing His will is a revelation that the Holy Spirit gives us, but it is not a type of illumination. Knowing the will of God is simple. We find it in the Bible, and it is by reading and meditating on it that we learn to know God’s will for our life and for those whom we are praying for. Reading the Bible is not a religious act, but an act of faith. 

When we start to pray, we need to invest our time in order to know how to align our lives with God and with His heart. It is a matter of deciding to submit to Him, to renounce our old way of life and our own will. It is what Jesus taught us to pray when He tells us to pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven” (cf. Matthew 6:10). He Himself prayed a few hours before He was crucified; actually, on three occasions He positioned Himself by saying, “Not my will but Yours be done” (cf. Matthew 26:39, 42 and 44). Jesus knew the Father’s will and He chose to submit to it. In the same way, the Bible reveals to us the Father’s will and we have to decide to submit to it too. So, let us not try to find what pleases us in the Bible; instead let us align our heart and our words with God’s Word. Remember that the Bible is not a set of information, nor is it a manual of life rules. It is the Word of God and every verse contains in itself the necessary power for it to be accomplished. That is why we can pray the Bible and be sure that our prayers will be answered.

Praying the Bible is something that is easy to do. You just have to believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that He is always right. This leads us to make the Bible our reference and our standard of the truth. We can therefore quite naturally pray and declare what God says. For example, if you have financial challenges and you have managed your finances in integrity, you can simply pray that God meets all of your needs according to His riches and in glory and that you will lack nothing (cf. Philippians 4:13 and Psalm 23:1). Or, if you pray for healing, you know that God’s will is that all are healed, so you can simply pray that by His stripes you have been healed, or those for whom you are praying have been healed (1 Peter 2:24).

However, it must be underlined that certain promises in the Bible come with conditions that we have to respect—for example, those promises made in Deuteronomy 28:1-14, where the blessings are the result of obedience to God and His Word. In this case, we can pray and declare what God promises according to the measure of our engagement to be in agreement with what He expects of us.

Praying the Bible is not choosing verses at random, but it is allowing the Holy Spirit to make these verses “alive” in us. And that is how we start to pray. The answer to our prayers isn’t always immediate; however it will eventually happen and our responsibility is to pray to see the accomplishment of what God says, and to keep praying until it happens. Always remember that heaven is our reference and that through prayer we make it become real here on Earth. Why not start right away by praying Psalm 23? 

MY DECISION:

➤ What I have understood for my own personal life: 

➤ What I am deciding to do in my life based upon what I have just learnt: 

➤ What you decide to do today will determine who and what you will be tomorrow!

Adapted from "un disciple en marche" copyright 2018 by Luc Favre, published by Vie Victorieuse.