For I while I've had difficulty with the question of faith and prayer. Specifically, when God seems to say "No." At times prayer seems futile. Yet I'm reminded that Jesus prayed, if it were God's will, that He might be spared the cup that was ahead of Him, and it was not. None of us are greater than Christ, so if God told Him "No," then we shouldn't be surprised when He tells us "No," too. We can find other examples in the Bible. God is, well, God, and we are His creation, not the other way around.
What I'm struggling with is the point of prayer. And yet Jesus prayed, and we aren't greater than Him. Since God the Son prayed, we should as well.
I'm thinking that faith in prayer is that God has the power to answer "Yes" if it's His will, but while true, other scripture seems to point to something else. I'm just so confused here.
God hears our prayers, but we need to be living a life that is in submission to His will. Here are a few verses that show us this…
John 9:31 - "We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will."
1 Peter 3:12 - "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
4. Jeremiah 29:12-13; "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
We need to be seeking God daily and submitting to His will- living a righteous life according to His rightnesses Psa 119:172, not our version.
There is a promise if we ask according to His will He will hear our prayer.
1 John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask
anything according to His will, He hears us.
A good example of this is to pray to have Him for more love and faith to Him. That is His will that we all will be saved through faith. Someone with faith lives differently than someone without. In faith you no longer live for yourself which is reflected in our prayers. God wants us happy, but it is according to His will, not ours.
For example, say you are single and want to find a spouse the wrong way to pray is to ask for superficial things like I want my spouse to be good looking, to be tall, to be wealthy etc. The better prayer is to acknowledge that God knows what is best for us and wants us happy and to send us the person who will bring us closer to Him and someone who will make us happy and leave the rest in God’s hands. He knows us better than we do.
Many use God as a genie to ask for things that are outside His will and live a worldly life which prayers are reflected as such. This is what God says about those type of prayers…
Proverbs 28:9 One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer
is an abomination.
Whatever we are struggling with submit to God, He wants us happy and knows what will bring us true happiness and that is living a life that mirrors how Jesus lived, who lived to be our example to follow 1 John 2:6. We need the faith of Jesus i.e. Live as He did!
Here’s a video on prayers. Hope this helps a little!
God bless!