The Heart of Prayer
God, who is a God of law and order, has set certain conditions on His promise to hear and answer our prayers. What kind of heart must we have for God to hear us?
A Pure Heart: “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18). This means that the person who continually practices sin and who has in their heart a purpose to commit sin, and who clings to sin, has no claim upon the ear of God. The only prayer such a person can expect God to hear is one of repentance.
An Unselfish Heart: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (James 4:3). We have no right to ask God for something that only fulfills our own desires or merely brings us personal satisfaction.
A Humble Heart: “If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven” (2 Chronicles 7:14). God hates pride, but He loves humility. God says that He hears those who are humble.
A Yielded Heart: “If we ask anything according to His will He hears us” (1 John 5:14). A heart yielded to God’s will is certainly a heart that is pure and unselfish. The life in which the will of God is foremost is a life which seeks God’s glory, and one which will experience His blessings.
A Believing Heart: “Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” (Matthew 21:22). Nowhere does God promise to answer prayer offered without faith. The Bible teaches that a believing heart is essential if we are to access Him with our petitions.
Christ’s Heart: “Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). We are saved only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Only through His blood are sins washed away, and only in Him do we become children of God. How proper, therefore, that our prayers to our Father should be in the Name and for the sake of Jesus Christ. Praying “in the Name of Jesus” simply means praying with Christ’s interests in mind—asking the Father for the things that touch the heart of Christ. In Christ’s Name we may bring our petitions to our Heavenly Father, and “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).
—Adapted from As The Small Rain.