What John 15:7 Reveals About Prayer: Part 2

By Associate Pastor for Prayer Ben Dickerson

"If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  This is to My Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples."  (John 15:7)

Does God hear and respond to every prayer the same way, or does it matter who is praying and how they pray?  Are there conditions that make one prayer more effective than another?  According to Scripture, it does matter who is praying and how we pray -- there are conditions for effective prayer.

God's love for us is unconditional, but His blessings come with conditions.  He is a covenant God, Who "keeps His covenant of love with all who love Him and obey His commands" (see Nehemiah 1:5 and Daniel 9:4).  The little word "if" occurs over 1500 times in Scripture.  Many of them spell out conditions God places on our receiving His blessings:

"If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep His covenant of love with you, as He swore to your forefathers.  He will love you and bless you." (Deuteronomy 7:12)

"If you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins." (John 8:24)

In part one, we focused on "who is praying" -- God always listens to the prayers of those who identify themselves as belonging to His Son.  This time we're looking at "how we pray" -- we must let His words guide our prayers -- "and my words remain in you...."

His words are always words of trust instead of fear.  Often, our prayers are borne out of fear, and we cry out to God in desperation.  Instead, Scripture urges us to trust the love God has for us and "have no anxiety about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Philippians 4:6).

When we come to God, asking Him to meet a need in our lives, we have to make a choice.  Will we focus our attention on our circumstances -- that's the wrong thing to fill our minds!  Instead, we must fill our minds with the promises of Scripture and the faithfulness of the One who makes them -- letting His words abide in us.  It's not faith in our prayers that gets answers; it's faith in the words of promise and in the loving faithfulness of the One who makes them!