Pastor Tony Jeffrey
Jim Denison, PhD, founder of Denison Ministries, tackles this question in his Biblical Insight to Tough Questions.
Jesus’ instructions on prayer are so simple, we can all follow them: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.” Note the progression. A child asks for his mother’s help. But he cannot find her, so he seeks her. He still cannot find her, so he knocks at her bedroom door until she opens and answers. So it is with us. He wants to hear your prayer even more than you want to pray it.
So, pray with urgency. Jesus’ words are imperatives, not options but commands. Pray urgently and continually. Jesus’ words are in the present tense: Pray and keep on praying.
How do we pray with continual urgency?
Begin. Make an appointment to meet with God. Keep a specific prayer list and note the ways God answers your requests.
Pray in Jesus’ name: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” To pray in Jesus’ name is to ask the Father’s help by the merit of His Son. He never refuses such a request.
Pray according to God’s will: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
Pray for God’s glory: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).
Pray with a clean heart: “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; He has attended to the voice of my prayer” (Psalm 66:18-19). Is anything blocking your fellowship with your holy Lord? If you are not sure, ask Him. If God seems silent, check yourself by these biblical standards. But know that your Father wants to hear you even more than you want to be heard. So pray, let nothing stop you.
Why pray with continual urgency? If God is omniscient, He knows what we need. If He is omnipotent and all loving, He can and will do what is best. Prayer does not change God, but it changes us! And it positions us to receive that which God wishes by His grace to give. Know that He will always give you what you ask unless He can give you something better.
When you pray but God seems silent, consider several possibilities. Perhaps He is still preparing you for His answer. Perhaps He is still preparing your circumstances. He’s not done with what He must do to answer you. Perhaps you’re not obedient to what He is saying. Maybe sin clouds your eyes and ears and you need more time in prayer to be right with Him.
Prayer is spiritual breathing. So “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). There is much we can do after we pray, but little we can do until we pray.