02/11/2018
Are you searching for a secret to successful prayer? Do you think that there must be some hidden formula that would allow you to pray powerfully? Well, I think Jesus dispelled secrecy and hidden truths when He taught His disciples to pray the Lord’s Prayer, but if you want additional instruction look to Mark 11 and you will find two prayer hacks that will increase your understanding of praying.
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."”
Mark 11:24-25 ESV
In this scripture we are told that we should do two things to make our prayers more effective... we must believe, and we must forgive. At first blush you say “Ah Ha! ... the secret formula!” But when you stop and think about this further you realize that these two requirements are not so secret, nor are they mysterious.
Believing that we will receive what we have asked for isn’t new; it ties directly to what Jesus told us was the greatest commandment, and forgiving is a manifestation of the second. Let’s read Jesus’ words...
“And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."”
Matthew 22:37-40 ESV
The entire basis of the law rests on these two commandments, and so does our ability to pray effectively. First we must believe in, and love, God completely, and secondly, we must love our neighbor enough to forgive him. This allows us to communicate successfully as we participate in our prayer relationship with God, and to intercede in prayer for others.
The Lord’s Prayer teaches us what to pray, but the instruction in Mark 11:24-25 deals with the underpinnings of prayer... it tells us about the foundational relationship with God, and the love of those around us, that makes prayer a powerful reality. Without this all of the prayers we recite in church, or the things we ask for out of want, are worthless. Why ask anything of a God in which you have no faith? Why say words you really don’t feel contain power? Why pray for someone or something before a God you can’t see, or at best are ambivalent about?
Absolute Faith and love in God, and feeling care and love for your fellow man, are crucial to prayer... without them we are only desperate men speaking empty words into the air.
So if you want the secret of prayer, if you want the formula of power and success in praying, then here it is in a nutshell. All you must do is believe in God with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself, and listen to how Jesus instructs us in the Lord’s Prayer. If you do these things and not just go through the motions of them, but make them who you are and what you feel... then prayer will have power for you. If you do this then your prayers will be guided by the will of God, and whatever you ask will be heard and given unto you. If there is a secret... a hidden formula... then this is it, and it was right before us all along!
Prayer:
Father, thank you for my faith and your many lessons that perfect it. Thank you for the persistent study, the suffering, the longing, the fasting, and the waiting, that all bring me to a place of greater belief and faith in you. I thank you also for my neighbors and the love I have for them. Father, you have taught me that not everything they do will lead me to like them, but that I can love them in spite of those things. Thank you for the love I have for those around me, and the empathy I feel for them. Help me to pray equally for my friends and enemies.
Father hear my prayers; hear my words that are wrapped in my unwavering love for you, and in my faith which trusts in your provision. Listen Holy Father, and then speak to me. Guide my prayers, and lead me to an understanding of your will in the answers you provide to them. Let not my will, but yours be done, and teach me to trust in you completely as you answer. Lord, I pray for my neighbors, my friends, my family, and my enemies; as I do so let my words be couched in love, and not just empathy, or out of obligation. Hear the caring in my voice Lord, and ease their suffering as you provide for their needs, but most of all... lead them to a relationship with you.
Holy Father you are Merciful and Great; you answer the prayers of the faithful, and love us in spite of our inadequacies. You gave your Son to redeem us, your Holy Spirit to comfort us, and by our faith, and love, you answer our prayers. We praise your name, and give you all glory! You are Holy, Merciful, and the embodiment of Grace... in you our hopes, dreams, and all prayer becomes reality because your Word tells us that all things are possible to those who love you, and that all we pray in the name of your Son Jesus Christ will be given. Praised be your name, and the name of Jesus Christ.
Rich Forbes