{"id":90899,"date":"2022-02-11T21:28:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-12T02:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/praying-according-to-gods-will\/"},"modified":"2023-10-06T23:17:37","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T03:17:37","slug":"praying-according-to-gods-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/praying-according-to-gods-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Praying According to God\u2019s Will"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Man&#8217;s highest aim should be to bring glory to God (1\nCorinthians 10:31), and this includes praying according to His will: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>First, we must ask for wisdom. &#8220;<strong>If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him<\/strong>&#8221; (<strong>James 1:5<\/strong>).      <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>In asking for wisdom, we must also trust that God is gracious and willing to answer      our prayers: &#8220;<strong>But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt<\/strong>&#8221; (<strong>James 1:6<\/strong>; see also <strong>Mark 11:24<\/strong>). So, praying according to the will of God includes asking for wisdom (to know the will of God) and asking in faith (to trust the will of God).\u00a0 <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Finally, all requests granted are generated from a heart supernaturally regenerated      therefore aligned and constantly yielded with and to God\u2019s will: \u201c<strong>And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us<\/strong>\u201d (<strong>1 Jn. 5:14<\/strong>).\u00a0Therefore we have the calming assurance, whether the answer is \u2018no\u2019, \u2018yes\u2019 or \u2018be patient\u2019 that the specific answer is God\u2019s will, God\u2019s best for me and best for all other parties\/issues concerned. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Here are seven biblical instructions that will guide the\nbeliever in praying according to God&#8217;s will:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">1) <strong>Pray\nfor the things for which the Bible commands prayer.<\/strong> We are told to pray for\nour enemies (<strong>Matthew\n5:44<\/strong>); for God to send missionaries (<strong>Luke 10:2<\/strong>); that we do not enter\ntemptation (<strong>Matthew\n26:41<\/strong>); for ministers of the Word (<strong>Colossians 4:3<\/strong>; <strong>2 Thessalonians 3:1<\/strong>); for government\nauthorities (<strong>1\nTimothy 2:1-3<\/strong>); for relief from affliction (<strong>James 5:13<\/strong>); and for the healing of\nfellow believers (<strong>James 5:16<\/strong>). Where God commands prayer, we can\npray with confidence that we are praying according to His will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">2) <strong>Follow\nthe example of godly characters in Scripture. <\/strong>Paul prayed for the salvation\nof Israel (<strong>Romans\n10:1<\/strong>). David prayed for mercy and forgiveness when he sinned (<strong>Psalm 51:1-2<\/strong>).\nThe early church prayed for boldness to witness (<strong>Acts 4:29<\/strong>). These prayers were\naccording to the will of God, and similar prayers today can be as well. As with\nPaul and the early church, we should always be praying for the salvation of\nothers. For ourselves, we should pray as David prayed, always aware of our sin\nand bringing it before God before it hinders our relationship with Him and\nthwarts our prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">3) <strong>Pray\nwith the right motivation.<\/strong> Selfish motives will not be blessed by God.\n&#8220;<strong>When you\nask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend\nwhat you get on your pleasures<\/strong>&#8221; (<strong>James 4:3<\/strong>). We should also pray, not\nso our lofty words can be heard and we may be seen by others as\n&#8220;spiritual,&#8221; but mostly in private and in secret, so that our\nheavenly Father will hear in private and reward us openly (<strong>Matthew 6:5-6<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">4) <strong>Pray\nwith a spirit of forgiveness toward others<\/strong> (<strong>Mark 11:25<\/strong>). A spirit of bitterness,\nanger, revenge or hatred toward others will prevent our hearts from praying in\ntotal submission to God. Just as we are told not to give offerings to God while\nthere is conflict between ourselves and another Christian (<strong>Matthew 5:23-24<\/strong>), in the same way\nGod does not want the offering of our prayers until we have reconciled with our\nbrothers and sisters in Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">5) <strong>Pray\nwith thanksgiving<\/strong> (<strong>Colossians 4:2<\/strong>; <strong>Philippians 4:6-7<\/strong>). We can always\nfind something to be thankful for, no matter how burdened we are by our wants\nor needs. The greatest sufferer that lives in this world of redeeming love, and\nwho has the offer of heaven before him, has reason to be grateful to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">6) <strong>Rely\non the Spirit of God in prayer.<\/strong> This is a wonderful truth: &#8220;<strong>We do not know what\nwe ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that\nwords cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the\nSpirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God&#8217;s\nwill<\/strong>&#8221; (<strong>Romans 8:26-27<\/strong>). We have the Spirit&#8217;s help in\npraying. At the times of our deepest depression or sorrow, those times when we\nfeel that we &#8220;just cannot pray,&#8221; we have the comfort of knowing that\nthe Holy Spirit is actually praying for us! What an amazing God we have!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">7) Persevere in prayer (<strong>Luke 18:1<\/strong>;\n<strong>1 Thessalonians\n5:17<\/strong>).&nbsp; There is nothing wrong\nwith repeatedly asking for the same thing. As long as what you are praying for\nis within the will of God (<strong>James 4:3<\/strong>; <strong>1 John 5:14-15<\/strong>), keep asking until God grants your\nrequest or removes the desire from your heart. Sometimes God forces us to wait\nfor an answer to our prayers in order to teach us patience and perseverance.\nSometimes we ask for something when granting it is not yet in God&#8217;s timing for\nour lives. Sometimes we ask for something that is not God&#8217;s will for us, and He\nsays \u201cno.\u201d Prayer is not only our presenting requests to God; it is God\u2019s\npresenting His will to our hearts. Keep on asking, keep on knocking, and keep\non seeking until God grants your request or convinces you that your request is\nnot His will for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">What assurance we have when we seek to walk in the Spirit\nand not in the flesh! Then we can have confidence that the Holy Spirit will\naccomplish His work in presenting our prayers to the Father according to His\nperfect will and timing, and we can rest in the knowledge that He is working\nall things together for our good (<strong>Romans 8:28<\/strong>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Man&#8217;s highest aim should be to bring glory to God (1 Corinthians 10:31), and this includes praying according to His will: Here are seven biblical instructions that will guide the believer in praying according to God&#8217;s will: 1) Pray for the things for which the Bible commands prayer. We are told to pray for our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[526,537],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Praying According to God\u2019s Will - Grace Evangelical Free Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Praying According to God\u2019s Will - Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Man&#8217;s highest aim should be to bring glory to God (1 Corinthians 10:31), and this includes praying according to His will: Here are seven biblical instructions that will guide the believer in praying according to God&#8217;s will: 1) Pray for the things for which the Bible commands prayer. 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