Redeemer Church Mauritius
Prayer is one of the most challenging parts of the Christian faith. We are speaking to a God we cannot see. We often feel unsure of whether our prayer is even heard. We don’t always understand how God responds and why it feels like he sometimes doesn’t answer. But Jesus commands us to pray and he even taught his disciples how to pray. Jesus himself was a man of prayer even though he is the Son of God. How can we pray with confidence? How should we think about prayer and on what basis should we pray? Psalm 20 gives us some great insights into a confident prayer life.
Psalms 20:1-9 NIV
1. Confidence comes from our position
God’s sanctuary, city, and sacrifices speak of a foundation for prayer that begins in relationship with God and his church and based on the sacrifice Jesus made.
2. Confidence comes from our intent
We can pray with confidence when the desires of our heart are the same as the desires of God’s heart.
John 15:16 (NIV)
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
James 4:3 (NIV)
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
3. Confidence comes from Jesus
He is the king God has appointed and whatever he asks for he gets.
Psalm 2:6–8 (NIV)
“I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” I will proclaim the LORD’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
John 11:41–44 (NIV)
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
4. Confidence comes from faith
Life is spiritual and prayer is more important than what we can accomplish ourselves.
Let's Apply It:
Let Jesus be your reason to pray with confidence.