Recipe For Effectual Prayer

by Chris Simmons

The importance of prayer cannot be overstated. Without it, our hope is vain. We’re reminded in Psalms 62:6-8, “He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” Indeed, our salvation and glory “rest” on God and we therefore must “pour out (our) heart before Him.” We have the example of Hannah who was “greatly distressed” (I Samuel 1:10) about not being able to have a child and “prayed to the Lord” and said to Eli the priest in verse 15, “I am a woman oppressed in spirit … I have poured out my soul before the Lord.” Yet it must be recognized that not all prayer is genuinely “effectual” and will “accomplish much” (James 5:16). How can it be that someone would “pour out” their heart before God without realizing the success that God intended for prayer to provide? God’s word reveals to us a recipe as it were for “effectual” prayer that we would be wise to continually revisit.

Whatever our prayer and petition may be, we must first turn to God and seek from Him those things that we need. If we need wisdom, James simply states (1:5), “let him ask of God.” So often, as James later notes in James 4:2, “you do not have because you do not ask.” Perhaps we think that God knows our hearts and don’t feel compelled to do the best we can to articulate our needs in prayer before Him. We need to remember that complaining and whining is not the same as praying to our heavenly Father – though He hears both! It’s amazing how often the Israelites had legitimate needs in the wilderness that they just needed to ask God to help with but instead chose to grumble and complain (see Exodus 14:11; 15:24; 16:2). God heard their grumbles and complaints, but what He wanted was to hear them ask Him in prayer. He wanted them to petition Him! Perhaps if we spent more time communicating with God in humble prayer, rather than on all our other forms of communication (phone, email, “social media,” etc.), we might realize the blessings and responses that God stands ready to provide.

It requires great humility on our part to truly turn things over to God as Peter wrote in I Peter 5:6-7, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” It also requires great faith! James went on in verse 6 of chapter 1 to say “he must ask in faith, without doubting.” Why petition someone for assistance that we really don’t think can help? Do we pray “just in case”? As the Hebrew writer said, “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6) and it’s impossible to “have the requests” (I John 5:15) we seek of Him.

Our faith that God will hear our prayers and grant our requests that are in accordance with His will (I John 5:14) must keep on even when the response we seek is not immediately realized. Jesus taught in Luke 11:5-8 of the man who received his request “because of his persistence.” The temptation can be strong to become discouraged when our prayers do not initially accomplish what we desire them to. For that reason, Jesus taught the parable of the judge and the widow who sought his protection in Luke 18:1-8 which Luke prefaced by saying, “now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.” If what we seek in prayer is truly important to our spiritual well-being, should we not persist in our communication to God through prayer for such? In such a context, we understand the need to “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17) and be “devoted” (Colossians 4:2) to it at all time. Prayer doesn’t work when we give up!

So, first of all, combining all the ingredients noted above: we need to faithfully and persistently ask God for that which we truly need. Secondly, our prayers need to include the request that we will see and recognize God’s answers to our prayers. We speak of the providence of God but are we keeping our eyes open for the providence of God in response to our prayers? For example, if we pray that souls might be saved, we need to also pray that we will “lift up my eyes” to see the opportunities before us. Granted our eyes need to look to God as we read in Psalms 121:1-2, “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” But our eyes need to be looking all around us. Jesus exhorted His disciples in John 4:35 to “lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.” In order to be one who is “making the most of the opportunity” (Colossians 4:5), I need to pray that I will “lift up” my eyes so I won’t miss the opportunity I’m praying for.

Finally, if I understand the need to petition God faithfully and persistently and I also pray for eyes that will recognize the opportunities that God blesses me with, I then need to complete my prayers by asking God to help me do my part to make the most of what He blesses me with. If I pray for my daily bread (cf. Mathew. 6:11), then I bear the responsibility to go and seek the job (II Thessalonians 3:10) that provides the means I need to buy the bread. If I’m praying for the job to provide the bread, I need to go seeking that job. If I am praying for the lost, I need to go looking for the lost. If I pray for wisdom and strength to overcome the temptations I face, then I bear the responsibility to read and diligently study God’s word (II Timothy 2:15) and not go where I know the temptations will be prevalent (Romans 13:13-14). If I pray for a blessed home and marriage, I need to commit to fulfilling my responsibilities in such. We need to pray that our persistent asking will be followed by persistent seeking and persistent knocking (Matthew 7:7-8).

I would commend each of us to continue to diligently study God’s recipe for effectual prayer (note: a search for the word “prayer” on our website reveals 138 responses; including a sermon entitled “The Prayer of Faith” by Micky on 8/19/18) and honestly examine (II Corinthians 13:5) our prayer life and whether we’re faithfully and persistently petitioning God, seeking to be aware of the opportunities around us and praying that we will do our part to bring about the effectual results we seek.