Prayer is often a challenging aspect of the Christian life. If you’re like many believers, you may find yourself confused or feeling inadequate when it comes to praying. Despite knowing that prayer is our communication with the God who chose, saved, and sustains us, it can feel anything but natural and delightful. The question remains: Why does something so essential to our faith often seem so difficult?
Understanding the Struggle
We all know that we should pray more. Our conscience often nudges us, reminding us of the importance of prayer. Yet, if we’re honest, we may find ourselves struggling with the desire to pray or even questioning the necessity of it. This reluctance often stems from a misunderstanding of what prayer truly is or a tendency to forget its significance in our daily lives.
Letting God Speak First
When it comes to understanding prayer, the most crucial step is to let God speak. Too often, our approach to prayer is a mix of cultural sayings, personal beliefs, and a few biblical principles, rather than a deep, theologically sound understanding of what the Bible actually teaches.
The Bible's teaching on prayer is surprisingly simple: Prayer is asking God to fulfill the promises He has made through Christ. It’s not about bringing something to God that He doesn’t already know or twisting His arm to get what we want. It’s about aligning ourselves with His will and trusting Him to act according to His word.
Casting Our Cares on Him
At the heart of the gospel is the realization that we bring nothing to the table. We contribute nothing to our salvation; it is all a gift from God. Prayer, which is both made possible by and shaped by the gospel, operates in the same way. God gives, and we receive. We ask, and He provides. Our prayers depend entirely on what He has done for us and what He promises to continue doing in our lives.
Jesus encourages us to pray with the freedom to ask our Heavenly Father for the desires of our hearts:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Luke 11:9–10)
This passage assures us that we can approach God with anything, confident that He will provide what is truly good for us. The apostle Peter echoes this sentiment, urging us to “[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). This includes every concern, whether it’s spiritual, emotional, or even material. There’s no burden too small or too mundane to bring before God.
The Six Prayers God Always Answers
While the Bible encourages us to bring all our needs before God, it also highlights certain prayers that align directly with His promises—prayers that God will always answer with a “Yes.” These are the prayers that explicitly ask God to fulfill His work in and through us, according to His word.
Here are six foundational prayers that God always answers:
1. Glorify Yourself Through Me
The desire for God’s glory to be revealed through our lives is a prayer that aligns perfectly with His purpose. Scripture assures us that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). When we pray for God to glorify Himself through us, we’re asking Him to fulfill this overarching promise in our personal lives.
2. Forgive Me
The assurance of forgiveness is one of the most comforting promises in Scripture. In 1 John 1:9, we’re told that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This prayer is always answered because it’s based on the completed work of Christ on the cross. When we ask for forgiveness, God responds with grace, cleansing us from all sin.
3. Reveal More of Yourself to Me
God’s desire for us to know Him intimately is clear throughout Scripture. In Jeremiah 31:33–34, God promises, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people… they shall all know me.” This prayer is a request for a deeper relationship with God, and it’s one He eagerly fulfills, drawing us closer to Him and revealing more of His nature and will.
4. Give Me Wisdom
The book of James offers a straightforward promise: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5). Wisdom is a gift that God is ready and willing to bestow on those who ask. When we pray for wisdom, we’re not only asking for guidance in decision-making but also for a heart that understands and follows God’s ways.
5. Strengthen Me to Obey You
Obedience is central to the Christian life, and it’s something we cannot achieve in our own strength. Philippians 2:12–13 reminds us that while we are called to “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling,” it is ultimately “God who works in [us], both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” When we ask God for the strength to obey, we’re asking Him to work in us to accomplish His will, and this is a prayer He is always eager to answer.
6. Spread Your Gospel to the Lost
God’s mission to spread the gospel to all nations is a central theme in the New Testament. Matthew 24:14 declares, “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” When we pray for the spread of the gospel, we’re aligning ourselves with God’s ultimate plan for humanity, and we can be confident that He will act to fulfill this promise.
The Confidence of Answered Prayer
How can we be sure that God will answer these six prayers? The answer lies in the fact that these prayers are rooted in God’s promises. When we ask God to do what He has already committed to doing, we are praying according to His will, and He will undoubtedly respond.
Becoming Better Ask-ers
To grow in prayer, we don’t need to adopt complex techniques or set rigid schedules. Instead, we need to become better at asking—asking for the things that God has already promised to give us. The gospel reminds us of our weakness and neediness, but also of God’s strength, grace, and readiness to answer. We must recognize our dependence on Him, not just for the big decisions but for every moment of our lives.
Without God’s intervention, we are prone to making a mess of our lives and the lives of those around us. But the good news of the gospel is that God is not only willing but eager to answer the prayers that align with His purposes.
The Ultimate Fulfillment
One day, our prayers will no longer be from a distance. We will stand face to face with our Promiser, Provider, and King. Until that day, we can pray with confidence, knowing that God hears us and is faithful to do what He has promised.
In the meantime, let’s embrace the privilege of prayer, asking God to glorify Himself, to forgive, to reveal, to give wisdom, to strengthen, and to spread the gospel through us. These are the prayers that God will always answer—because they reflect His will, His character, and His eternal plan for His people and the world.
