Emily Hardie

Our devotion this week, Pray Effectively, comes from the YouVersion Bible App. It was provided by Answers with Bayless Conley. For more information, please visit: http://www.answersbc.org

YIELD: The Fourth Step in Effective Prayer

Psalm 37:4 provides us the “Y” in the acronym P-R-A-Y, the four elements to effective prayer we have been discussing over the last few devotionals.

Here is what Psalm 37:4 says,

⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Now the Hebrew word for delight in this verse literally means to become soft or pliable. This means that “delighting” in the Lord is assuming a yielded posture before God.

So the “Y” in P-R-A-Y stands for yield. The question is: How do you practice yielding to God when you pray? Yielding is when you stop talking, and you wait, listen, and seek to hear from God.

In my own practice of prayer, I will often bow before God and ask Him, “God, is there anything You want to say to me? Do You have any instructions for me? Is there anything You want me to change?”

Then I silently wait for Him to speak to me.

As you assume this posture of being yielded and waiting quietly before Him, you will be surprised at some of the things that come to your attention: “You need to spend more time with your daughter,” “Take your wife out on a date,” “Bake your neighbor a pie and build a bridge over which the gospel can travel,” “Spend more time praising Me,” “Show your gratitude and appreciation for those who have been helping you in your life.”

You will indeed hear from God if you ask Him to speak into your heart, and wait silently before Him.

That is the last element of effective prayer: praise, repent, ask, yield. Your prayers can indeed be effective if you commit to these four principles. That is how to P-R-A-Y.

Our devotion this week, Pray Effectively, comes from the YouVersion Bible App. It was provided by Answers with Bayless Conley. For more information, please visit: http://www.answersbc.org

The Conditions for Answered Prayer

Last time we talked about the “A” in the acronym P-R-A-Y, which is our way of understanding the steps in effective prayer. That “A” stands for ask, and I have come to believe that too many Christians don’t believe that God wants them to ask.

God wants you to ask. He really does. But there are some conditions He gives in order to answer your requests. In John chapters 14-16 we find a number of these conditions.

We need to remember that these are Jesus’ last hours with the disciples; and He wants them to understand how prayer really works. Over and over He emphasizes the need to ask, but His answers will be based on three conditions.

First, in John 14:13, Jesus says your request must glorify God,

¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Second, in John 15:7, He says your request must be consistent and in harmony with His Word,

⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

And finally, in John 16:23-24, Jesus sets the condition that your request bring you joy,

²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

Over and over, Jesus commands you to ask. But when you ask, make sure your request will glorify God, that it is consistent with His Word, and that it will bring you joy.

Our devotion this week, Pray Effectively, comes from the YouVersion Bible App. It was provided by Answers with Bayless Conley. For more information, please visit: http://www.answersbc.org

ASK: The Third Step in Effective Prayer

In the last two devotionals we discovered that praise and repentance are the first two steps to effective prayer. Today I want to show you the very important third step of asking.

Last time we talked about how repentance is searching your own heart and asking God to put the spotlight on it, and then repenting of anything that He shows you. When your heart is clean, you can have confidence before God when you ask. 

As 1 John 3:21-22 says,

²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²² and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.

In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus tells us,

⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Pretty clear, isn’t it? God loves you and wants the very best for you. Be careful not to water down the words of Jesus, or somehow try and explain them away or complicate them. He meant just what He said.

But there are some conditions. And next time we will look at those conditions for receiving what you ask God for.