When I was new in the faith, the pastor said that God answers prayers in three ways: Yes, No and Wait. He also talked about the joy of answered prayer. I thought to myself then, indeed there would be joy if God’s answer was Yes. What about if God’s answer was a No and Wait?
I think it is fair to say that I have done a lot praying through the years since I became a Christian and have been hoping since then to learn the secret to the joy of answered prayer.
As Jesus taught the disciples, I normally direct my prayers to the Heavenly Father. Although I should confess that I have also prayed to Jesus directly—heaps of times,even more when I was in the grade school. Simply because the teacher had taught me then that Jesus was my friend and because He was my friend, I had talked to Him a lot of times.
As I grew in my faith and in the knowledge of the Bible, I have often prayed now to the Heavenly Father (and of course still talk to Jesus). This is what the Bible teaches and it is also written there that we ask all things in Jesus name, ie as there is power in His Name.
In Jesus Name, lame walks, blind sees, mute speaks and deaf hears. And in my case, He healed me of the many scary nodes that the ultrasound revealed on my thyroid gland. How could I ever thank Him for delivering me for the fear of going through a surgery.
I am almost inclined to think then that In Jesus Name was like a period to every prayer. Hence, in a corporate prayer, everyone else say Amen when the leader or the last one to pray say In Jesus Name. I found out later in my own personal prayer that it was not so.
As I pray, I find myself oftentimes saying In Jesus Name even if I am not necessarily ending my prayer. I wondered then why I do this all the time. I wondered also why I just sigh or cry not being able to say a word when I am in prayer. My wondering stopped when I came across what is written in Romans 8:26-27, NIV
In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
God has a will for me or everyone else in heaven, Jesus taught the disciples to pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God’s will for us in heaven is for us to have hope and a future. He does not plan for us a calamity. His plan for us is to be joyful, successful and prosperous (Jeremiah 29:11). His will and his plan for us, if I could say it, is already written in heaven. My long-time question then was why do I still have to pray?
Without being doctrinal, it is His command for us to pray. In my on-going relationship with God, I came to realise, talking or praying to Him is a natural course of friendship. When i accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord, I became God’s friend. Who on the earth would not want to talk to his friend? Also, I have realised in a personal way that God wants me to experience the joy of answered prayer. If I do not pray, how could I ever know this joy.
Indeed God has given me this many times and in many ways that I could literally even jump and dance because for joy because He has answered my prayers.
Thank you, God. Bless you Jesus. Holy Spirit thank you for being here.
